this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2025
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Jfc, are you serious? I’m a puritan because I take issue with someone having a literal nazi tattoo. The election is a year away, find a better candidate to get behind before then, it’s that simple. Do you also believe that Elon Musk was just reaching for his heart and waving during Trump’s inauguration? Do you think that Pete Hegseth got a Deus Vult tattoo because it looks cool?
Platner was a mercenary who served four tours in the middle east, has a tier-list of wars he would fight in, is into military history. Zero fucking chance he doesn’t know what that symbol is at this age.
It is ok that you supported him. He said a lot of things that are worth getting behind. There is now more than enough information out there to realize that he is, at best, a political liability.
Having a nazi tattoo is a non-starter for a political candidate. If you can’t see that, then I don’t know what to tell you. Just because you are able to look past that, which you absolutely should not, you need to realize that he is unelectable to the general public. There is no amount of rehab to his image that can be done for this.
Platner isn't perfect. Support him or don't.
And while you're at it, support those other Left leaning, anti Zionist frontrunners for elections next year across the US. I'll wait for those people to come to power while Platner takes names and kicks ass.
Of course, if another candidate for the Maine Senate race appears and has better optics while championing the same views as Platner, I'm all for it.
But let's keep closeted leftists from taking office because they aren't left enough.
That he wasn't left enough wasn't the criticism, and you know that. The criticism was specifically that there is reasonable doubt that the guy is a cryptofascist.
There is a reasonable doubt. That's true.
But people are taking that one step further and making it a certain doubt. People are disqualifying him entirely, which can be seen in others responding to me in this very thread.
People have different sus meters, and mine (and Bernie Sanders') meters aren't just there yet.
If he doesn't get this removed and started to capitulate more and more to centrist liberals, then my support for Platner will wane.
I'd rather defend him than be apathetic to him right now.
Reasonable doubt that the guy is a cryptofascist is disqualifying enough without the need for certainty. I do believe that people can change, and there are circumstances where I would accept someone like Platner into the progressive movement, but not in a leadership position, and not before he has proven himself with actions rather than just words. A lot of progressives - yourself included - are so desperate for leadership that they're willing to look past several huge red flags for someone who says the right things. Consider for a moment the possibility that there are people out there who are aware of this particular vulnerability and willing to take advantage of it.
Platner has red flags. I recognize that.
But Leftists don't have any movement. You might be able to point to Bernie Sanders, AOC, Zohran Mamdani, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib. Those aren't a majority. Hell, sometimes they aren't even in agreement, as is the case with AOC, Bernie, and Zohran.
Platner has less than a year to demonstrate that he's not the crypto fascist you all think he is.
And I'll repeat myself from a comment I left elsewhere:
Lying politicians that lie about drifting to the Left are still better than truth-telling ones that tell the truth about drifting towards the Right. The former changes the permission structure of what's possible in political rhetoric, while the latter foments public dissatisfaction for the Democrats.
Leftism (at least economically) is popular. Platner speaks to that. The DNC NEEDS to recognize this if they want to win elections.
Your point of view leads to nihilism. Sorry, I still want to believe that we can win.
He has a nazi tattoo!! Wtf are you talking about? That is disqualifying, end of story.
And he's denounced it! Wtf do you want?
Why don't you have this same smoke for the US Military that should have caught this time and time again?
Where has he denounced it? In his rebuttal on Pod Save America he merely stated that he didn’t know what it was; which is obvious bullshit or he’s too much of an idiot to hold office. What I want is a candidate that doesn’t have a nazi tattoo on their chest, which somehow is not a dealbreaker for you. Be better.
He's already given interviews about the tattoo online. Look them up. He denounced it.
One interview, which I referenced and which he did not denounce the tattoo. So if you have any further examples, please point them out.