Platner was subject to one of the most intense smear campaigns in the history of modern electoral politics. Despite a platform that would make him one of the Senate’s most left-wing members (along with Bernie Sanders and, if he wins his own race, Abdul El-Sayed), he was widely accused of being a secret Nazi
cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/45301886
I looked up what his tattoo looked like. I had never seen that design before. I would have just assumed its a stylized jolly roger. If I were into tattoos, I could see my dumb ass 19yr old self getting that tattoo. I was really into pirates back then.
I don’t get why anybody thinks its farfetched that a 19yr old marine thought a skull and crossbones design out of a catalog at a tattoo parlor looked cool, and got it while out with his buddies. Then years later someone finally points out that its a Nazi tattoo, he gets it covered up when he is able to.
I’ve seen documentaries about reformed neo nazis covering up their nazi tattoos, and working to de-program, and get other neo nazis out of the lifestyle. People can change for the better, and people can simply be ignorant of the myriad of nazi symbology and get a dumb tattoo.
He was a machine gun section leader and then he worked as a private military guard/grunt, which everyone acts like is this shocking betrayal not understanding that for the individual soldiers actually doing soldier stuff that isn’t an unusual career path and it simply isn’t the same as being a CEO of a company like that… and while you can criticize it you can also make the argument it might be good to have someone in the Senate who has actually experienced what it is like to be a grunt in the US military, not everybody needs to have that experience, diversity is good but a couple more of those and a couple less lawyers would do us a whole lot of good I think.
I am not saying the guy is perfect either, it is just that the accusations are so lazy and I think voters see that in Maine clearly.