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So this is Graham Platner’s explanation and actions after it was revealed that he has a Nazi tattoo:
“It was not until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol,” Platner said in a statement to POLITICO on Tuesday. “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. I am already planning to get this removed.”
Platner reiterated that he got the tattoo while out drinking with fellow Marines in Croatia, choosing the skull and crossbones off a wall at the tattoo parlor. He said the similarity to Nazi iconography never came up, including when he underwent physical exams mandated by the U.S. Army, which prohibits tattoos of identified hate symbols.
“In the nearly 20 years since, this hasn’t come up,” Platner said. “I enlisted in the Army which involved a full physical that examines tattoos for hate symbols. I also passed a full background check to receive a security clearance to join the Ambassador to Afghanistan’s security detail.”
Platner’s statement that he would get the tattoo removed came after questions were raised, including from a former top campaign staffer, about how he could have been unaware of the tattoo’s connotations.
“Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means,” Platner’s former political director, Genevieve McDonald, wrote on Facebook.
This is too clever by half. Or as Burl Ives said about another liar in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof:
Platner obviously knew that the tattoo was a problem at least a couple of weeks ago. Yet he did nothing about it. A cover-up session would have taken half a day at most. Or he could have started laser removal. The resignation of his campaign manager and her comments tell me that she had raised the issue with him and he did nothing about it. That’s the real problem with Platner as a candidate: he made a mistake by not listening to good advice, and he tells a shitty lie to try to get away with it. There are a lot of explanations that might have made more sense, “I just found out” doesn’t cut it.
I have so little tolerance for this, and it comes from the awful, no-good Clinton years. Bill was always dragging us into his lies (didn’t inhale, didn’t have sex with that woman, etc.), making us defend him because on balance many thought he was helpful to the party. Going down that road again would be extremely foolish for any Platner supporters. (Bernie is defending him, bad choice.)
This is made more disgusting by Schumer spending a bunch of time and energy to stick his beak into this race long before Mainers had a chance to judge their candidates.
Lucky for everyone, it’s October 2025, not October 2026.
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