The Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner attempted to get ahead of potential opposition research by disclosing and explaining a skull-and-crossbones tattoo he has on his chest that resembles Nazi imagery, along with an embarrassing personal video.
In a video interview with Pod Save America that aired on Monday, Platner said he and fellow marines got matching tattoos at a parlor in Split, Croatia, in 2007 while deployed overseas.
He said that he wanted to address the issues himself before opponents could weaponize them, saying there isn’t anything “worse” or “different” than his problematic Reddit posts that have come back to bite his campaign in recent days, and insisting that he had no knowledge of the imagery’s historical associations.
“We chose a terrifying looking skull and crossbones off the wall because we were marines and skulls and crossbones are pretty standard military thing,” he said, “and we got those tattoos, and then we all moved on from our lives.”
The tattoo in question resembles the Totenkopf, or “death’s head” symbol, which was adopted by Hitler’s SS during the Nazi era and became particularly associated with the SS-Totenkopfverbande, the branch responsible for guarding concentration camps, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
When reached for comment, Platner said: “I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that” the tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol. He said he was “already planning to get this removed”.
The skull is in full view in video footage he shared with the media company, which shows him dancing in his underwear at his brother’s wedding, lip-syncing Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball in a performance for his sister-in-law.
He emphasized in the interview that he was “not a secret Nazi” and pointed to his Reddit comment history as evidence of his opposition to Nazism, antisemitism and racism. “I would say a lifelong opponent,” he stated.
The US military already has a policy that checks for extremist, racist and sexist tattoos, and Platner added that the Nazi connection never came up during security screenings, including when he joined the army national guard after his marine service and later for the state department when he worked as security detail for the US ambassador to Afghanistan.
“The fact that I’ve managed to go from communist to Nazi in the span of four days according to people who are trying to do this to me I find to be quite a spectacular turn of events,” Platner said.
The disclosures come as Platner’s insurgent campaign faced newfound scrutiny. On Friday, he issued a video apology for inflammatory Reddit posts spanning 2013 to 2021, which included calling police officers “bastards”, questioning why Black people tip less, and appearing to agree with characterizations of rural white voters as “racist” and “stupid”.
His former political director, Genevieve McDonald, a former state representative who resigned on Friday over the Reddit comments, remained very skeptical about Platner’s explanation of the tattoo.
“Platner prides himself on his extensive knowledge of military history,” McDonald said. “While he may not have known what his tattoo meant when he selected the image, it is not plausible he remained ignorant of its meaning all these years.”
Platner has emerged as a significant figure in a competitive Senate race to flip Maine, drawing hundreds to town halls and raising nearly $4m while positioning himself as critical of the Democratic establishment, including the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, who he said he would not support.
In the podcast interview, Platner maintained he was not trying to conceal the tattoo.
“I can honestly say if I was trying to hide it I haven’t been doing a very good job for the last 18 years,” he said.
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