Remember back when former New Yorker "fact-checker" Talia Lavin smeared a Marine veteran working for ICE by calling out his Nazi tattoo? Except it wasn't a Nazi tattoo, and Lavin, a supposed expert on exposing the far-right, was sent packing.
Now we have another Marine being accused of having a Nazi tattoo, which he exposed on the Obama bros' "Pod Save America" podcast. The difference is that Graham Platner is running for the Democratic nomination to be the next senator from Maine.
SCOOP @J_Insider via @matthewkassel: "Graham Platner says ‘I am not a secret Nazi’ after photos of his tattoo emerge"
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) October 21, 2025
"A fmr acquaintance of the D Senate candidate said he called the tattoo ‘my Totenkopf,’ referring to a symbol adopted by a Nazi SS unit"https://t.co/GVVaEOaLRh
“We got very inebriated, and we did what Marines on liberty do, and we decided to go get a tattoo.” https://t.co/t2nZevHR5O pic.twitter.com/cGn1izFHlo
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) October 21, 2025
That headline from the Portland Press-Herald reads, "Graham Platner addresses tattoo linked to Nazis." Randy Billings reports:
Graham Platner, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine, took the unusual step of disclosing that he has a tattoo that has been linked to Nazis.
In an extended interview on Pod Save America that first aired Monday night, Platner said he and some fellow Marines got a skull tattoo while drunk on leave in Croatia in 2006, without knowing that it was associated with the Nazis.
“We got very inebriated, and we did what Marines on liberty do, and we decided to go get a tattoo,” Platner said. “We chose a terrifying looking skull and crossbones off the wall because we were Marines and, you know, skulls and crossbones are pretty standard military thing.”
…
The tattoo on his right pectoral appears to resemble the Totenkopf, which the Anti-Defamation League said is German for “death’s head.” It was worn by Hitler’s Schutzstaffel and became a symbol of the unit guarding concentration camps.
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We believe him when he says he didn't know it had any Nazi connection. Now, remember what they put Secretary of War Pete Hegseth through during his confirmation hearings when they claimed his Jerusalem Cross and "Deus Vult" tattoos were connected to white supremacist groups. Hegseth said he was flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member and pulled from guarding Joe Biden’s January 2021 inauguration. Sadly for the Democrats, the tattoo "controversy" didn't stop Hegseth's confirmation.
So what are the Democrats going to do about Platner? Just excuse him because he was drunk and thought the skull and crossbones looked cool.
"According to a person who socialized with Platner when he was living in Washington, D.C., more than a decade ago, Platner had specifically acknowledged that the tattoo was a Totenkopf, the “death’s head” symbol adopted by an infamous Nazi SS unit that guarded concentration camps…
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) October 21, 2025
"“He said, ‘Oh, this is my Totenkopf,’” the former acquaintance told Jewish Insider recently, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address a sensitive issue. “He said it in a cutesy little way.”
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) October 21, 2025
"The mixed accounts indicate that Platner has at least long been aware of the symbols’s connection to Nazism, even as he said in the podcast interview he was not familiar with any such association when he chose to get the tattoo."
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) October 21, 2025
Will Dems give Platner the Hegseth treatment? Where's Lavin on this?
— WFC (@wheatfrom) October 21, 2025
He already responded to this. He got the tat while drunk. Hard for you, who doesn’t make stupid decisions, to understand, but surely one of your friends or family is imperfect & can explain to you? Meanwhile, Trump is an actual fascist as defined by his owns words & actions.
— CitiXen (@SitiXen) October 21, 2025
BUT TRUMP!!!
Is he aware that tattoos can be removed?
— 1967mustangman (@1967mustangman) October 21, 2025
He says he's going to have it removed.
"I'm not a Nazi just a communist" is a lateral move
— Infidel🇺🇲 (@Oreallynow1) October 21, 2025
Man's had a totenkopf on his chest for 18 years and is only now learning it was an emblem of the SS? I call bullshit.
— Richards McGhee (@RichardsMcGhee) October 21, 2025
Homie claims that he had no idea what a totemkopf is? 🤣
— Sweet Willy Rollbar, excitable boy (@vorozab) October 21, 2025
He's either a shameless liar or grotesquely stupid.
— pantsdailyon (@pantsdailyon) October 21, 2025
In Maine, it comes down to this: either this individual or Susan Collins. What a choice when Collins looks good.
Maybe Democrats should take a break from calling everyone they disagree with Nazis. It's no fun to be called a Nazi, as Platner is learning.
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