The scandal over them has spilled over into the governor’s race, where Democrat Abigail Spanberger has had to address it repeatedly.
Platner’s old posts raise new questions Platner, a Democrat and oyster farmer, had sparked buzz among progressives in Maine, notably since two-term Gov.
But Platner himself brought up the tattoo, which he says he received in 2007, when he was in his 20s.
A video aired during the podcast shows Platner dancing shirtless with the tattoo visible on his upper chest.
“What about when Donald Trump used incendiary language to incite a riot to try to overturn an election here in this country?” Jones said.
Maine U. — PORTLAND, ME (AP). S. . On Tuesday, Senate candidate Graham Platner disclosed that he had a tattoo of what is commonly known as a Nazi symbol years ago. However, Platner denied the meaning and explained it away as a drunken Marine trying to look intimidating. He stated that he intends to have the tattoo taken off.
Platner is the most recent Democratic candidate to brush off troubling information about their past, which is indicative of a new era in politics and a model set by President Donald Trump, who has continued to move forward despite scandals that ten years ago would have ended his campaign.
Platner’s recent disclosure follows the discovery of a string of contentious online remarks, including one in which he denied sexual assault in the military. The Democratic nominee for Virginia’s attorney general this year, Jay Jones, has also set a precedent by refusing to withdraw from the race despite text messages he sent suggesting in 2022 that a well-known state Republican should receive “two bullets to the head.”. “”.
Jones expressed regret for the remarks, which also implied that the children of his then-Republican opponent suffer the same fate. Jones has continued to run for the November election. 4 Virginia election, asserting that voters should assess his suitability for the position. The controversy surrounding them has permeated the gubernatorial contest, requiring Democrat Abigail Spanberger to make repeated appearances.
Platner’s previous posts bring up fresh issues.
Progressives in Maine had been talking about Platner, a Democrat and oyster farmer, especially after two-term Gov. Last week, Janet Mills joined the Democratic field for the U.S. S. The Senate. The two Democrats are fighting for the opportunity to take on the incumbent Republican senator, who has served for 30 years. Collins, Susan.
In a social media video last week, Platner tried to clarify his previous remarks. In it, he addressed his earlier remarks that disregarded military sexual assaults, as well as his criticism of police officers and rural Americans and his questioning of Black patrons’ gratuity practices.
During the five-minute apology video, he said, “I see someone I don’t recognize.”.
In an interview with the Democratic podcast Pod Save America published Tuesday, Platner attempted to further disassociate himself from the remarks, which were made online between 2013 and 2021, characterizing them as the digressions of a recent veteran of the armed forces.
He stated in the podcast, “I had an opinion or thoughts that were colored by my experience in the service at that point in time when I had not yet been exposed to things.”.
However, Platner mentioned the tattoo, claiming to have gotten it in his 20s in 2007. He claimed that after a night of drinking in Kosovo while on leave with the Marines, he contracted it. In a video that was shown during the podcast, Platner is seen dancing shirtless while displaying his upper chest tattoo.
Because we were Marines and skulls and crossbones are a fairly common military motif, Platner explained, he and his fellow Marines selected “a terrifying looking skull and crossbones off the wall.”.
Following their review of the video, the Anti-Defamation League, a well-known advocacy group against antisemitism, identified the tattoo’s image as a particular emblem of Hitler’s paramilitary Schutzstaffel, or SS, which was in charge of the systematic murder of millions of Jews and other people throughout Europe during World War II.
In an email response to an Associated Press question, Oren Segal, senior vice president of counter-extremism and intelligence for the Anti-Defamation League, stated, “This looks to be a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo, and if true, it is troubling that a candidate for high office would have one.”. “We acknowledge that individuals occasionally get tattoos without realizing their negative connotations. Asking the bearer if they deny its hateful connotations is appropriate in those situations. “.”.
On the meaning of tattoos, Platner said: It never came up.
“I didn’t realize this tattoo looked like a Nazi symbol until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders,” Platner said in a statement to The Associated Press late Tuesday. If I knew that, I would never have lived with this on my chest, and it is repulsive to imply that I did. I’ve already made plans to have this taken down. “.”.
Platner added that in the 20 years since he got the tattoo, he enlisted in the Army, “which involved a full physical that examines tattoos for hate symbols. To obtain a security clearance to join the Ambassador to Afghanistan’s security detail, I also successfully completed a thorough background investigation. He claimed that no one ever suggested that his tattoo was a Nazi emblem.
However, he should have known, according to a former senior Platner employee.
Although he may not have realized it at the time, Platner’s former political director Genevieve L. said, “He should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means.”. McDonald, who left the campaign last week, stated in a post on Facebook on Tuesday.
Mills will face Platner in the primary the following year.
Senator from Vermont. Platner’s supporter, Bernie Sanders, continued to support the candidate, telling reporters on Tuesday that Platner is “an excellent candidate.”. “”.
“I’ll be on his side,” Sanders continued.
Democrats adopt Trump’s strategy during the campaign.
The shows, which include Jones’ shocking Virginia revelations, come after Trump changed the criteria for what can ruin a campaign ten years earlier.
Even after recordings of Trump talking to an “Access Hollywood” reporter 11 years prior surfaced, in which he boasted in obscene terms about making sexual advances toward women who were not his wife, Trump managed to win the 2016 presidential election. During a 2017 incident in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a white supremacist in his vehicle ran down and killed a woman protesting against a white nationalist demonstration, Trump also made reference to “very fine people, on both sides.”.
Following his two impeachments during his first term and subsequent conviction on 34 criminal counts in connection with a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by paying hush money to a porn actor who claimed the two had sex, Trump was elected to a second, non-consecutive term in 2024. Trump refuted the claim.
According to Todd Belt, director of George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, “I believe there is a sense among Democrats that if Republicans can disregard calls to bow out, why can’t we?”.
Jones brought up the same point during last week’s attorney general campaign debate, citing Trump’s speech in which he urged his supporters to run for president in 2020, a race he lost, before many of them stormed the U.S. S. Capitol in January. 6, 2021, riot.
Jones asked, “Remember when Donald Trump tried to rig an election here in this country by using derogatory language to incite a riot?”
.
