You’re Being Lied to About Graham Platner
You’re Being Lied to About Graham Platner
jacobin.com
You’re Being Lied to About Graham Platner
Comments
114-
-
I smelled a hatchet job.
Is it from the republicans or liberal dems?
-
Maga. Israel. The usual. Possibly the Dem party. They really don't like these new unbought Dems coming in and making them look bad.
-
I mean, it's from "the bad people." There are plenty of "the bad people" in both the Republican and Democratic party, and also a lot of them outside of the US trying to influence the US election at this point. They are, broadly speaking, all in allegiance with each other. They periodically switch parties (from Dem -> Repub) when things get too unbearable on one side of the aisle, they periodically impersonate progressives to get elected (Sinema). Kicking them out of Washington is one of the most critical reforms that must be undertaken even if we manage to survive the present crisis. Unfortunately, it's not that easy.
To me, the fact that they are swinging so hard against Platner is the strongest indication I have seen so far that he is the real deal.
-
-
Well, for the terminally online, the knee has already jerked. And in their defense, once bit, twice shy.
That being said, the number of terminally online Mainers for whom the oppo was a deal breaker probably can fit in a swimming pool.
And there are two things happening at once in this story. One is, the primary thread of the oppo; Platner did post those things, Platner did have a tattoo.
The second thing is the oppo release, its source, Mills, Schumer, and the act of Mainers being told who to like and whom to vote for. And at least in last weeks polling this seemed to be the case. So who does the oppo work on? Early polling seems to be showing that the timing of Mills announcement and the research being release/ coming from some of the least popular standing groups (specifically, corporate Democrats).
So it looks like the oppo was supposed to work on the more progressive types (and clearly, has been, I mean, look around), and that while thats been effective, Mainers dont care/ dont like being told who to like. This oppo dump may actually end up working against those who sourced it (corporate Dems). We need the polling pudding to thicken up a bit, but should know more when polling comes out this week (weds/ thurs/ fri).
-
I think for many people getting a tattoo is a huge deal and we would never allow our skin to be marked without out a lot of forethought.
But I think there is a good chunk of the population that doesn’t think about it and don’t see it as a big deal. I think a lot of these people are concentrated in the military, the lack of forethought is increased when you are in a job that may well see you killed soon.
I’d like to see him reaching out to new and old military members to educate them on the meaning he apparently didn’t know about and pushing them to remove it.
Someone with some art skills should come up with a suitably cool modification tattoo that neutralises the nazi aspect and but still lets these guys support and identify with battle mates.
It’s not their fault the nazis happens co opt heaps of cool symbols and I don’t blame some 22 year old jar head for not knowing history (they should but the US education system has a lot to answer for).
If you give people an easy way out that lets them save face you’ll only be left with the actual racists.
-
I mean my contention isn't that he didn't know what it was, it's that you gotta be kidding me that he didn't learn what it was in the 20 years since. I don't give a shit about his reddit history; if anything its just kinda affable to me. Hell, I'd be willing to even take the tattoo at "I learned what it was at a really dark time in my life, and I just haven't confronted the tattoo itself, even if I conquered the ideologies that led to both its creation and its application to my body." Like obviously military service is its own alt-right pipeline. But like, bro, you got the super non-pirate skull and crossbones across your tit, bro, what are you doing?
Like I'm not even saying don't vote for him, deadass I'd still take his dumb ass over some Zionist shill 8 days a week. But, can nobody just call a spade a spade?
-
To be fair, just look at all the people who have Chinese words written on them that say something that they weren't trying to say. How many of those people have had those tattoos for many years without ever learning that they were incorrect or fixing them?
I wouldn't go this route personally, but I know enough about tattoos to say with a high degree of confidence that many people just pick something out of the books on the day of the walk-in because they think it looks cool. I could totally believe this guy and his marine buddies said "that's a cool skull, let's get that".
It's like, how many people have Punisher stickers or t-shirts but have never read a comic book in their lives? Probably most of them...
-
-
Even if you know history, this is a fairly obscure symbol. I would bet there's a lot of people who know a lot about WWII and still wouldn't recognize it. For one, I don't think I would. I may have an "I've seen this symbol before..." moment, but I don't think I'd place it correctly on the spot.
-
-
Everybody is talking about Platner and that is fine, but i wanted to recognize the Jacobin for publishing this.
Here is a socialist magazine defending a man with a sketchy tattoo on the basis of the bulk of his posts. Jacobin (and Marcetic, the author) are cutting against cancel culture accusations and upholding the truth-finding principle of good journalism. Bravo.
-
Just as a context for people like myself that want to get their own look onto the tattoo situation. I cant find any less blurry pictures, but the shape matches quite well. He already got it covered up now, so no way to check.
