5 ms·

It's not like it's a swastika, it was a skull and crossbones that turns out to have been used by the SS (I think?). I had no idea that particular image was naz

It's not like it's a swastika, it was a skull and crossbones that turns out to have been used by the SS (I think?). I had no idea that particular image was nazi-related and I don't think most other people would have either. As far as "mistakes made by marines on shore leave" go it's pretty mild. Honestly his more recent scandals are more concerning as far as character. Platner's upside is being a senator that's not from the student senate -> Hill staffer -> party insider pipeline. We're all pretty much sick of that character, he sounds much more authentic by comparison.

JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
> no idea that particular image was nazi-related and I don't think most other people would have either He knew what it was [1]. That doesn't mean he's unelectable in 2026. [1] https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/05/politics/graham-platner-cant-explain-why-ex-girlfriend-knew-tattoos-nazi-link-before-he-says-he-did https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/05/politics/graham-platner-cant-...
- nixon_why69 4mo ago
  I'm sure he figured it out at some point and should have had it covered up sooner, but I doubt he knew what it was when he got it. Honestly, I'd be more concerned with someone who knows too much Nazi minutiae rather than too little. EDIT: reading the CNN story, I'm actually less convinced, this is all coming from a conservative activist ex-girlfriend. Its a really obscure symbol and then there's this quote: "Platner argued that he had the tattoo for 17 years without anyone raising concerns about Nazi symbolism, noting that he received a State Department security clearance, reenlisted in the Army after being screened for gang and hate-related tattoos, and regularly appeared shirtless around family members, including Jewish relatives."
  - JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
    > I doubt he knew what it was when he got it Sure, maybe. I'm doubtful. But that's irrelevant. He knew when he launched his campaign. He chose to keep it. Worse, there's a good chance his family and his staffers knew as well. This is Jill Biden covering up Joe Biden's dementia all over again, except this time for racism. Platner is a rubbish candidate. But! There is a case to be made that he's better for America than Susan Collins.
    - nixon_why69 4mo ago
      Did you recognize that skull as a Nazi symbol without being told? Like, "Oh, that's the Totemkompf"? Personally, like I said, I think the more recent sexting thing is way more damaging to his brand. "Got a dumb tattoo on shore leave and posted dumb reddit comments 10 years ago" are fine for an everyman candidate, recent infidelity is not.
      - JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
        > Did you recognize that skull as a Nazi symbol without being told? Nope. But if you're sending your pics out, someone is going to come back to you with that feedback. In this case, we have someone who says they did that. > the more recent sexting thing is way more damaging to his brand Sure, why not. I don't think, at the end of the day, we have any evidence either is electorally relevant anymore.
        nixon_why69 4mo ago
        For the record, and I hope this isn't too forward, I respect your honesty and understand it's gotta be tough being a liberal zionist with everything that's going on. I respect it so much more than just going full Stephen Miller which I've seen some friends do.
        JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
        > it's gotta be tough being a liberal zionist Not sure why you’re being (a) so randomly wrong and (b) randomly irrelevant. EDIT: Ah, a 4-month old single-issue troll account. Lovely.
        lostlogin 4mo ago
        >troll account. Why do you say? What is the single issue? I can’t find a linking theme.
        4mo ago
- viking123 4mo ago
  I think people are really past the point of caring. The limousine liberals of course make a fuss but sitting on the high horse has not really served democrats that well, just taking L after L. And the sitting president is Epstein-Mossad pedofile and huge number still stand behind him without any shame.
WickyNilliams 4mo ago
It's an extremely well known nazi symbol. Probably second behind the swastika itself. There's even that famous "are we the baddies" meme, which uses that symbol as a central pillar of the gag.
- utdoctor 4mo ago
  Not even just that, the main villain (Amon Göth) in Schindler’s List (which won Best Picture) has it on his uniform throughout the film. It’s not like it’s some obscure icon.
  - nixon_why69 4mo ago
    If the bones are a little longer, it's a Jolly Roger. If the teeth were longer, it would be a punisher skull. If it weren't turned at that particular angle it would just be a generic skull. If it were 2 angular lightning bolts, it would obviously be SS but a skull is really common in a lot of contexts. If you happened to clock this particular skull shape as a symbol from an SS division, then congrats, but 95% of people just would not and that's why it didn't land as a scandal. Everyone said "Huh. I didn't know either." and then accepted "Marine gets dumb skull tattoo while drunk on shore leave" as a fairly normal thing to have happened.
    - utdoctor 4mo ago
      If I had wheels I’d be a bicycle. I don’t see your point? It’s very obvious what it is and just because you can alter an icon to make it look like something else doesn’t change what it is. Ignorance of something doesn’t change what it is. “Oops I accidentally had a Nazi for nearly 20 years and only had it covered up 9 months ago when it became a political liability” isn’t a good look to say the least.
      - nixon_why69 4mo ago
        My point is that it's not very obvious what it is unless you are super studied in Nazi symbology. I thought I was clear but there it is in case I wasn't. If this were a swastika, the SS lightning bolts or even the Iron Cross, yeah, that looks pretty Nazi. Instead it's a skull and crossbones just like every other one used all over the place, including the very cool jolly roger, except this one happens to be Nazi. I didn't know, most people didn't know, he can credibly say he didn't know, and we all think the jolly roger's cool. Dog's not gonna hunt.
throawayonthe 4mo ago
> I had no idea that particular image was nazi-related and I don't think most other people would have either for context it's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf#Nazi_Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf#Nazi_Germany , i'm surprised so many people didn't know the nazi use if platner really didn't know, i guess it just spoke to him as a (future?) blackwater mercenary
- nielsbot 4mo ago
  > if platner really didn't know, i guess it just spoke to him as a (future?) blackwater mercenary Yes, correct. Despite that, if I lived in Maine, I'd wholeheartedly vote for him. Not sure why I shouldn't?
woodruffw 4mo ago
I would expect anybody who graduated with a 4 year degree in the US to be able to recognize a totenkopf. It's probably the third most well-known Nazi symbol, and is almost certainly present in any textbook or museum about WWII (besides being a symbol is fictional media about Nazi Germany). However, I think this is beside the point. The more relevant questions are (1) whether Platner knew what it was, and (2) whether an informed voter should want someone who doesn't know the meaning of the things they get tattooed on their body. Authentic or not, (2) demonstrates a lack of good judgement to me. (Separately, having been to that part of part of Slavic southern Europe, it is inconceivable that any tattoo parlor that would give you a totenkopf tattoo is not plastered in other Nazi and far-right iconography. You would need to actively look past all of the other Nazi stuff and assume that the skull is the one thing that doesn't have some additional meaning.)

