The Graham Platner Situation...

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]The presumptive nominee for Senate in Maine on the Democratic side is named Graham Platner. And Jaden, if you throw up that photo, this is Graham Platner.

[00:00:11]Let's just say it this way. He's that guy. You know what I'm saying? He's a guy's guy. Oyster farmer.

[00:00:18]Oyster farmer. Former Marine. Has some scandals, but some of them are fun. Like this one.

[00:00:27]He's that guy.

[00:00:30]He's grander.

[00:00:32]Okay, so the latest one, this is what happens in politics, right? Someone becomes kind of famous because they're running. This could determine the fate of the Senate. He's going up against Susan Collins, who is the notorious Republican senator who goes, "I'm so moderate." And Trump does something bad.

[00:00:49]And she's like, "I'm very concerned about this." And then still keeps supporting him. Okay. So, she always tries to pretend since Maine's a very independent sort of middle politics, middle of the politics spectrum, uh, sort of state but different.

[00:01:03]She always tries to appeal to those more moderate voters by going, I'm very concerned by what Trump just did and then keep supporting him. Shameful. It is people like her who enable Trump's damage. The loyalists are going to be loyalist and we're going to judge them for that. But the people who know better, who speak out against him in words only and don't reflect in their action are the ones who really enable the damage. So Platner is going to be going up against her. She's been a political juggernaut. So she's going to be very difficult to defeat. But his working pro-working class message, the resonance, kind of the background of not a politician, an actual outsider vibe, but then he experienced the very Middle East wars as a Marine vet, has PTSD, has spoken in depth about the damage to him, the damage to his friends, the people that he saw die because of the type of foreign interventions that were unnecessary that now he speaks out against. He comes from a place of credibility on that issue. But that's Graham Platner. Okay, he has been in some headlines that are less than positive and we'll talk about the other ones in a second here, but the one that came out today, what I was going to explain to you is once someone starts rising up, then operation, especially if they're not already a politician, dig up whatever you can starts.

[00:02:20]And unless you're me and you've just been the most milktoast your whole life and so you don't have like any old social media posts where you say weird stuff or talk about masturbating or anything like that. Um other than very few people almost everyone has some skeleton in their closet. Okay. And just weird embarrassing past things they said a decade ago. It just happens. Especially, let's be honest, a dude who was around a bunch of other Marine dudes. They're not exactly speaking in politically correct terms. All right. Um, but sometimes these outlets, I think the new Oh, Fox News. Yeah, Fox News dug up this reporting. They're trying to get on the we found more wacky posts from Platiner on Reddit, but it just doesn't hit as hard cuz they've already scraped through all the actual notable stuff. Quickest pause to request that you click the subscribe button if you're not already subscribed. It's completely free and it's the simplest way to support the work that we do right below the video.

[00:03:14]Click that subscribe button and then also whatever you're thinking or some random statement, drop it in the comments. That helps algorithmically and click the like button. Back to the video. Like the him realizing he says he had no idea that whenever him and his marine friends were in Croatia, they drunkenly got a tattoo and it was supposed to be skull and crossbones.

[00:03:35]Skull and crossbones. Yeah. Um, and then later someone was or he realized and the media pointed out that it looked a lot like a Nazi tattoo. So then he got it removed and people say, "No, I think he knew it." And you're like, "Uh, his I believe his explanation that he didn't to be frank with you, that he just thought, "Oh, that looks gnarly." And then realized that it had that historical connection. Um, but this one is not a bomb show headline. That real concern you go, I need a good explanation from you as to why you had that tattoo. And he I'll show you his explanation on it. This is not something I need an explanation on. This is called just being inappropriate. And that happens when dudes be talking. Okay.

[00:04:14]Democratic this is the headline.

[00:04:15]Democratic Senate candidate lewd Reddit post revealed. Have to jerk off every time I sit in a pora [ __ ] So hold because I want to show you clips of him talking because then you'll realize. Don't let this be his only characterization. All right? Is my point. He's he has a sweet way about him. Um, and I understand the concern around this the stuff has been brought up and posts that he's made before decade ago, but when I hear his story and I've really taken time, you might have noticed before analyzing this on the show to get to know his campaign and look at a lot of interviews, he's compelling to me. Okay, it's compelling and I believe his explanation. Now, if he presented me other evidence and he's like, I'm getting a Nazi tattoo, I'd be like, I'm out. Obviously, I I believe though that he didn't know. Democratic main Senate candidate Graham Platner made several bizarre Reddit posts about portaotties, including a poster about masturbating in portable toilets. This is not I hate this. I hate this type of reporting. Let me explain to you why.

[00:05:19]You put it in an article form and it sounds so weird and creepy.

[00:05:23]But if you see some of the texts dudes send to each other when they're chatting to be silly and if you know the context, it's just guys being guys. And you might go, "Doesn't that sound like what people said about Trump?" No. Because in this case, it's just him talking about masturbation. Okay, this is just him being inappropriate.

[00:05:45]Not like Trump's audio. According to Fox News, Platner opened up about masturbating in portable toilets in a 2017 Reddit post, writing, "I still have to jerk off every time I sit in a porta [ __ ] That blue water smell conditioned me." The post was reportedly made as a part of a discussion about nostalgic smells in the military. So, he's talking with some guys on Reddit about having nostalgic smells and they're used to, you know, going to the restroom in a portaotti and maybe that was the only private place he could find to pleasure himself. And so then now he to this day remembers that smell and he's making a joke like, "Oh, it triggers me so much I have to masturbate." That's actually funny. If someone said that to me right now, I'd be like, "Got it." That's funny. He's Everyone's like, "Oh, when I smell this type of meal, it reminds me of being back in Afghanistan." And he's saying, "When I smell the portaotty smell, I think of jerking off." Cuz that was the only private place I go. Funny. Fine.

