Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner is attempting to recast a long trail of inflammatory online rhetoric as the product of post-traumatic stress disorder, even as his own past comments undercut that defense.
According to Fox News, the 41-year-old progressive favorite has leaned heavily on his PTSD diagnosis to explain away a series of deleted social media posts in which he appeared to justify political violence, demean rural Americans, and smear law enforcement as inherently corrupt. Yet in a 2020 Reddit exchange, five years before he emerged as a serious challenger to Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Platner explicitly rejected the idea that trauma from combat deployments could excuse what he called "garbage behavior" by others. That contradiction is now drawing fresh scrutiny as Democrats rally behind a candidate whose record and rhetoric sit far to the left of the state he hopes to represent.
Posting anonymously on the Reddit forum r/SocialistRA, Platner weighed in on a Portland Press Herald report about two former police officers who admitted to killing porcupines with their batons while on duty. One of the officers, a Marine veteran who had served in Afghanistan, blamed his conduct on PTSD stemming from his deployment, a claim Platner dismissed in harsh terms.
"Dont buy into that bulls---. I did 4 tours in the infantry to Iraq and Afghanistan, saw all kinds of awful things, have a PTSD diagnosis and STILL manage not to beat defenseless animals to death for fun," Platner, a Marine and Army veteran and oyster farmer, wrote in the since-deleted post. "Thats just cops giving excuses for their garbage behavior," he added, making clear that, at least then, he viewed PTSD as no justification for misconduct.
Platners activity on r/SocialistRA and other far-left Reddit forums was first detailed by CNN, which reported that the posts were scrubbed months before he launched his Senate bid. Throughout the campaign, however, Platner has insisted that his own offensive statements were the product of a dark period following multiple overseas deployments, not a reflection of his current character or beliefs.
He has argued that his rhetoric came from someone who was "having a very difficult time settling into a society that he felt betrayed by and left behind by after having a fight in Iraq and Afghanistan." In a video posted to social media in late 2025, Platner tried to frame his online behavior as the outgrowth of alienation and disillusionment rather than deeply held convictions.
"This was a time in my life where I was struggling deeply," Platner said in that video, describing his transition out of the military. "I got out of the Army in 2012, I had PTSD, I had depression, I had all of the things that come with serving in a war, two wars that I eventually began to not believe in at all."
"It left me feeling very unmoored. It left me feeling very disillusioned, very alienated and very isolated," he added, portraying his internet activity as a misguided search for belonging. "And I think, like a lot of people, I went on the internet to post stupid things and get in fights and find some form of community in some way, some outlet for my feelings."
The record of those "stupid things" is extensive and often disturbing, particularly for a candidate now seeking one of the most powerful offices in the country. In 2013, commenting on a video promoting female underwear designed to prevent rape, Platner wrote in a since-deleted message, first obtained by The Washington Post, "Rape is a real thing. If youre so worried about it to buy Kevlar underwear youd think you might not get blacked out f---ed up around people you arent comfortable with."
Five years later, in 2018, he appeared to endorse political violence as a legitimate tool to achieve "economic justice," according to a since-deleted post reported by Politico. Such rhetoric aligns more with hard-left revolutionary movements than with the mainstream image Democrats often try to project in swing states like Maine.
Many of Platners most controversial remarks, however, came as recently as 2020, when he was already a seasoned adult, not a teenager sounding off online. That same year, he wrote that white people living in rural America are "actually" racist and stupid and that all law enforcement officers are "bastards," in posts CNN reported were later deleted.
By 2021, Platner was openly embracing a radical ideological identity that would alarm many centrist and conservative voters. In another since-deleted post, he declared that he "got older and became a Communist," a statement that underscores just how far left the Maine Democratic Party has drifted in elevating him as its standard-bearer.
Beyond his online commentary, Platner has also been forced to answer for a chest tattoo of a Nazi-linked symbol he bore for most of his adult life. He has said he got the skull-and-crossbones design in 2007 while out drinking with fellow Marines stationed in Croatia and claims he did not know of its association with Nazi Germany.
Platner has since covered up the tattoo and expressed remorse for some of his online posts, but questions linger about his judgment and credibility. Some reports, which Platner has denied, suggest he was aware of the symbols Nazi ties, raising further doubts about his explanations and the narrative of ignorance he now advances.
Fox News Digital reached out to Platners campaign for comment on the latest revelations about his past statements and the apparent inconsistency in his use of PTSD as both shield and sword. His team has so far leaned on the argument that voters are more interested in his policy agenda than in what they describe as old, out-of-context posts.
The stakes of this race extend far beyond Maines borders, as the contest is central to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumers, D-N.Y., long-shot effort to reclaim control of the upper chamber. Platner told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday that he would not support Schumer remaining Democratic leader, aligning himself with a growing bloc of progressives eager to push the party even further left.
The presumptive Democratic nominee has also insisted that the uproar over his social media history will not derail his campaign. He argues that voters have already rendered their verdict on the attacks, pointing to his success in the primary despite a barrage of negative coverage.
Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, 78, attempted to weaponize Platners rape-related comments in campaign advertising, but the ads failed to dent his standing among Democratic primary voters. Backed by Schumer and the party establishment, Mills ultimately dropped out of the race in late April after trailing Platner significantly in public polling, a sign that the Democratic base is comfortable embracing a far more radical figure.
"The Democratic establishment tried to use all those attacks against me and failed miserably," Platner said, referring to Mills negative spots before she exited the race. "Now the Republican establishment is going to try to use the exact same attacks, and that will also fail miserably."
For conservatives, Platners record raises fundamental questions about the direction of the Democratic Party and the kind of leadership it wants in Washington. Voters in Maine will now have to decide whether a candidate who once boasted he "became a Communist," derided rural Americans and police, and dismissed PTSD as no excuse for "garbage behavior" should be entrusted with a Senate seat at a time when respect for law enforcement, personal responsibility, and traditional American values are already under sustained assault.
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