meme inspired by this thread
Having a US senator that was an Abu Ghraib (the US torture camp in Iraq) prison guard, seems incredibly on brand.
He was a guard at Abu Ghraib even after the torture and human rights violations were exposed.
He did cover it up. Nevertheless, he absolutely has a lot to answer for in terms of his “service” to the US military (including torture camps) and then joining Blackwater, as well as obviously his assertion that he didn’t know what it was for 18 years
I had not heard of the totemkof before this or knew that it was a Nazi symbol I think it’s totally possible that he just thought the skull was cool. Like honestly as an American we are really dumb and uneducated as can be seen here since most people don’t know what that is.
if that’s the case, and it was an honest mistake. which is plausible. that means that as soon as I find out what it means, I will get a coverup or have it removed.
keeping it is a massive red flag. I’m not a nazi, but I’m ok with having Nazi signs on my own skin? yhea, that’s bullshit
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Once again he titled himself as a “dedicated anti-fascist” and “communist”.
There are witnesses to him jokingly referring to it as his ‘totenkopf’ like 8 years ago when he worked at a bar. Anyone interested in military history should probably be aware of it as well.
Yeah I can believe being a stupid drunk soldier getting a skull tattoo not knowing what it was. But then not making the first possible appointment to cover the fucking Nazi symbol as soon as you realized this? Nah. I hate this shit.
I think it was more of a crazy story tattoo than a Nazi tattoo to him
This guy was listing wars he’d like to fight in, because they were against civilians. This guy does not see the world in a normal way set all
But hey, his positions are on point. I’m not going out on a limb for him, but maybe chud-coded progressives are a viable strategy
Do you have more info?
I can’t find the original posts… Search engines are unusable these days
But the one that stood out to me was when he was saying his preferred wars to fight in would be ones like the Philippines or Afghanistan, so that he could get the rush of combat without the danger of actual opposition
Most of the posts people are freaking out about are ignorant shit I have no problem looking past… Casual bigotry is something you can grow out of easily with experience
But the dude has a thing with violence and war I find more concerning… But he does seem like a principled progressive, so I think it’s worth giving him a shot
Can you share a source?
But 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 in World War II.
“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.”
The exchange occurred in 2012 at Tune Inn, a popular dive on Capitol Hill where Platner later worked as a bartender and was a frequent patron while he attended The George Washington University on the G.I. bill, according to the former acquaintance. He would often take his shirt off drinking with friends late at night at the bar, and on at least one occasion had stated he knew what the tattoo represented, the former acquaintance recalled.
https://jewishinsider.com/2025/10/graham-platner-ss-tattoo-maine-senate/
I mean there’s people even getting Chinese symbols and they don’t know WTF it means 80% of the time. I can believe it but I also feel that some of his story is kind fishy. You know.
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Let me know when he expresses any intent about decreasing US militarism/imperialism.
I hope the Overton window shifts that far to the left some day.
It’s actually already there.
Ending US wars is like universal healthcare. Sadly, this is one of those things where the mainstream public consensus is overwhelmingly on our side.
Which is really scary. This isn’t a challenge of shifting the Overton window. It’s one of figuring out how to translate the will of the people into government action in what is supposed to be a democracy. 'Cause we already won public opinion, and it turns out that’s not where the sticking point is.
Overton window is opportunist and Rousseauan liberal BS. Its the duty of the vanguard to direct the masses into that direction.
The reality all leftists/socialists must confront is that the only way forward might require the window to be broken.
Still don’t get Nazi vibes from him.
Small wars are pretty enjoyable.
Just a lot of killing civilians in the globe south for this guy.
Where did he say killing civilians
They literally put Filipinos into concentration camps when the us invaded the Philippines.
Indian Wars
This was quite literally one of the inspirations for Nazi ideology of settler-colonialism in Eastern Europe.
Population-based studies produce estimates of the number of Iraq War casualties ranging from 151,000 violent deaths as of June 2006 (per the Iraq Family Health Survey) to 1,033,000 excess deaths (per the 2007 Opinion Research Business (ORB) survey). Other survey-based studies covering different time-spans find 461,000 total deaths (over 60% of them violent) as of June 2011 (per PLOS Medicine 2013), and 655,000 total deaths (over 90% of them violent) as of June 2006 (per the 2006 Lancet study). Body counts counted at least 110,600 violent deaths as of April 2009 (Associated Press). The Iraq Body Count project documents 186,901–210,296 violent civilian deaths in their table.
