SS Tattoo. Hamas Praise. Blamed Rape Victims. Democrats Want Him in the U.S. Senate.
Graham Platner wore a Nazi Totenkopfskull on his chest for 18 years. He praised a Hamas raid that killed 5 Israeli soldiers. He blamed rape victims for their assaults. He called rural white Americans “racist and stupid.” He identified as a communist. He covered the tattoo up only after reporters noticed it. Then he called himself a victim of opposition research.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA): “an a**hole with a Nazi tattoo on his chest.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): “my kind of man.” Updated: May 2, 2026 · 12:00 PM ET
He said he didn’t know it was Nazi. A witness heard him name it himself.
Graham Platner wore a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his chest for more than 18 years. Not just any skull — a Totenkopf: the “Death’s Head” emblem of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, the SS units that ran the Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. The specific skull orientation and bone arrangement match the historical Nazi insignia.
Platner’s initial explanation: he got it in 2007 while on leave as a Marine in Split, Croatia, during a night of heavy drinking. “We chose a terrifying-looking skull and crossbones off the wall, because we were Marines, and skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing.”
When pressed, Platner gave multiple contradictory accounts.
“It was not until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol.”
Initial public statement
“I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it, I've not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years.”
Deflection via visibility
“I am not a secret Nazi. Actually, if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism.”
Directed reporters to his Reddit — which contained the Hamas praise and racial comments
“I came out of a hyper-masculine, hyper-violent place. We have a crude sense of humor in the infantry... we certainly have a narrow view of a lot of topics.”
CBS News 'The Takeout' podcast — blaming the Marine Corps for the tattoo. GOP veterans erupted.
In late October 2025 — after CNN, Jewish Insider, and local Maine outlets had all published their reporting — Platner had the Totenkopf covered with a new tattoo: a Celtic knot with a dog-like creature. The cover-up came only after the story became national news.
The Anti-Defamation League characterized the situation as “troubling,” but stopped short of calling Platner an antisemite. GOP veterans were not so measured.
“I served nearly 30 years and never saw a Nazi tattoo on one of our servicemen or women.”
“I must have missed the day in basic training where they taught us to get Nazi tattoos and say women deserve to be raped.”
“Blame the Marine Corps for Nazi tattoos and rape comments? Wasn't in my training manual.”
“Slanderous to our servicemen and women.”
Handle: P-Hustle. 1,800+ posts. Most deleted before launch day. Here’s what survived.
Between 2013 and 2021, Platner posted more than 1,800 times on Reddit under the handle “P-Hustle.” The posts were deleted before his campaign launched in August 2025. CNN’s KFile and the Bangor Daily News recovered and published them. They are Platner’s own words, in his own hand, dated and timestamped. His response: “That was very much me f**king around the internet.”
“Rape is a real thing. If you're so worried about it to buy Kevlar underwear you'd think you might not get blacked out f**ked up around people you aren't comfortable with.”
EMILYs List headlined this as Platner saying sexual assault victims should 'take some responsibility.' A sexual assault survivor later confronted him in person at a campaign event.
“How about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f**ked up they wind up having sex with someone they don't mean to? Men and women, you make a choice to consume enough of a substance to lose your self control.”
Flatly attributed blame for sexual assault to the victim's alcohol consumption.
“Why don't black people tip? Every now and again a black patron will leave a 15-20% tip, but usually it is between 0-5%.”
Bangor Daily News published the post in full; it was one of several racially charged comments identified in the deleted archive.
“actually are. [agreeing that rural white Americans are 'racist and stupid']”
Platner agreed with a post characterizing rural white Americans that way. He is running for Senate in a state that is 94% white.
“All cops are bastards.”
Supported ACAB (all cops are bastards) rhetoric across multiple posts.
“I got older and became a communist.”
In a separate post, identified as a 'Democratic Socialist.' Now runs as a 'New Deal Democrat.'
“Fight until you get tired of fighting with words and then fight with signs, and fists, and guns if need be.”
Also wrote that those expecting to combat fascism without 'a good semi-automatic rifle' should study history.
“That was very much me f**king around the internet... I don't think any of that is indicative of who I am today.”
Graham Platner, on his Reddit record — Oct. 2025
The Daily Show dedicated a four-minute segment to mocking the posts. The NRSC produced an ad featuring a “dramatic reading” of Platner’s Reddit comments that circulated widely. Platner did not dispute the authenticity of any quote.
