Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner disavowed since-deleted posts he made on Reddit years ago in which he called police officers “bastards,” described himself as a “communist” and insulted some Reddit users as “retarded,” telling CNN “that was very much me f‑‑‑ing around the internet.”
“I don’t want people to see me for who I was in my worst internet comment — or even frankly who I was in my best internet comment … I don’t think any of that is indicative of who I am today, really,” Platner, an oyster farmer and military veteran, told CNN’s KFile in an interview published Thursday.
CNN’s KFile reviewed posts that Platner once wrote on Reddit in 2020 and 2021 in which he criticized police officers, showed frustration and disillusionment about his time serving in the military and spoke about being a “communist” and a “socialist.”
“Bastards. Cops are bastards,” Platner said in one since-deleted post on Reddit, in response to a thread and reporting from Vice that a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Medical Corps had been held at gunpoint by a police officer after pulling him over.
In a post responding to body camera footage showing Daunte Wright’s murder, a Black man who was shot after a police officer mistakenly pulled out her gun instead of a taser in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis, Platner wrote, “Anybody who has spent even a modicum of time around guns as part of their living knows this.”
“I knew there was no such thing as an ‘accidental discharge’ by the end of range week at Parris Island. I was also a 19 year old moron. F‑‑‑ these cops,” he added.
Platner described some of those posts as “me just being an a‑‑hole on the internet” to CNN’s KFile.
“I have an immense amount of friends who are police officers. They’re not all bastards because they’re literally buddies of mine,” he added.
Reflecting on his time in the military, in which he deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, another post of his showed him grappling with his service and his politics.
“My time in America’s imperial wars definitely radicalized me further, and I’m significantly more left today than I was back then. It is difficult to see all that horror, as well as all the grift and corruption, and not find the entire thing utterly bankrupt,” he wrote.
“I did used to love America, or at least the idea of it. These days I’m pretty disgusted by it all,” he added.
In another post, responding to a thread titled “White people aren’t as racist or stupid as Trump thinks,” Platner wrote, “Living in white rural America, I’m afraid to tell you they actually are.”
Addressing his post reflecting on his military service, Platner told CNN’s KFile that he did love America while also acknowledging he was “very angry” about the wars he was involved in. Platner suggested he was upset about the state of affairs when he made his post about white people.
“I’m also a white guy, and I don’t think I’m a racist,” he told CNN’s KFile.
Platner is running in a crowded field for the Democratic nomination to take on Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) next year, with his toughest primary opponent being Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), who entered the race this week.
Platner has generated national attention for his economic populist pitch and the endorsement he received from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). He’s also raised $4 million since he launched his campaign in August — an impressive sum for someone who started out largely as a political unknown.
But Platner’s comments around police officers, white Americans and the country’s past military involvement could roil his campaign heading into a tough primary in which he’ll need to court a crossover of voters including moderate Democrats and independents.
The Hill has reached out to Platner’s campaign for additional comment.
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