Platner’s attack on the Supreme Court is more than a late-night talking point; it’s a battle plan. Calling the justices a “political action wing” of conservatism, he’s promising ethics crackdowns, impeachment pushes, and a packed bench if Democrats retake the Senate. To his critics, it’s raw court-destroying radicalism. To his supporters, it’s long‑overdue payback for years of conservative rulings that reshaped abortion, regulation, and elections.

Meanwhile, Susan Collins, long the archetype of New England moderation, is suddenly on defense. Polls show her trailing a generic Democrat, her fate bizarrely tethered to Obamacare tax credits she once helped rescue. If she backs extending the subsidies, she narrows the gap; if she balks, she risks losing the very moderates who have sustained her career. One race, one court, and one state’s exhaustion with half‑measures may decide whether Washington lurches into an open war over the Supreme Court itself.