Rep. Jake Auchincloss was excoriated by the left in May, when he argued that Graham Platner had disqualified himself from serving in the Senate for getting, and later covering up, a Totenkopf tattoo. At the time, numerous Democratic lawmakers told me that they privately shared Auchincloss’s view but stayed silent after witnessing the backlash. (Profiles in courage in modern Washington, I know…) Shannon Watts, an author and founder of Moms Demand Action, told me that she received death threats and was told to leave the party because she was publicly “trying to hold the line on integrity.” Other Democratic strategists recounted more personal pushback from friends who argued, perhaps cynically, that the only way to take out incumbent Sen. Susan Collins was to board the Platner pain train.