This is an Nazi SS Totenkopf badge:
This is the tattoo:
-
The resemblance could be coincidence, maybe the artist who drew the flash knew what it was, but if you walk into a tattoo shop and want a skull and cross bones you could pick this off the wall.
I didn't know about the totenkopf until this news broke. If I'd seen that before I'd have thought it was just another death's head or pirate's Jolly Roger.*A socialist work place and hating cops might align with a pirate's ideals.
-
I also didn't know about the Nazi connection, it looks like something a biker would have, which should have been a red flag to the imagery I guess, but it looks like a kind of standard skull to me otherwise.
I have a raised eyebrow on Platner. He seems genuine. A couple of odd details admittedly. But unless he's some kind of psyop candidate, he seems fine enough. I do wish his cover up for a Nazi symbol was much further away from the accusation than Celtic symbols.
-
Yeah that's a totenkopf. Fuckin nazi
-
-
Here's his new one. From here.
-
The Platner thing is interesting, I wanted him to succeed, I liked what he was saying but the totenkopf is too far.
-
His messaging was generally good. Mostly appeals to emotion but what little policy he had generally sounded like a step in the right direction.
But he also has no political background whatsoever and little to no activism/charitable footprint. All he ever was was "what he was saying" and... Fetterman got elected on a progressive platform and trump STILL talks about draining the swamp and stopping the Washington elites.
Nobody is saying we should only elect establishment politicians. But actually having a track record goes a long way whether that is in lower office or just a long, documented, history of activism.
Also, Smith-Rodriguez pulled out late last week (?) and is also a military veteran (no Blackwater tour though...) who had a VERY demsoc platform with actual plans and details. But she is a she and was driven out and, last I saw, endorsed Mills (?) because she was a victim of sexual assault during her time in the military and can't support someone like platner (even before totenkampf-gate...).
Because... it fucking sucks when the person you Believed in sucks. But that is why you pay attention and learn and adjust.
-
I am far more concerned with the people who have pride in their stupid decisions and don't own up to it and make changes.
The problem with those people, is you never learn about the secrets they are hiding. I mean, do you know the alternatives in that race? Are you better with a Trump sycophant? We will never get some superman ideal candidate, and people who are assuming that this thing makes him a nazi are incredibly ignorant about what it means to serve and how service people interact with the world. I just can't get worked up over it unless he had some fascist history to go along with it.
-
I mean... why? It could've been a swastika and it would mean nothing if he wasn't a Nazi, which we have no reason to believe it is given his Reddit history. Hell, morally there was no obligation for him to cover the tattoo after knowing what it was, because symbols don't have moral value.
-
-
-
People latching onto this like it's some huge dealbreaker or a story about someone traitorous to progressive politics, you are probably the same people worked up about Hasan's dog. You guys NEED to take up reading actual novels with stories. Divert your emotional investment to actual stories you are allowed to get caught up in. It feels good, I recommend it highly.
You are all as bad as the right. I fucking swear, if this story bothers you, you are not well and you need to either touch grass or touch books. Just let this bullshit go. We have such bigger problems.
The right is going to elect actual nazis with nazi histories and nazi ideology to go with whatever symbols they have hidden away, and they're going to ignore every candidate on their side who has pictures surfacing of them wearing drag or having progressive takes in the past. They don't care. They want to win. Do you want to win?
I am quite convinced the old meme that the left hates victory and wants to lose is real. It's the exact same phenomenon as how conservative MAGAts want "daddy to choke them" but the left wants to be choked by institutions and politics broadly. I've never seen a political movement so intent on losing.
I hope you all get the perfect candidate so you can talk about how great he is while you're getting loading into train cars.
-
People latching onto this like it’s some huge dealbreaker or a story about someone traitorous to progressive politics, you are probably the same people worked up about Hasan’s dog.
What? These two things are not at all the same.
Platner seeks a position of power and the mere existence of a nazi tattoo shows questionable judgement at best and nazi sympathies at worst.
Its a pretty tame position to take in not wanting a politician with ANY connection to nazis
-
What? These two things are not at all the same.
Actually... they are probably more linked than they really should be.
This isn't about whether the blackwater merc who lied about his 20 year old nazi tattoo is actually a hero or a chud. It is about people having made up their mind and viewing anything else as "fake news". People made up their minds. They are presented with new information. Rather than re-assess, they just assume it is "a smear campaign" and immediately disregard all new information. And then it just devolves into tribalism.
