What a nightmare for Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who got hurled into the furnace this week after it was revealed he has Nazi-themed tattoos. These aren’t allegations; he admitted to it. He claims that he got them on a night of drunkenness while he served in the US Marine Corps in Eastern Europe. When you’re go-to line is ‘I’m not a secret Nazi,’ a Chernobyl-like public relations meltdown is on the horizon. The tattoo is located on his chest (via Axios):
Platner drew the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as an anti-establishment outsider, but his campaign is already trying to clean up recently resurfaced Reddit posts where he espoused offensive views about Black people and sexual assault victims.
Platner's campaign shared video with Pod Save America of him singing shirtless that exposed a skull tattoo on his chest that resembles the "Totenkopf," a symbol used by Hitler's Schutzstaffel (SS).
The move was intended to get ahead of opposition research, and the GOP's Senate campaign arm seized on the images, accusing Platner of having a "Nazi tattoo."
Driving the news: Platner said in an interview with Tommy Vietor of Pod Save America that was released on Monday that the video was from his brother's wedding, where he lip-synced Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball."
"I am not a secret Nazi," Platner told Vietor, adding that he got the tattoo in Croatia while deployed and was "very inebriated." Platner said he and his fellow Marines chose "a terrifying looking skull and crossbones."
Oh, it gets better—he had it removed...sort of:
I'm dying... https://t.co/HrmEqWpgyp
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 22, 2025
the new tattoo https://t.co/mVTM2B6gb8 pic.twitter.com/kTk5RicDLZ
— LB (@beyondreasdoubt) October 22, 2025
My Lord, drop out, man.
The reactions have been both hilarious and disturbing. There have been elite memes mocking this man, but also a slew of Democrats and liberal hosts who have defended the Nazi tattoos. It’s almost as if they’re frustrated; they got owned after trying to cast Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as a Nazi for his Celtic cross tattoos. It is also a bit predictable that liberals wouldn’t know a real Nazi since they’re so historically illiterate. If Platner were a Republican, you bet this would be more of a story, but he got caught, he’s confessed, and now there’s only one thing for these people to do: defend this stuff.
Recommended
Ex-MSNBC host Krystal Ball tweeted, “For me personally I’ll take a candidate with a regrettable tattoo over one who has steadfastly supported a genocide.”
if the post cover tomorrow isn’t ‘MAINE KAMPF’ I’m gonna be so sad https://t.co/NF0Ovyqb0F
— Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) October 22, 2025
“He may be a Nazi, but he’s our Nazi” https://t.co/74DX4Dxuns
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 22, 2025
People who falsely accuse the Jewish state of “genocide” are unsurprisingly not bothered by Nazi tattoos… pic.twitter.com/4RDwUp7Fem
— AG (@AGHamilton29) October 22, 2025
Krystal Nacht https://t.co/dGjD7AVrSv
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) October 22, 2025
Am I going crazy? Elon Musk waved at an audience in January & it inspired a national news cycle because people said it resembled a Nazi salute. Meanwhile, a Democrat gets a tattoo he allegedly called his "Totenkopf" and it's no big deal? What kind of standard is that? https://t.co/MNqp0qKd3H
— Billy Binion (@billybinion) October 22, 2025
Obama Bro now defending Nazi tattoos. Absolutely perfect. https://t.co/nqlRhYyHYi
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) October 22, 2025
Miss Ball will quite literally support someone with a Nazi tattoo, but condemn someone with a Star of David tattoo. This is totally normal and super morally coherent. https://t.co/32Yuw9IUns
— Joanne Mason (@JoanneMason11) October 22, 2025
Latest requirements for lefty political support:
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) October 22, 2025
1. Promise to murder Republican opponents and their children
2. Nazi tattoo
What’s next? pic.twitter.com/hB1VlBLEZ2
If you drunkenly walk into a Croatian tattoo parlor and randomly pick a skull and bones tat off the wall, as Platner says he did, there's a better than 50% chance you're getting something nazi related https://t.co/iB0slq1qO0
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) October 21, 2025
Democrats stand by fellow Democrat with an ACTUAL Nazi tattoo…
— John Ocasio-Rodham Nolte (@NolteNC) October 22, 2025
Say you want to shoot a Republican and his kids. Democrats stand with you.
Get an ACTUAL Nazi tattoo, Democrats stand with you.
Post a sombrero meme, Democrats lecture you about decency. pic.twitter.com/LiEEINc2Nb
So…the Democrats that tried to turn Christian tattoos into a scandal are running a guy with a Nazi tattoo?
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) October 22, 2025
Yeah, peak idiocy, and she got wrecked over it. The “regrettable tattoo” only has its links to the most infamous genocide, but whatever.
Oops!
— C3 (@C_3C_3) October 22, 2025
Graham Platner…
Nazi tattoo: 2007
Caught with Nazi tattoo: 10/21/25.
Covered up with Celtic tattoo: 10/22/25
18 years walking around with a Nazi tattoo claiming to be anti-fascist…
All they do is lie. pic.twitter.com/R4xpYkipO2
https://t.co/gRDqbamK4j pic.twitter.com/MixxwDrrLo
— Magills (@magills_) October 22, 2025
Do you all like my Steven Seagal tattoo? pic.twitter.com/xaF0sDCb0B
— Magills (@magills_) October 22, 2025
Editor's Note: Donald Trump is America's Peace Time President. Support and follow Townhall's latest reporting on the president's historic trip to the Middle East.
Join Townhall VIP and use promo code POTUS47 to get 74% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member