It's time to let go of Graham Platner

Bernie Sanders is standing by the Maine oyster farmer challenging Susan Collins as he covers up the Nazi tat on his chest. I think that's a mistake.

I get it—I loved Graham Platner, too. So much so that after reading one particularly great profile of the populist Democratic challenging Susan Collins in Maine and seeing one video of him interacting with voters in a way that felt inspiring, I’d started referring to him “Oyster Daddy” and convincing myself that only he could save the Democratic Party from itself.

Found this is in my text history today

Platner was a fantasy candidate, not only because he’s challenging that trashcan of a human in the Senate, but because he represents the demographic that so often eludes the Democratic Party: tough, bearded, hyper-masculine, working class white dude. He’s an oyster farmer and former U.S. Marine who speaks passionately about labor organizing, and descriptions of him by reporters always sound vaguely erotic.

From the New Republic profile:

Take a cold shower, girl!

Despite all this, I’ve been saying that it wouldn’t be a bad thing for Platner to have to face a tough primary against other Democrats in Maine. The guy is untested, because he’s new to politics. Let him fight it out against 77-year-old Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who recently jumped into the race with the backing of Chuck Schumer and the like, so we’re sure there won’t be any surprises about him in the general election against Collins. Here’s a tweet from me earlier this month that already hasn’t aged well:

But sure enough, Mills’ entry into the race immediately shook out some extremely troubling oppo against Platner: He downplayed rape in the military and asked why Black people “don’t tip” in deleted posts; he worked for Blackwater, a truly evil private military contractor known for murdering civilians, as recently as 2018; and he has a Nazi tattoo on his chest.

Platner explained on Pod Save America that he chose the Totenkopf symbol while drunk with his military buddies 20 years ago in Croatia, and that he had no idea it was a Nazi thing at the time:

Mr. Platner said on the podcast, which is hosted by former Obama aides, that he got the tattoo in 2007 in Split, Croatia, and that he and other Marines had chosen a “terrifying-looking skull and crossbones off the wall” and that “skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing.”

“I am not a secret Nazi,” Mr. Platner said on the podcast.

In a statement, Mr. Platner reiterated that he was not aware of the tattoo’s Nazi connections when he got it. “It was not until I started hearing from reporters and D.C. insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol,” he said. “I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that — and to insinuate that I did is disgusting.”

He added in the statement that he had never tried to hide the tattoo, including during a physical examination he had when enlisting in the Army that he said included a check for tattoos with hate symbols. His campaign confirmed in an email on Wednesday that he had gotten the tattoo covered.

Today, we were treated to a shirtless Platner revealing his cover-up tat, which he described to Vanity Fair as “some kind of Celtic knot with a dog on it, because that’s far more in line with my opinions.”

This whole debacle has divided Democrats and left-leaning pundits, some of whom think we should chill out about Platner’s accidental SS tat and focus on what matters.

“He went through a dark period,” Bernie Sanders told Politico in explaining why he’s standing by Platner. “He’s not the only one in America who has gone through a dark period. People go through that, he has apologized for the stupid remarks, the hurtful remarks that he made, and I’m confident that he’s going to run a great campaign and that he’s going to win.”

Matt Stoller told us to stop clutching our pearls about it:

I do understand their points here, as well as the general frustration with Democrats playing by a different set of rules than Republicans and eliminating some of our most charismatic and promising candidates because of some misguided political correctness. But why did it take this man until today to cover up that tat? When you’re running for U.S. Senate as a representative of the party trying to oppose Trump’s fascism, do you not take a more thoughtful look at the images splashed across your chest before jumping into the race? Even if we’re going to cut Platner some slack about waiting until today to deal with his tat, why would he cover it up with “some kind of celtic knot” that he can’t even properly identify or explain, knowing he was going to do a shirtless interview afterward to reveal the new tat and have it scrutinized across the internet? Are you still putting zero thought into the shit you are inking onto your body while literally all eyeballs are on your bare pecs? What does it even mean that a celtic knot with a dog on it is “more in line with your opinions?” Cmon, man.

I do believe Platner when he says that back in 2007, when he was drunk with his soldier buddies and all hopped up on testosterone and adrenaline, he did not pick out an SS symbol thoughtfully and on purpose. I also think the Democrats simply can’t be a party that tolerates former Blackwater mercenaries and Nazi chest tats right now, period, or any fascist symbolism we try to call out in Republicans—including that literal Sieg Heil by Elon Musk on stage or Pete Hegseth’s white Christian nationalist tattoo—will be met with “your guys have them, too.” Even when young Republicans literally say “I love Hitler” in their private texts to each other, our outrage will be neutered by the fact that we let a guy with a Nazi tat run for Senate.

Optics matter in politics, unfortunately. And in this case, Platner has also made enough offensive comments and has enough deeply concerning shit on his resume that we risk being stuck with another John Fetterman wacko on our hands. So unfortunately, it may be time to say goodbye to our Oyster Daddy, even as we take important lessons from him about about how to talk to voters without sounding like a douchebag.