Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner said in October 2020 that he had an “antifa supersoldier” label on his “armor,” Axios reported on Tuesday.
Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer, gave a business a compliment and then mentioned having the “antifa supersoldier” label on his “armor” in an archived October 2020 Reddit post, Axios reported. Platner later wrote in the post, “Keep up the good fight,” according to the outlet.
Platner’s campaign did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
In a July 2020 post in a political Reddit channel, Platner shared a link to the Socialist Rifle Association’s website and recommended a Reddit user join the left-wing gun rights group, writing “We love new folks, and you’ve likely got an active chapter in your area,” Axios reported.
Platner said in a statement provided to Axios that “I’m not a socialist. I own a small business. I’m a Marine Corps veteran.” In response to his remarks about “antifa supersoldier,” Platner told the outlet in a statement that “This was a dumb joke, like most of my old Reddit posts.”
Platner, who is endorsed by Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, has recently drawn criticism following several of his controversial past online comments resurfacing. He wrote in a now-deleted Reddit post in 2018 that “an armed working class is a requirement for economic justice” and suggested that those who “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle” should “do some reading of history,” Politico reported on Oct. 16.
Moreover, Platner previously called himself a “communist,” claimed “all” police officers were “bastards” and said rural white Americans “actually are” racist, according to an Oct. 16 CNN K-FILE report.
In an Oct. 17 video posted to X apologizing for his past online comments, Platner said he had reread them and “saw statements” that he abhors. “I see words and statements that I abhor. I also see the trajectory of my life,” the Democratic Senate candidate said in the video.
Platner said in a “Pod Save America” interview released on Monday that he does not anticipate any more of his past internet comments that are “worse” or “different” to surface.
“There is nothing that I can remotely think of that is out there that is any worse, or really any different, than what has come out,” he said in the interview. “I mean, if that is their concern, then they can go find more stuff.”
The political director for Platner’s Senate campaign stepped down on Friday following Platner’s old online comments being resurfaced, Bangor Daily News reported.
President Donald Trump signed a Sept. 22 executive order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization after he pledged to take aim at left-wing groups in the aftermath of the Sept. 10 assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. The president wrote in the order that Antifa “uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals.”
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