“A damn fine looking and successful raid.” The raid killed 5 Israeli soldiers.
In 2014, Platner posted on Reddit’s r/CombatFootage in response to a video of a Hamas raid that killed at least five Israeli soldiers. His assessment:
“Looks like an all around well executed and successful small unit raid to me... this was a damn fine looking and successful raid against a superior opponent, I dig it.”
Graham Platner, Reddit r/CombatFootage, 2014 — on a Hamas attack that killed 5 Israeli soldiers
He defended the Hamas attackers as “pragmatic” and favorably compared their tactics to Iraq insurgents — because they wore uniforms. The context: these were Israeli soldiers being killed. The praise was purely tactical. Platner never expressed condolences for the victims.
This was not an isolated comment. In November 2002, a 17-year-old Platner co-authored an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News arguing that media post-9/11 was “too patriotic” for portraying “every terrorist as evil,” specifically defending Chechen hostage-takers’ motivations. The framing: “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” He was 17 — but he was also six weeks post-September 11.
In August 2025, just days after launching his campaign, Platner held a fundraiser at Exiles Bar in Washington, D.C. — a bar that had partnered with the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP), a group that reportedly characterized October 7 as Israel initiating an “assault on Gaza.” The NRSC called the venue “a bar with a history of supporting Islamic terrorism.”
The Reddit posts were years ago. These happened in 2026, on the record, during campaign interviews.
Platner’s defenders argued his Reddit posts were old and reflected a different person. Then came April 2026.
“Dismantling ICE is the moderate position. Unmask these thugs, arrest them, and make them answer for these horrors.”
Posted the same day as a fatal encounter involving ICE agents. Described abolishing a federal law enforcement agency as 'the moderate position.'
“I was like, 'Well, that's the f**king most r*****ed s**t I've ever heard in my life.'”
Used a widely condemned slur in an active on-the-record interview — not an old Reddit post. Platner apologized: 'I am sorry. I am endeavoring to improve every single day.'
“The people celebrating the bombing of Iran know nothing of the horrors of war. They've never watched a friend ripped apart by explosives.”
Positioned himself against U.S. military action in the ongoing Iran conflict.
Fetterman called him an a**hole. Warren called him “my kind of man.”
The Democratic Party response to Graham Platner reveals a party at war with itself — some horrified, most compliant. Four campaign staffers resigned in ten days. Platner offered his own political director $15,000 to sign a non-disclosure agreement after she quit. She declined.
Resigned Oct. 17, 2025. Offered $15,000 NDA — declined.
Resigned Oct. 27, 2025 — officially 'family reasons.' Had been on the job less than a week.
Resigned Oct. 31, 2025, citing 'professional standards' differences.
Also replaced during the October/November staffing crisis.
“If Maine wants an a**hole with a Nazi tattoo on his chest, they get him. Democrats really, really like Platner in Maine, but the Republicans f**king love him.”
“Won't support a Democrat who doesn't represent the views and values of the vast majority of American Jews.”
“Abhorrent.”
“Collins has never been more vulnerable and we will work with the presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Platner to defeat her.”
“Look, he has apologized for that, and he's out there talking to the people of Maine every single day. He's my kind of man.”
“Appeared with Platner at 'Fighting Oligarchy' tour events and endorsed him before the tattoo story broke.”
“He went through a really rough period, a PTSD-type period. I believe people should have second chances.”
On the Republican side, the NRSC has reserved $42 million in fall TV ads against Platner. The Senate Leadership Fund’s sister nonprofit One Nation is already running $18 million in current ads. NRSC Chair Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC): “This is the new Democrat Party. We should have an all-out assault on the concept that somehow Graham Platner will squeak through. He has to be exposed.”
He bills himself as a working-class Mainer. He went to a $75,000/year prep school.
Platner’s campaign persona centers on being a salt-of-the-earth Maine oyster farmer and Marine veteran. The Washington Free Beacon reported that Platner attended the elite Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut — a boarding school that costs upward of $75,000 per year and counts Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, former CIA Director Porter Goss, and anchor Chris Wallace among its alumni.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren called him “my kind of man.” Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed him early. Democrats wonder why they keep losing elections in rural America.