JumpCrisscross 4mo ago

> no idea that particular image was nazi-related and I don't think most other people would have either He knew what it was [1]. That doesn't mean he's unelectable in 2026. [1] https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/05/politics/graham-platner-cant-explain-why-ex-girlfriend-knew-tattoos-nazi-link-before-he-says-he-did https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/05/politics/graham-platner-cant-...

nixon_why69 4mo ago
I'm sure he figured it out at some point and should have had it covered up sooner, but I doubt he knew what it was when he got it. Honestly, I'd be more concerned with someone who knows too much Nazi minutiae rather than too little. EDIT: reading the CNN story, I'm actually less convinced, this is all coming from a conservative activist ex-girlfriend. Its a really obscure symbol and then there's this quote: "Platner argued that he had the tattoo for 17 years without anyone raising concerns about Nazi symbolism, noting that he received a State Department security clearance, reenlisted in the Army after being screened for gang and hate-related tattoos, and regularly appeared shirtless around family members, including Jewish relatives."
- JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
  > I doubt he knew what it was when he got it Sure, maybe. I'm doubtful. But that's irrelevant. He knew when he launched his campaign. He chose to keep it. Worse, there's a good chance his family and his staffers knew as well. This is Jill Biden covering up Joe Biden's dementia all over again, except this time for racism. Platner is a rubbish candidate. But! There is a case to be made that he's better for America than Susan Collins.
  - nixon_why69 4mo ago
    Did you recognize that skull as a Nazi symbol without being told? Like, "Oh, that's the Totemkompf"? Personally, like I said, I think the more recent sexting thing is way more damaging to his brand. "Got a dumb tattoo on shore leave and posted dumb reddit comments 10 years ago" are fine for an everyman candidate, recent infidelity is not.
    - JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
      > Did you recognize that skull as a Nazi symbol without being told? Nope. But if you're sending your pics out, someone is going to come back to you with that feedback. In this case, we have someone who says they did that. > the more recent sexting thing is way more damaging to his brand Sure, why not. I don't think, at the end of the day, we have any evidence either is electorally relevant anymore.
      - nixon_why69 4mo ago
        For the record, and I hope this isn't too forward, I respect your honesty and understand it's gotta be tough being a liberal zionist with everything that's going on. I respect it so much more than just going full Stephen Miller which I've seen some friends do.
        JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
        > it's gotta be tough being a liberal zionist Not sure why you’re being (a) so randomly wrong and (b) randomly irrelevant. EDIT: Ah, a 4-month old single-issue troll account. Lovely.
        lostlogin 4mo ago
        >troll account. Why do you say? What is the single issue? I can’t find a linking theme.
        4mo ago
viking123 4mo ago
I think people are really past the point of caring. The limousine liberals of course make a fuss but sitting on the high horse has not really served democrats that well, just taking L after L. And the sitting president is Epstein-Mossad pedofile and huge number still stand behind him without any shame.

