Don’t Get a Nazi Tattoo or Praise Hitler: Advice for New Politicians

Graham Platner is a 41-year-old oyster farmer and Marine veteran who is running to be the Democratic Party’s Maine Senate nominee. A political outsider, he would face incumbent Republican Susan Collins in the general election if he managed to prevail against establishment Democrat Janet Mills, the current governor, aged 77.

Until this week, Platner had a lot going for him. He is a left populist endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) with some natural talent for effective political communication, i.e., he sounds like a normal person. At a time of extreme dissatisfaction with Democratic leadership and the nominees they have managed to recruit, a charismatic outsider with a working-class background could be just what the party ordered. Plus, he’s decades younger than his primary opponent, Mills, who would be the oldest freshman senator in U.S. history.

But there’s a problem: Platner has a Nazi tattoo—or at least one that closely resembles a Nazi tattoo.

I’ll admit I approached this story with a great deal of initial skepticism. That’s because I still remember the time that Talia Lavin, then a fact-checker (oops) for The New Yorker, wrongly accused a wheelchair-bound ICE agent—also a Marine veteran—of having a Nazi tattoo. Also, the mainstream media loves to dubiously accuse people of expressing cryptic Nazi gestures. Remember the kids flashing the okay sign? Elon Musk’s alleged Nazi salute?

Did Elon Musk do a Nazi salute? pic.twitter.com/PPGkLvsclU

— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) January 21, 2025

Platner’s hideously bad tattoo is a skull and crossbones, which is something I associate with pirates but is apparently also a Nazi thing, depending on its exact size and shape. When deployed by Nazis, it’s called the Totenkopf. You will note that in this version the skull is bigger relative to the crossbones and appears over them.

That is, in fact, the version that Platner had tattooed across his chest while on leave in Croatia in 2007. His story is this: He got really drunk with his buddies, stumbled into a tattoo parlor, and picked something random that looked cool. He had no idea it was a Nazi thing, he told Pod Save America.

Up until this point, I was pretty much on board with his explanation. But here’s the problem: According to Jewish Insider, he told at least one acquaintance about the tattoo and referred to it as “my totenkopf.” This makes it much less likely that he never understood the connection.

Anyway, Platner has addressed the controversy by covering up the tattoo with a new, very ugly one.

Years ago I got a skull and crossbones tattoo with my buddies in the Marine Corps.

I was appalled to learn it closely resembled a Nazi symbol. I altered it yesterday, into something that isn’t deeply offensive to my core beliefs.

I am very sorry to all of you who had to… pic.twitter.com/RQSiRsrTiC

— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) October 22, 2025

Leftist commentators are really, really mad that the mainstream media has turned this kerfuffle into a thing, giving establishment Democrats an excuse to coalesce behind Mills. “The reason anyone pretends to care about Platner’s tattoo and Reddit posts is because they think he’s coming for the rich,” wrote Matt Stoller on X, in histrionic fashion. “That’s it. That’s all it’s about. They hate populists because we actually believe in equality and that terrifies them.”

I don’t know about that. It’s true that cancel culture can be pretty perverse, and we don’t want to live in a world where the only people who can successfully run for office are weird sociopaths who have practiced never doing or saying anything controversial since age seven. If Platner had drunkenly gotten a bad tattoo, realized his mistake, and covered it up years ago, I would probably want to excuse it, too. But he’s had it for 18 years, and apparently seemed aware of the Nazi connection. That does seem sort of bad.

And it would be especially hypocritical for the Democratic coalition—politicians, activists, the media—to excuse this while simultaneously pursuing efforts to expose Young Republicans who praised Hitler (sometimes, arguably in jest) in group chats, which I covered in last week’s newsletter.

I am joined by Amber Duke, and later this week, Andrew Heaton, to discuss the big stories: No Kings protests, the New York City mayoral race, and more. Subscribe to the Free Media channel on YouTube.

I have just finished another Agatha Christie book, The Secret of Chimneys. It was a good one! (I correctly guessed one of the approximately three twists.) I would certainly recommend it to first-time Christie readers. Next up for me: I’ve decided to read The Terror by Dan Simmons. I first became interested in this one after catching an episode of the AMC series it inspired. It’s a heavily fictionalized version of the true disappearances of Terror and Erebus, two British ships that vanished while searching for the Northwest Passage in the 1840s. I’m a big fan of Arctic (and Antarctic) horror, so I’m really looking forward to this one.

And speaking of Arctic horror, I’m pleased to report that my own novel—an original work of science fiction/fantasy set in an icy, northern kingdom—is actually coming along nicely. I’ve already written about 35,000 words, and have completed one of three major plot arcs that comprise the story. That’s decent progress, given that I started it a month ago. The key is to force myself to write something every single day: a sentence, a page, a chapter, anything.