Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner came under fire once again after an old picture surfaced showing him with a large tattoo of one of the Nazis’ most infamous symbols.
Last week, Platner apologized for posts he made on Reddit as recently as 2021, in which he called himself a communist and outlined his hatred for “all” police. He’s now under fire for a move supporting the opposite end of the political spectrum.
On Monday, a video emerged of Platner lip-syncing shirtless, showing a massive Totenkopf tattoo on his breast. The Totenkopf, or Death’s Head, symbol is best known as the symbol of Hitler’s SS, responsible for the worst crimes of the Nazis. The SS-Totenkopfverbände, or Death’s Head Units, were the organization responsible for running the Nazis’ extermination camps.
In an interview with Tommy Vietor of Pod Save America, Platner insisted he was “not a secret Nazi.”
According to the Senate hopeful, he got the tattoo while on leave in Croatia with his fellow Marines, at a time when he was “very inebriated.” He said the hate symbol was only chosen because it was “a terrifying looking skull and crossbones,” and he didn’t know the deeper meaning.
Platner then shifted his criticism to those who uncovered the video, arguing in response, “Did anybody ever once say — ‘Hey, you’re a Nazi.’ It never came up until we got wind that in the opposition research, somebody was shopping the idea that I was a secret Nazi with a hidden Nazi tattoo.”
In a move likely to complicate his previous distancing from his controversial social media history, Platner sought vindication through his past Reddit comments.
“Actually, if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism and racism in general,” Platner said.
The Maine Democrat earned national attention last week when CNN published a report revealing recent posts made by a Reddit account linked to him, which he then confirmed. In the posts, Platner identified as a “psychedelics taking socialist” and “communist.”
In one post made in 2020, Platner responded to a post saying, “White people aren’t as racist or stupid as Trump thinks” by writing, “Living in white rural America, I’m afraid to tell you they actually are.”
Platner’s account repeatedly called people “retarded.” He publicly apologized for his posts.
DNC CHAIRMAN STANDS BY PLATNER IN MAINE SENATE RACE OVER ‘INDEFENSIBLE’ DELETED POSTS
His campaign’s political director, former state Rep. Genevieve McDonald, resigned amid the controversy on Friday. However, the Democratic Party is largely sticking by him. Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said he accepted the candidate’s apology.
“They’re indefensible, they’re hurtful, and they’re offensive,” he said of the posts on CNN’s State of the Union. “The question, though, is, I believe in second chances. I believe a lot of people say things at their most vulnerable times. They say things when they’re young that, again, are offensive, and the question for me is whether or not they actually learn from them, whether or not they actually reflect on those, that they’re sincere in their apology, and, more importantly, that they have changed their behavior.”