WickyNilliams 4mo ago

It's an extremely well known nazi symbol. Probably second behind the swastika itself. There's even that famous "are we the baddies" meme, which uses that symbol as a central pillar of the gag.

utdoctor 4mo ago
Not even just that, the main villain (Amon Göth) in Schindler’s List (which won Best Picture) has it on his uniform throughout the film. It’s not like it’s some obscure icon.
- nixon_why69 4mo ago
  If the bones are a little longer, it's a Jolly Roger. If the teeth were longer, it would be a punisher skull. If it weren't turned at that particular angle it would just be a generic skull. If it were 2 angular lightning bolts, it would obviously be SS but a skull is really common in a lot of contexts. If you happened to clock this particular skull shape as a symbol from an SS division, then congrats, but 95% of people just would not and that's why it didn't land as a scandal. Everyone said "Huh. I didn't know either." and then accepted "Marine gets dumb skull tattoo while drunk on shore leave" as a fairly normal thing to have happened.
  - utdoctor 4mo ago
    If I had wheels I’d be a bicycle. I don’t see your point? It’s very obvious what it is and just because you can alter an icon to make it look like something else doesn’t change what it is. Ignorance of something doesn’t change what it is. “Oops I accidentally had a Nazi for nearly 20 years and only had it covered up 9 months ago when it became a political liability” isn’t a good look to say the least.
    - nixon_why69 4mo ago
      My point is that it's not very obvious what it is unless you are super studied in Nazi symbology. I thought I was clear but there it is in case I wasn't. If this were a swastika, the SS lightning bolts or even the Iron Cross, yeah, that looks pretty Nazi. Instead it's a skull and crossbones just like every other one used all over the place, including the very cool jolly roger, except this one happens to be Nazi. I didn't know, most people didn't know, he can credibly say he didn't know, and we all think the jolly roger's cool. Dog's not gonna hunt.

throawayonthe 4mo ago

> I had no idea that particular image was nazi-related and I don't think most other people would have either for context it's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf#Nazi_Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf#Nazi_Germany , i'm surprised so many people didn't know the nazi use if platner really didn't know, i guess it just spoke to him as a (future?) blackwater mercenary

nielsbot 4mo ago
> if platner really didn't know, i guess it just spoke to him as a (future?) blackwater mercenary Yes, correct. Despite that, if I lived in Maine, I'd wholeheartedly vote for him. Not sure why I shouldn't?

woodruffw 4mo ago

I would expect anybody who graduated with a 4 year degree in the US to be able to recognize a totenkopf. It's probably the third most well-known Nazi symbol, and is almost certainly present in any textbook or museum about WWII (besides being a symbol is fictional media about Nazi Germany). However, I think this is beside the point. The more relevant questions are (1) whether Platner knew what it was, and (2) whether an informed voter should want someone who doesn't know the meaning of the things they get tattooed on their body. Authentic or not, (2) demonstrates a lack of good judgement to me. (Separately, having been to that part of part of Slavic southern Europe, it is inconceivable that any tattoo parlor that would give you a totenkopf tattoo is not plastered in other Nazi and far-right iconography. You would need to actively look past all of the other Nazi stuff and assume that the skull is the one thing that doesn't have some additional meaning.)