And that is true whether it is about The Father Of Leftist Thought having some bad takes, The Hero Of Socialism PROBABLY having some Thoughts on the SS, or Some Rich Bastard Who Sits In Front Of A Computer For 13 Hours a Day maybe not being the best pet owner. Just like He Who Will Drain The Swamp being corrupt as fuck or The Smartest Man On Earth being an edgelord nazi dumbass with a breeding fetish.
Because of The Algorithm, we basically sit in content bubbles 24/7. You constantly are listening to people who reinforce your own beliefs (or, more likely, convert you to theirs). When you see new information? It isn't just wrong. It is an attack on your very sense of being and thus must be a lie. It is the same reason why basically any internet argument in the past few years isn't "Huh. That is some new information I hadn't considered but I think this information might cast some doubt on that" and instead "You are being disingenuous and I refuse to look any further because I already made up my mind so we should both agree to disagree on whether I should inject bleach into my gooch"
And just to add on: I think the constant "HE IS OUR ONLY HOPE" stupidity is a mix of people not realizing this isn't the election going on right now and is actually for 2026 (so 13-ish months until the general) combined with people settling scores over "Well... we have like 3 months until the general so Kamala is it". If we didn't have time for a primary when there were 3 months to go we OBVIOUSLY can't have time when it is Our candidate and we only have 13 months.
-
-
-
that seems unlikely, considering i'd never heard of the man before this
-
He's the one with the big Nazi tattoo
-
-
the fucked up thing here is how did they find his reddit account? That post was years ago and he didnt even use some stupid username like "RealGrahamPlatner". Makes you wonder if those reddit post removal tool work at all...
-
- They don't. Reddit still has a copy of everything you have ever typed on that website (even moreso now that they auto-save every draft message). They need to for liability reasons in case you were doing a Trevor Moore impression and talked about where you would put a mortar. It just has the added benefit of still providing training data for LLMs.
- I can't be sure what jacobin magazine was using, but CNN et al have already linked to actual archive.org scrapes of reddit that include his messages. I am not personally sure how "p-hustle" was linked to him and whether he disclosed that or others figured it out.
-
They don't need it for liability reasons; they just want to sell it as AI fodder.
-
-
So is he a goodie or a baddie. TELL ME WHAT TO THINK
-
Why are people so fucking stupid? Idiots who probably didn't even know what a totenkopf was a week ago are now like "OMG secret Nazi 😱."
-
Our attention-span economy overrides actual politics and action.
-
-
Are you saying he didn't serve in the military?
Or are you saying he did apologize for spreading capitalism with the sword of US imperialism?
-
I am greatly enjoying in real time the mass migration of a certain population of Lemmy commentators from:
How DARE this evil Nazi man have this Nazi tattoo! Well I for one, will never vote for him.
To, three days later:
How DARE the establishment Democrats try to smear this honorable progressive by pretending he has a Nazi tattoo! Well I for one, will never vote for them.
(Yes, I know, different elements of the same population can have contrasting views. I get it. At the same time... where were all you guys who are now convinced this is is all a Democratic hit job, three days ago when we were trying to defend this good man from this particular Democratic hit job? Thought you cared about truth in politics.)
-
I didn't have enough reliable data to make an informed decision so I kept my mouth shut.
I still don't believe I have enough reliable data. Which is kinda the point with stuff like this, isn't it? The disinformation wars are ongoing and unceasing.
-
The only time I can think of that we've ever been "duped" by taking someone at their word for what kind of candidate and person they are might have been Fetterman, but that was a real outlier situation, the dude suffered brain damage.
I seriously care a lot more about outcomes than performance, I don't care what someone's past or problems are if they're going to do a good job, likewise, I don't care if you're the best, most shining beacon of progressive values in the world if you're not going to do the politics I want to see. So I have mostly tuned out media when making decisions and just listen to candidates and look at their history. Full stop. We all have to stop clicking on stories that engage with our narrative-driven brains.
-
-
-
Dude another turncoat? A Fetterman or Manchin? Riding the blue-no-matter-who train while presenting some traits that right wingers like in private? I don’t live in Maine, so I don’t get a say, but seeing a guy like this run just seems like it’s not going to work out well.
-
You should try actually reading the article before commenting instead of just ignorantly putting your two cents in.
-
-
And with that the only chance to flip Maine is gone.
-
This whole Graham thing comes down to a single issue for me. Did he have a nazi tattoo? If yes, and it does appear to be a yes, then id never support him. No nazis or nazi sympathizers. Thats a hard line for me.
-
Intent matters. Did he knowingly choose a Nazi tattoo? All of the evidence suggests he did not, and that as soon as he found out it was associated with Nazis he immediately took action to get rid of it.
-
To add, the election Platner is running in has their primaries in June 2026, general in November 2026.
