The Totenkopf — a symbol closely associated with the Nazi SS — was tattooed on the chest of Maine senate candidate Graham Platner in 2007. He alleges that he did not know of the Nazi association with the symbol — Platner wore it proudly — until he began his candidacy at which point he had it allegedly covered up by another tattoo.
Platner’s statements, not to mention his covered-over tattoo, disqualify him from serving in the senate.
The plausibility of Platner’s story is questionable at best.
The Totenkopf — German for “death’s head” or skull — image is not one of the “Jolly Roger,” the skull and cross bones one sees on a pirate flag. It is a skull that has broken bones on either side of it. It was adopted by the Nazi Schutstaffel (SS) as its symbol and was later adopted as the symbol of the Totenkopfverbande, the German soldiers who guarded the concentration camps where millions of Jews and many others died.
Screenshot from a video published on the DeFranco News Clips YouTube channel showing Graham Platner with a visible skull tattoo later identified as a Totenkopf design.
Platner alleges that he was drunk in the company of other Marines in Croatia when he got the tattoo. Marines (God bless ‘em) can do dumb things especially when they’re drunk and it’s up to their commanders to sort things out when they’re sober.
The Marine Corps has regulations which all Marines are expected to follow. Some, like the tattoo regulations, are enforced by everything from Captain’s Mast to courts martial.
The latest Marine regulation is contained in Marine Corps Bulletin 1020, dated April 12, 2024. Platner’s Honorable Discharge from the Marines is dated January 8, 2021. The devil is in the details of Bulletin 1020 which, as it says, is enforceable by commanders.
In Bulletin 1020, it provides that, “Tattoos that are prejudicial to good order and discipline, or that are of a nature to bring discredit upon the naval service, are prohibited. Examples include, but are not limited to, indecent, sexist, or racist, as further defined below.”
The Bulletin further defines “extremist” tattoos” as those “affiliated with, depicting or symbolizing extremist philosophies, organizations, or those which advocate racial, sex, ethnic hatred or intolerance.” A Nazi tattoo clearly qualifies in that category. As the Bulletin goes on to provide, the foregoing language of the Bulletin is punishable under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice which punishes violations of regulations and lawful general orders.
So what can we make of Platner’s wearing of a Nazi symbol from 2007 to 2012?
We know that the Marines tattoo regulations are almost exactly the same in 2024 as they were in 2007. The prohibition of extremist tattoos is the same, which clearly covers the tattoo that Platner wore from 2007. There may be excuses among Platner’s commanders that they didn’t notice the tattoo until it was too late to do anything about it.
But that is no excuse, certainly not among the Marines. Platner’s wearing of it — apparently proudly — is consistent with his statements about Israel and its government.
Platner has said of Susan Collins (R-Me) that her campaign was “bought and paid for by Benjamin Netanyahu and she votes accordingly” because of her support from AIPAC, the American-Israeli Political Action Committee. There is a lot to be dissatisfied about Susan Collins, but compared to Platner she’s a MAGA-saint.
Platner has been condemned by various Jewish groups because of that statement and because of his praise for a Hamas raid in 2014 in which five Israeli soldiers were killed. At the time, Platner wrote that it, “Looks like an all-around well executed and successful small unit raid to me.”
He hasn’t commented on the war Hamas started with its genocidal attack on Israel in 2023. But he has said that Israel committed “genocide” in Gaza.
Platner has opposed aid to Israel and, despite that fact, won about 70 percent of the Democratic primary votes in Maine. If you listen to the New York Times, you’d believe that Platner espouses the same “economic populism” as Bernie Sanders. But Bernie is a communist.
As the Wall Street Journal said in an editorial, “The conventional wisdom is that Democrats are more bloody-minded than Republicans and willing to throw bad candidates overboard to avoid losing an election. Will they stick with Mr. Platner? Their choice will also be a measure of how willing the Democratic Party is to indulge the ugly anti-Israel sentiment curdling in American politics.”
Platner’s statements, not to mention his covered-over tattoo, disqualify him from serving in the senate. Mainers should let him go back to his unsuccessful oyster farm and leave governing to more rational people.
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