# People defending Graham Platner are pathetic and intellectually bankrupt **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 12, 2026, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839 "2026-06-12T02:58:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/181 "2026-07-01T02:20:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That’s worse than him voting Republican as soon as he gets sworn in? Really? And here, I thought you didn’t like people voting Republican. > > Right now, the only reason to support him is that he calls himself a Democrat. You know who else called himself a Democrat? So has he been faking being a leftist since he was literally in high school as part of some 25-year master plan he concocted as a teenager in the hopes of fooling everyone and getting elected to the Senate and repudiating the entire public persona he’s spent a quarter-century building up? If he’s that much of a political mastermind then he belongs in the White House, because he’s clearly some kind of genius. > **[I went to school with Graham Platner. Here's a look at his success](https://themainemonitor.org/graham-platner-success-explained/)** > > Graham Platner, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, is possibly the most remarkable political story in the country. Honestly, I’m not sure how you can bring yourself to support _any_ candidate for any office if you’re going to be this baselessly skeptical thait their entire life has been a carefully plotted grand deception. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/182 "2026-07-01T02:35:40Z")
No, if he were faking being a leftist, he wouldn’t have gotten a Nazi tattoo. He’s not even faking. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/183 "2026-07-01T02:37:16Z")
Sure. And Obama is a secret Muslim, James Talarico is a transgender vegan, and Zohran Mamdani is going to impose Sharia in New York. At least when Trump’s Gestapo is marching us into the death camps you can be proud that at least we didn’t elect a guy with a tattoo. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/184 "2026-07-01T03:03:43Z")
And when it happens, you can be proud that the guy you supported who helped it said that he was a Democrat at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/185 "2026-07-01T03:08:40Z")
For God’s sake, this is tedious. You’re in paranoid conspiracy theory territory here. There is literally more evidence that Obama is a Muslim than that Platner is a Republican or a Nazi, and Obama is factually not a Muslim. Frankly you’re just insulting the intelligence of the Democratic voters of Maine at this point if you think three-fourths of them were stupid enough to vote for someone you claim is so blatantly a right-wing plant. Or are those 75% of Maine Democrats ALSO Nazis who’ve been lying about their beliefs their entire lives as part of some grand ruse to fool everyone? ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/186 "2026-07-01T03:32:01Z")
@Chronos I don’t want to put words in your mouth or make assumptions. Seems to me that it’s very likely your animosity towards Platner is because he clearly calls out the view that what is going on in Gaza is genocide. Agree or disagree? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/187 "2026-07-01T03:51:46Z")
Gotta love the insane idea that Trump’s Gestapo marching us into death camps is going to happen after a very close vote in the Senate. [![](https://i.imgflip.com/avl4wx.jpg) ](https://i.imgflip.com/avl4wx.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/188 "2026-07-01T04:20:42Z")
You mau think I’m being hyperbolic, but as I pointed out upthread, but earlier today three Supreme Court justices argued that the Constitution allows the president to strip natural-born Americans of their citizenship byy decree and carry out a pogrom against them, and the vice president proposed packing the court so they can try again. Two of those three are in office in part because Susan Collins voted for them. Withholding support for Platner because he used to have a questionable tattoo is giving tacit approval to an American Holocaust. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/189 "2026-07-01T11:52:35Z")
To be perfectly clear: What is going on in Gaza is genocide. Netanyahu and his government is in the wrong. Hamas is also in the wrong. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/190 "2026-07-01T12:59:14Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > @Chronos I don’t want to put words in your mouth or make assumptions. Seems to me that it’s very likely your animosity towards Platner is because he clearly calls out the view that what is going on in Gaza is genocide. Agree or disagree? Why is this so frequently the accusation? I don’t think Chronos even brought that up. Genocide has barely been mentioned in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/191 "2026-07-01T13:03:54Z")
It could well be a narrow senate vote that decides the scotus justice who is the deciding vote on some future birthright citizenship challenge or something. ---
