Veteran & Maine US Senate Candidate Graham Platner: Combat Fitness, True Strength, & The Defense Insecurity Complex of Hegseth, RFK Jr., and Elon Musk

Graham Platner is a Marine Corps and Army infantry veteran with combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and a candidate for US Senate in Maine. He is also a lifelong student of fitness and strength whose training evolved from grunt-era running and calisthenics to CrossFit, Rob Shaul's Mountain Tactical programming, and Jim Wendler's 5-3-1.

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He joins Andrew Vontz & Jonathan Kaplan on United States of Sweat p/b Choose the Hard Way to talk combat fitness, the multi-hour firefight his squad survived on zero water because everybody was fit, and what true strength actually looks like.

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Graham has seen real strength under fire. What he sees in Hegseth, RFK Jr. and Elon Musk is masculine insecurity with access to power, and the difference between power OVER people and power WITH them.

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Andrew joined live from the cancer floor at Maine Health Hospital in Portland, Maine, three days into a five-day chemo drip. Go to https://alwaysthehardway.substack.com/ or @hardwaypod on Instagram for a full health update. Thank you for all of the positivity and support. Please keep it coming.

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United States of Sweat is the series where politicians and policymakers join us to share stories about fitness, health, and the sports they love. It's part of Choose the Hard Way, the show about how hard things build stronger humans who have more fun.

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Please hit subscribe & give this show a 5-star rating wherever you listen or watch.

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The media landscape has changed. Scripted is out. Real is in. Being a great podcast guest or host and being able to operate in dynamic unscripted contexts isn't optional. It's now a mandatory skill for senior leaders and doing it well isn't easy.

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That's why Andrew Vontz started https://www.onerealvoice.com/ to help industry leaders thrive on podcasts, panels and the internal and external high-stakes open-ended conversations where reputations are built and business is won.

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When you're ready to be great, DM https://www.instagram.com/hardwaypod or reach out to [email protected].

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Jonathan Kaplan is the founder of WRITE CADENCE STRATEGIES, helping individuals and organizations navigate Washington, shape policy and manage reputational risk. He also writes RIDING WITH, a newsletter and podcast exploring the intersection of pro cycling, media, business and politics. Find that at ridingwithkaplan.substack.com.

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To support Choose the Hard Way, please become a paid subscriber of https://alwaysthehardway.substack.com/.

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Andrew Vontz's Choose the Hard Way newsletter: https://alwaysthehardway.substack.com/

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One Real Voice - narrative, strategy and coaching for podcasts and high-stakes conversations: http://www.onerealvoice.com

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Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/hardwaypod

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewvontz/

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Jonathan Kaplan's Riding With newsletter: https://ridingwithkaplan.substack.com/

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Jonathan Kaplan Instagram: http://instagram.com/jonny99kaplan

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Follow Graham Platner's path to the US Senate on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/grahamformaine