Copyright The Boston Globe
Republicans, in the end, bucked the polish and political correctness that had come to define the American political class and took a chance on a rogue who could win. Now Democrats are searching for a fighter, too — but do they really need a guy with a Nazi tattoo in their ranks? That’s the question surrounding Graham Platner’s Senate bid in Maine. In August, the grizzled oysterman and veteran infantryman quite literally motored onto Maine’s political scene with baritone promises to crush the oligarchy and fight for working people. He’s a Bernie Sanders-backed Democrat, but Platner also says he’s friends with MAGA voters and believes that some can be brought back into the Democratic coalition. And for a few months, he looked like a two-in-one miracle for his party’s biggest problems: Democrats were losing young men, and their identity as the working-class party was crumbling. Democrats’ attempts to shore up either voting bloc only further underlined how out of touch the party establishment had become. Take their approach to appealing to men. Democratic strategists and donors felt the need to spend $20 million on a report that came up with some doozies, like advertising more on video games and adjusting Democrats’ moralizing tone. Some voices on the left have looked for a Joe Rogan alternative in Hasan Piker, a protein-obsessed streamer who likes to lift, accused Israel of committing “genocide,” and occasionally plays loose with violent rhetoric. Some established faces have tried to infiltrate the brosphere that helped boost Trump’s appeal to young men. Why else would a polished young progressive like Pete Buttigieg be on a podcast where the host is cracking jokes about hot chicks? Unlike Piker, Platner’s more than a keyboard warrior. And unlike Buttigieg, he’s not a buttoned-up pol trying to cosplay kick-backed bro. Platner did four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as an infantryman in the Marines and Army. He’s muscular, but not without a bit of a belly. He’s eloquent, but he swears like a sailor. Then again, he harvests oysters for a living. Platner’s raw at a time when the curated Democratic establishment is insufferably scripted. No wonder young liberal talking heads like the Pod Save America podcast bros have been fawning over him: Democrats finally found an authentic voice who didn’t seem to be talking down to working-class people or hyper-masculine men, because Platner is both. But in politics, uncurated candidates come at a cost. And over the past two weeks, that price tag has ticked higher and higher as waves of reports concerning Platner’s controversial past Reddit posts and a Nazi tattoo have surfaced. Under the screen name P-Hustle, Platner posted as recently as 2021 that he’s “still got the guns though, I don’t trust the fascists to act politely.” He’s used anti-gay slurs, called himself a “communist,” wrote that rural white Mainers are “actually” racist and stupid, and downplayed sexual assault in the military. Platner also posted about teaching advanced firearms instruction to the Socialist Rifle Association in Maine. Last week, on Pod Save America, Platner shared a video of himself dancing in his underwear at his brother’s wedding. He wasn’t trying to get ahead of a drunken display, he was trying to explain away the SS tattoo on his chest, which he claims he got on a drunken night in Croatia. “It was not until I started hearing from reporters and D.C. insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol. I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that,” Platner said, “and to insinuate that I did is disgusting.” Trouble is, people who were close to him — and even his own Reddit posts — suggest Platner is pretty well-versed in SS imagery, like his Totenkopf tattoo. His former political director Genevieve McDonald, who resigned after the Reddit posts surfaced, texted me that Platner “was aware [the tattoo] was a problem.” And in other Reddit posts, Platner commented about a Totenkopf symbol and contributed to a thread about a man with an SS tattoo. Just a year ago, this kind of controversy would have set off a chain of denunciation throughout a party that is being counseled to avoid the word “microaggression.” But today, some major Democrats are sticking by Platner. Sanders said that Platner “went into a dark period in his life. I suspect that Graham Platner is not the only American to have gone through a dark period.” On CNN, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said that Platner sounds like a “human being to me, a human being who made mistakes, recognizes them, and is very open about it.” Jon Lovett, one of the hosts of Pod Save America, posted on X mocking the Democratic establishment’s obsession with perfection. In another post, he said he’s not sure if Platner is the right guy for the job, but that “if we are trying to build a big welcoming movement, we have to actually do that. And that should include people who have had dark chapters in their lives and found their way out.” That’s a similar rationale to the one MAGA voters use to explain the president’s conduct: We don’t need perfect — we need people who can win. But how imperfect are Democrats willing to stomach? As radical as some of Platner’s posts are, in this sorry political age, I have to admit to being utterly unshocked that some angry dude posted a bunch of offensive things on the internet. Platner’s worst posts, and his deplorable tattoo, give us a one-dimensional look at the candidate. That became clear the more I read of P-Hustle’s Reddit footprint. An uncoached Platner said and did stupid — and even hateful — things, but he also espoused progressive viewpoints that contradicted them. Despite his tattoo, Platner doesn’t really fit the mold of a modern neo-Nazi or rabid homophobe. According to Jacobin’s review of a trove of archived Reddit posts, Platner was a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and sympathized with a closeted Marine officer for having to hide his sexuality. The piece from the socialist outlet concludes that Platner “comes off as a flawed, complicated, and sometimes contradictory human being whose political views don’t always fit neatly into a box,” and in that way resembles some of the voters liberals are trying to win back. But being “flawed” and “contradictory” doesn’t have to include a tattooed Totenkopf. Even if Planter is less radical than his worst posts let on, does the left really want to stand by a guy with so much baggage? Representative Jake Auchincloss knows it’s a bad idea, saying on Monday that “we should have high standards for United States senators and one of them is: you don’t have a Nazi tattoo on your body.” There’s a line between being relatable and being too flawed to be a member of the Senate. The excitement over Platner’s seemingly attractive profile shouldn’t distract Democrats from his personal shortcomings. And pretending that he is the best they can find is an insult to the men and working class voters they believe he should lead.
