Republican strategist Scott Jennings explained on Wednesday that he believes Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner continues to have support because Democrats favor far-left candidates.
Platner’s unearthed Reddit posts showed the Democrat urging people to use violence as a tool for social change and has a chest tattoo that appears to be connected to Nazi symbolism, but these revelations have not led some supporters to abandon him. Jennings said on “CNN News Central” that far-left Democrats online have remained particularly loyal to Platner, believing he is a “bigger fighter” than his opponent, Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
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“If you’ve seen the online discourse around this candidacy, this guy is the favorite of the radical left base of the Democratic Party. They are standing by him despite the fact he has a literal Nazi tattoo on his chest and he’s made abhorrent comments in some of these Reddit threads that he’s been involved in,” Jennings said. “They are unwilling to walk away from it because they want the candidates who are the most radical and the most progressive and they are willing to put up with Nazi symbolism and other terrible remarks because of it.”
“This is their guy. I don’t think they’re going to walk away from him. [Democratic CNN contributor Paul Begala is] right — the popular Mills, I guess, is going to be in this primary … Look at your friends this morning, Paul,” he continued. “Look what they’re saying about this guy. They want the Democratic Party to stand next to him because they think he’s the bigger fighter. He’s the non-establishment guy. And they’re willing to overlook the Nazi stuff over it? I don’t know.”
Begala said Jennings made “a good point,” but drew a distinction between prominent online voices and voters.
Platner has disputed that his tattoo is linked to Nazism, but its skull and crossbones seem to resemble the German SS Totenkopf emblem. However, he told Politico on Tuesday that he was “already planning” to remove it.
Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders became Platner’s most high-profile endorser just days after the oyster farmer announced his campaign to oust Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Sanders continues to support Platner despite the revelation about his tattoo.
“There’s a young man who served his country in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he went through some really difficult experiences seeing friends of his killed or whatever, and in spite of all of that he had the courage to run,” Sanders told reporters on Tuesday. “I personally think he is an excellent candidate and will support him, and I look forward to him becoming the next senator from Maine.”
“We don’t have enough candidates in this country that will take on the powers that be and fight for the working class,” he said.
Platner wrote in a Reddit post that those who “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle” should “do some reading of history.”
He also made offensive comments on the platform, including “Why don’t black people tip?” according to Bangor Daily News. He said sexual assault victims should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so fucked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to?” according to The Washington Post.
The Democrat has apologized for his comments and claimed he made the posts at a time when he was “struggling deeply.”
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