Graham Platner, the Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren-backed presumptive Democrat Senate nominee in Maine, is entering the general election season under a cloud of self-inflicted scandal that raises serious questions about the partys standards and priorities.
According to RedState, Platner emerged as the likely nominee after Democrat Gov. Janet Mills abruptly exited the race, leaving progressives to rally around a candidate whose online history reads like a case study in radicalism and poor judgment. Early in the primary, Platners past as an anonymous Reddit commenter began to surface, with posts stretching from 2013 to as recently as 2021 that showcased his hard-left ideology and open contempt for law enforcement and Middle America.
In those posts, Platner boasted about being a communist and smeared police officers as "b**tards," rhetoric that fits neatly within the modern progressive disdain for law enforcement but sits uneasily with voters who still value order and respect for those who serve. His commentary did not stop there; he also indulged in self-loathing attacks on rural white Americans, racially insensitive remarks about black people, and even instances of sexual assault victim-shaming, all of which paint a disturbing picture of the man Democrats now hope will help them reclaim the Senate.
Platner has tried to wave away much of this as the immature ramblings of an "internet sh**poster," a familiar dodge in an era when the left often excuses its own extremism as mere online performance. Yet one revelation has proved far more difficult for the Marine veteran to explain away: a Nazi-themed chest tattoo he has worn since 2007, which he now claims he got while drunk in Croatia, insisting he did not understand its meaning at the time and has since covered with another tattoo.
As additional posts have been unearthed, the portrait of Platner has only grown more troubling, veering from the merely offensive into the outright grotesque. As my colleague Rusty Weiss detailed earlier, some of the latest material involves graphic discussions of self-pleasuring in portable toilets, content that would be disqualifying in any party that still took character and basic decency seriously.
One of those posts, flagged with a warning for strong language and graphic imagery, reads: "I still have to jerk off every time I sit in a porta-s***ter that blue water smell conditioned me." That line alone would be enough to sink most candidates, yet for Platner and his defenders, it has become just another controversy to spin away rather than a moment for reflection or accountability.
The vulgarity did not end there. In a March 2021 post in the r/USMC forum, Platner responded to a thread about GWOT D*** Art by praising an explicit penis drawing in a portable toilet, leaning into a kind of barracks humor that, in his case, crossed well beyond the line of what most Americans would consider acceptable.
"Oh s---!!!," Platner wrote. "Youve got the Hot Rod C--- from Manas!" He went on to gush, "I sat there in sheer awe. The soul filling joy to be allowed to witness such glory," describing the graffiti as beautiful, engorged and veiny, and moving towards its penetrative glory.
Amazingly, but not surprisingly in todays Democrat Party, one of Platners most vocal defenders has been Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), an Iraq War veteran and former Marine who has built his brand on progressive politics and close ties to disgraced Rep. Eric Swalwell. Rather than distancing himself from the explicit content, Gallego rushed to normalize it, portraying the revelations as something that somehow made Platner "more relatable to veterans."
"Did Fox News talk to any grunt or deployed Marine before posting?" Gallego posted on X. "If the goal is to make him more relatable to veterans than mission accomplished." That defense, which reduces military service to crude bathroom humor, says as much about Gallegos judgment as it does about Platners.
Not everyone in uniform was amused. Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT), a former Navy SEAL who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, responded with a pointed jab: "Mental note - dont use the Senate mens room after Ruben."
Others were far more direct in their criticism, highlighting the moral rot on display when a sitting senator treats such posts as admirable or relatable. One commentator wrote, "A sitting United States Senator is calling posts that fantasize about masturbating into public toilets relatable. I see now why you and Eric Swalwell made the best of friends! https://t.co/UvUW11ARwZ"
Another critic cut to the heart of the ideological problem, tying Platners extremism to the broader Democrat base. "Yeah, because a violent, angry, woman-hating, Nazi is so relatable to Democrats. At least you're honest about it. https://t.co/5sXZ8Zty7r"
Even AI-generated mockery joined the pile-on, underscoring how absurd the situation has become for a supposedly serious Senate contender. "When this porta-potty is rocking, dont come a-knocking. What an embarrassment for all Marines. @usmc @SenRubenGallego @grahamformaine @RubenGallego @FoxNews @SenateDems https://t.co/51EZsLOwlx pic.twitter.com/6TXO5J4SDr"
The association with Swalwell, who has long been dogged by scandal, only deepened the sense that Platners defenders inhabit a different moral universe than most voters. As one observer put it, "Best friend of likely rapist Eric Swalwell says he likes Platner more after finding out he masturbated in porta potties. This is not a sentence that I could have fathomed writing at any point in my life but here we are. https://t.co/8sV85czaOq"
For many conservatives, the most revealing aspect of this saga is not merely Platners own behavior but the eagerness of leading Democrats like Gallego, Warren, Sanders, and others to circle the wagons around him. As far as I'm concerned, the defenses of Platner's comments from the likes of Gallego, Warren, Sanders, and other Senate Democrats are just as much of an indictment of them as they are of Platner.
Their desperation to retake the Senate appears so intense that virtually no line of conduct is too depraved or too radical to excuse. They are so desperate to retake the Senate that Platner could come out tomorrow and explicitly say I knew exactly what that tattoo meant and am damned proud of it, and they'd still find a way to defend him.
While Democrat activists in Maine may shrug off Platners troubling internet history and Nazi tattoo as old news or edgy humor, the broader electorate is unlikely to be so forgiving. Independent votersmany of whom Platner must persuade if he hopes to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins this fallmay ultimately decide that a candidate who treats communism, anti-police slurs, Nazi imagery, and graphic porta-potty fantasies as punchlines is simply unfit for high office.
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