Graham Platner, the upstart Democratic candidate running against Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, has reportedly admitted that his skull-and-crossbones tattoo is a Nazi war symbol.
Jewish Insider On Tuesday, it was reported that an acquaintance of Platner's had overheard the former Marine refer to his chest tattoo as “my Totenkopf,” a German term referring to a specific skull and crossbones symbol used by the Nazi Army's SS unit that has since been revived by white supremacists, according to the report Anti-Defamation League.
In a statement to Jewish Insider, Platner said he “absolutely would not have lived his whole life with this on his chest if” he had known that the tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol and had “already planned” to have it removed.
Platner publicly admitted for the first time that he has a tattoo on his chest during an appearance on Pod save America last week after images of him surfaced on social media. He claimed he got the tattoo in 2007 while he was “very drunk” while on vacation with other Marines in Croatia.
“We chose a terrifying skull and crossbones on the wall because we were Marines and skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing,” Platner said. “And then we all moved on with our lives.”
Platner denied his anti-Semitic beliefs. “I'm not a closet Nazi. In fact, if you read my comments on Reddit, I think you can pretty much understand how I feel about Nazism, anti-Semitism and racism in general,” Platner said.
Platner on the Internet has extensive experience in creating controversial statementswhich he claims he did this to “uplift” people, but did not appear to make any comments against the Jewish people or faith.
Genevieve McDonald, Platner's former campaign manager who resigned last week, suggested Tuesday that the candidate must have known about the origin of the image.
“Graham has an anti-Semitic tattoo on his chest. He's not an idiot, he's a military history buff,” she wrote in her journal. post on Facebook. “He may not have known it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have hidden it because he knows damn well what it means.”
McDonald, a former state representative, blamed the “DC consultant class” for a PR disaster that could cost Democrats the Senate election. “The vault is open so the GOP can destroy any f*cking dreams we had in the General,” she wrote.