You’re going to learn quickly in the coming years that these facts aren’t going to prevent you from getting punched in the face and thrown into a cage. I don’t think this guy is a Nazi or listed the Indian war as some kind of back handed reference to that. But I do think there’s no amount of loss you can suffer that would ever make you realize how badly people like you have fucked everything up the past 10 years.
Just amazing response.
punched in the face and thrown into a cage
people like you have fucked everything up
ya, don’t mention the Dems support for drone killings and genocide, that has no relation to anything that is currently happening
It doesn’t. We need results. Not morally hand wringing. We can do that after we get back the culture
Respectfully: your point is unclear, but it feels like you’ve lost the plot.
Maybe reread the thread and see if you’re saying what you mean to be saying?
For all actual leftists, please read materialism & empirio-criticism, Lenin talks about the “action above all else” people like that person above me.
Driving against a wall is also a movement forward, just not one into a productive direction.
You stand for absolutely nothing, you deserve Trump and worse
Handwaving fascist tattoos is ceding too much in my opinion. This should be a moment where liberals have some self awareness and grapple with the use of state power to service the whims of capital, but history doesn’t provide a hopeful forecast in that regard.
A soldier, trained for warfare, and enjoying it is quite disturbing for people who never encounter it. I’m disturbed by it. That said, I’m not seeing anything about enjoying bloodshed there. He says he likes small wars because he feels there’s less inhumane brutality.
Is your problem that a soldier enjoys what they do? That makes them a Nazi?
I feel like your comment about killing civilians in the global south is making a big assumption that isn’t even really hinted at. In fact the opposite, as he talks about working with the local community.
Nazi tattoo
Enjoys imperialist wars against native populations with less capacity to fight back
hmmmm
Edit: You didn’t answer my question. You brought up what’s already been established.
Skull tattoo. I’m sorry, most Americans are not so familiar with Nazi symbols to identify that specific skull design as Nazi. Swastika, SS, Iron Cross, sure. A skull and crossbones? Wouldn’t clock it. I thought it was a generic “bad guy” symbol in the comedy sketch you have a screenshot from. And he’s had it covered up.
If he knew, why would he allow someone to take a picture of it?
So… your second point is just that you don’t agree with America’s involvement with those wars at all. Which is less to do with this guy than with America’s choices of war. Valid, I agree, but not a signpost that he’s a Nazi. Unless all Americans involved in those were secretly Nazis.
Look. I don’t think anyone’s calling him trustworthy or a good person, but this insistence that he must be a Nazi due to a tattoo that he’s gotten covered up, when he’s been so open about all of it is silly.
He didn’t try to get the photo taken down. He didn’t deny it. He didn’t get belligerant and say he wasn’t going to cover it up just to keep people mad. He’s not pretending he didn’t have it.
I’m keeping him on my radar, but when US politics is filled with so damn many overt and explicit racists and Nazis that are so damn comfortable being mask off, I’m not ready to stomp down on this guy yet.
US politics is filled with so damn many overt and explicit racists and Nazis that are so damn comfortable being mask off
Ya, let’s not make a big deal out of this tattoo, seems like that will really help with this situation.
Go join .world, DNC plant. The 77yo the losers in DNC leadership want to run is the singularly least popular governor in the ENTIRE COUNTRY. They will lose, but at least your overlords will never have to see anyone to the left of Ronald Reagan win a DNC primary north of Connecticut,while Susan Collins keeps her seat.
You seem extremely confused
LMAO LOL even
this is some “Blue MAGA or Nazi Veteran, no other choice can exist” right here
DNC plant
Graham Platner >> reg haram plant
Vote PSL, death to IDF, free Palestine, recognize Nazi tattoos, it’s socialism or barbarism y’all
Wait, so this skull was a nazi symbol?! Princess Leia’s skull!!?? Seems kind of beta male to me.
Well they did lose on the battlefield eventually, mostly thanks to the USSR.
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Nobody cares who you block dumbass
LMAO
