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'Drop Out': Sen. Banks Torches Maine Dem Over Deleted Posts Mocking Wounded Veteran

Scott McClallen
Scott McClallen  |  May 27, 2026 7:30 PM

Indiana State Sen. Jim Banks slammed Graham Platner, who’s running for U.S. Senate in Maine, for now-deleted social media posts that said a Purple Heart recipient “didn’t deserve to live.”

Platner refused to apologize for his Reddit post that said that Teddy Daniels, who was injured during a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan in 2012, “didn’t deserve to live.”

Platner’s full post on Reddit said, “This video never gets old. Dumb motherf****r didn’t deserve to live. At least his stupidity and fat a** wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness and hold in contempt. Poor marksmanship on the Taliban’s part is the only reason this mouthbreather made it home, he managed to make every possible s**t decision possible when it comes to small unit combat.”


Banks called on Platner to drop out of the race. 

“To suggest that a Purple Heart veteran should have been shot and not come home to their family, that’s one of the most disgraceful things I’ve ever seen from any candidate who’s ever run for any office in the United States of America. Platner should drop out of the race. He’s not a serious candidate. 

“Susan Collins is going to win this race in Maine by a landslide,” Banks told Fox News. “The more that the voters get to know Graham Platner, the more that the Democrats are going to realize that they own a really bad candidate, a lunatic candidate.”

Platner also said that he has a fetish for masturbating in port-a-potties in another now-deleted post. He's also taken heat for a Nazi tattoo on his chest.