Platner has A LOT of work to do between now and then to prove what kind of person he is and what ideas he has, but he also has A LOT of time to do it.
I understand anyone's hesitation in supporting him. It's a reasonable view. Platner may never recover from this. Maybe he can. Platner is going to need to work hard to overcome this. Other candidates may be better.
-
Nah he's not stupid.
He covered it up with what again? Anything else that can be linked to white supremacy, maybe?
Hrm
-
Even if, as he claims, he didnt know it was a nazi symbol then that means hes a moron. Being simply unaware is excusable, not everyone can know everything, but getting it as a tattoo without knowing?! That means he either was/is a nazi or is/was a massive moron. Either option disqualifies him in my eyes.
Now I dont live in Maine so it doesnt matter politically. But if I did I wouldnt be voting for him
-
-
How does getting a tattoo and not promptly removing it make him a Nazi sympathizer? This is a non-sequitur.
-
Well either he didnt know what the symbol meant, which makes him a moron, or he did and that makes him a nazi (or if im being generous, a sympathizer). EITHER scenario disqualifies him in my mind. I dont want a moron representing me and I definitely dont want a nazi in govt.
Why is this such a hard concept to grasp?
-
-
He could apologize. And not just for the tattoo, but also for being in the military.
I haven't read a statement like this...
-
Even if he apologizes Id still never vote for him.
-
-
The right doesn't eject their own when pictures surface of them wearing drag. They unify towards a narrative even if their members aren't picture perfect representations of the values they pretend to hold.
I can't make political decisions on someone's blurry tattoo that they own up to and have covered but are also people trying to do the right thing. It's ridiculous and it's why the left loses elections and why we're going to be overrun with ACTUAL fucking nazis... I mean more so.
-
The right elects rapists, they arent the golden standard we should hold ourselves to.
And this isnt a blurry tattoo. Hes admitted the tattoo hasnt he?
Look Im not saying to arrest the guy or deport him or anything drastic. He just shouldnt be in the running for a govt position. A nazi tattoo, intentional or not, disqualifies him. Its that easy. Any way you cut it getting such a tattoo should mean he cant hold a govt position.
Why is this so easy for some people to sweep under the rug?
-
-
He didn't get a Nazi tattoo. He got a skull and crossbones tattoo. Does it look a bit like the Nazi version? Sure. But the Nazis just took a form for it that had been used for centuries.
It wasn't a damn swastika. It was a military tattoo of the kind no way specific to Nazis. And you're surprised a damn marine gets a tattoo that evokes centuries of military tradition?
Would you refuse to vote for someone that was a vegetarian? Because vegetarianism is a "Nazi diet" in the same way this is a "Nazi tattoo." Hitler was vegetarian at the end of his life.
-
In fairness, it is very precisely and exactly the Nazi rendering of the death's head from the SS uniforms. I don't think it's a "Nazi tattoo" any more than some Hindu temples with backwards swastikas on them are now retroactively covered in "Nazi symbols." I completely believe his explanation, among other reasons because some of his private communication has been exposed and literally 0% of it is Nazi and a lot of it is violently anti-Nazi. But their argument that it's a Nazi symbol is technically accurate, I think.
-
-
Not only had one for 20 years. Confirmed he understood that it was an SS tattoo 5 years ago (in the reddit posts that jacobin dot com clearly read) and continued to have it and lie about up until AFTER he came out of nowhere a few months back to run for Senate.
But apparently "Woman who laughs" is unacceptable. But "blackwater merc with a nazi tattoo" is the great hope of all
WhiteLeftists. Who would have thought that trump and musk going mask off meant the Left would too.Okay, anyone who isn't a white cishet male would. But we try to not think about it.
Ah well. We're massively fucked but at least I can get a chuckle out of all the idiots insisting he is anti-establishment as so many of the establishment Democrats are glazing the fuck out of this man. Basically the same "He's gonna fight the deep state" that we keep hearing about trump.
-
Confirmed he understood that it was an SS tattoo 5 years ago (in the reddit posts that jacobin dot com clearly read)
Which post?
-
Not only had one for 20 years. Confirmed he understood that it was an SS tattoo 5 years ago
Still lying I see.
-
Where did you see he confirmed this exactly?
-
Democrats are glazing the fuck out of this man
I think we've really lost the plot if we think effective politics and supporting someone for having effective politics is "glazing."
The left is a thousand times more critical of their candidates than the right will ever be. We've had pictures of nearly every powerful Republican surface wearing drag or changing positions from things they now consider woke and evil and toxic, and this is why they are winning and going to overrun our land with ACTUAL fucking nazis. I don't get how pearl-clutchy this generation of so-called progressives are. It's entirely performative.
-
-