**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/192 "2026-07-01T14:31:36Z")
Putting aside the lack of evidence that Platner cared that was a Nazi tattoo, this assumption that a leftist can’t be racist/stupid etc… is wrongheaded. And the unwillingness to accept that Democrats can be flawed and that everything is either MAGA lies or secret Republicans is so unproductive. Platner’s platform is based on generally economic populism. I have no idea why one would think that having a tattoo means he is secretly lying about being for raising the minimum wage or anti-lobbying, or pro labor unions etc. Just because he hasn’t been an elective representative, doesn’t mean there isn’t a body of work that showing what he stands for. So no he isn’t going to vote MAGA, he isn’t going to vote like Fetterman, and it isn’t likely that he is even a centrist. Far more likely, based on what we know about him, that he will to the left of the mainstream Democrats, at least on economic issues. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/193 "2026-07-01T23:43:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > To be perfectly clear: What is going on in Gaza is genocide. Netanyahu and his government is in the wrong. Hamas is also in the wrong. asked and answered. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/194 "2026-07-02T00:13:33Z")
> [@DeadTreasSecretaries](#): > > Why is this so frequently the accusation? The Platner is a clear and present danger camp seem to be along at least some of these lines: 1. Israel is totally justified in their asymetric actions on Gaza, The West Bank, Lebanon and Iran. 2. Platner’s covered up tatt will result in the vast majority of American voters thinking that the Democratic Party and candidates are rabid Nazi’s. 3. Despite no smoking guns in his on line posting history, somehow Platner is a right wing operative that is trojan horsing his way into the Senate, and then will immediately turn around to betray every public statement and become a Maga lickspittle 4. Platner lacks the gavitas to be a US senator 5. He’s a die hard Nazi 6. think he’s a blowhard and viscerally and personally dislikes the dude at a fundamental basis 7. are attention whores deliberately stirring the pot as concerned bystanders “just asking questions” 8. trying to put their thumb innocently on the scale to help Collins, Maga and/or Trump. Rather than make assumptions or put words in someone’s mouth, I find it to be easier to just ask. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/195 "2026-07-02T00:41:05Z")
My mileage varies. Plenty of politicians in the US have called Israel’s genocide a genocide. Platner is the only democratic politician I’m aware of who goes on nazi adjacent podcast and had a na,i tattoo. When people say their criticismof him is for those things there’s no need to question if it’s really about Israel. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/196 "2026-07-03T16:48:20Z")
Sure, Platner will be fine. Playing footsie with white nationalist figures, saying women need to take responsibility for being raped and extramarital cavorting took place _eons_ ago\*. He’s reformed now and will continue to be a credit to the Democratic Party. \*well, months anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/197 "2026-07-03T18:14:04Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Despite no smoking guns in his on line posting history, somehow Platner is a right wing operative that is trojan horsing his way into the Senate, and then will immediately turn around to betray every public statement and become a Maga lickspittle Yeah I really don’t get this at all, particularly coming from Chronos, who up until this point really seemed to understand the idea of burden of proof. The only “logic” that I can come up with to support this assertion is 1. Platner is a dipshit asshole based on Nazi tattoo, self-promotion, multiple affairs stupid comments. 2. As compared to liberals, right-wing nutjobs are far more likely to be dipshit assholes. 3. Therefore Platner is most likely a right-wing nutjob. Which ignores the fact that although they are more common on the right, the number of liberal dipshit assholes is not insignificant ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/198 "2026-07-03T23:49:52Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > You realize everyone can see what you’re posting here. Not actually. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/199 "2026-07-03T23:50:41Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Not actually. Good point. I did not consider that. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839/200 "2026-07-06T19:06:59Z")
For what it’s worth, social media i.e. Twitter is awash in speculation that a major damaging news story about Platner is due to be published by tomorrow, which supposedly explains the cancellation of a number of campaign events. > **[Graham Platner postpones multiple events this week](https://www.bangordailynews.com/2026/07/06/politics/elections/graham-platner-postpones-multiple-events-this-week/)** > > The postponements came as multiple Democrats said they expected a national outlet to drop a story about Platner Monday or Tuesday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-defending-graham-platner-are-pathetic-and-intellectually-bankrupt/1030839.md?page=11)