[00:06:39]Have you been in the Marines?

[00:06:42]If you haven't, you can't care about this. In another post four years later, Platner also praised a piece of phallic graffiti he had seen in a portable toilet while deployed in the military, giving a detailed description of the beautiful engorged and veiny penis with its penetrative glory.

[00:07:00]So, oh, so we don't know what a penis is now. We're a bunch of children. Okay, I see. I see. Um, we're all just goofball down here.

[00:07:10]Can I tell the audience? Jaden's making me do a thing for a social media video where I slip in. I'm doing it. I'm botching it. This is too weird. A word throughout the whole show multiple times. And today's word was goofpilled.

[00:07:23]Cuz then in the social media video, it'll be like me spinning a wheel and have to pick a word or it picks a word for me and I have to slip it in without y'all noticing. But you noticed. That's the word today. Goofp build. So stupid.

[00:07:37]I'm just kidding. Platner's old Reddit posts have previously landed the Democratic candidate in hot water. So, this is what I need to say. This is what I need to say. Whatever you're going to be mad at me, I don't care. I don't care. First of all, I want Susan Collins to lose. Yes. Um, many of his past posts not ideal. And he apologized for them.

[00:07:53]He said it doesn't reflect his current views.

[00:07:56]But sometimes we act like you all every candidate has to be milk toast made in a politician factory. It's not going to work.

[00:08:05]You're not going to get real You know what everyone's always saying?

[00:08:09]We need actual people who've lived real lives.

[00:08:13]You think that a guy who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and is a Marine and is in Croatia getting what he thought was skull and bones and it really had Nazi associations?

[00:08:26]You think that guy is out here talking like me?

[00:08:31]Which, by the way, me talks much worse behind the scenes than I do publicly, obviously, cuz we all do, cuz we're people.

[00:08:41]I know that they know where my heart is, so I'll say more inappropriate things to them than I would to all of you, cuz you don't know me as well. You don't know exactly from what place it would be coming from.

[00:08:52]So, last year, Platner disavowed several old Reddit posts calling white Americans racist and police officers bastards, as well as posts describing himself as a communist. So, all three of those I disagree with. Not all white Americans are racist. Not all police officers are bastards. And I'm not a communist. And he says he's not either. Now, I don't think any of this is indicative of who I am today really. I'm not a communist. I'm not a socialist. I own a small business. I'm a Marine Corps veteran.

[00:09:20]I can honestly say that that's just me being an [ __ ] on the internet. I have immense amount of friends who are police officers. They're not all bastards because they're literally buddies of mine. Yeah. And then there's stuff like I I'm going to be honest to you, there's stuff that you go, why he say that? Why he say that? Way back then. Just days later, Platner was confronted over another old Reddit post during which he questioned why black people don't tip.

[00:09:41]Why don't black people tip? I work as a bartender and always amazes me how solid this stereotype is. So he's out there saying stuff and you say, "Don't what?

[00:09:51]Hey, weird."

[00:09:55]And then he goes, I was a guy who was broken, who was struggling, who was depressed, who was posting, who was [ __ ] posting. Do you know what the internet was like and still is now?

[00:10:08]People just say they're like, "Oh, let me be edgy." Okay. Denounced, announced, announced, announced, whatever. As he did, too. But does that mean that he needs to be as qualified? I say no.

[00:10:21]And if we're going to have people with real backgrounds, like where they actually weren't just groomed to be a politician since they were 10 years old, there's just going to be remarks they make that were inappropriate, insensitive or them talking about a phallic graffiti, which by the way on that he said, "Oh, they didn't even explain it. I hate this. This this segment is gonna go so long. I'm having a lot of fun. Um, but I have a bunch of clips from Platiner that kind of really won me over. Um, you're saying they go quote him and they're like he randomly was talking about being in a portaotti and looking at veiny engorged penises with penetrative. The other article I saw about this wasn't like that. It was like um hey, what do you expect Marines to do when they're having to go in portaotties or something otherw like marine culture? Of course they're going to do graffiti and then a joke about by the way it was a well-drawn penis. Funny. That's totally great. I love it. Nothing offensive about that part to me. And so for Fox to think this is some sort of headline under fire for talking about at masturbation.

[00:11:41]Could it be that a man, not even a man, that a person masturbates? Is that person qualified for public office? I'd say he's not if he doesn't.

[00:11:56]Cool.

[00:11:57]I lost the guy for a second. They don't want to be clipped on video being LIKE THAT. RIGHT ON. RIGHT ON.

[00:12:06]OKAY. SO, let's look at some of some clips from his recent interview.

[00:12:09]Unfortunately, the New York Times reporter wasn't willing to ask him about the most recent scandal. Um, but here's him in the New York Times interview.

[00:12:18]>> And that is of course that you got a tattoo. Um, >> well, that wasn't that was in Croatia.

[00:12:23]>> That was in Croatia, but it was during this period then when you were >> 2007, right? And it resembles Nazi insignia.

[00:12:29]>> Yeah, it's a skull and crossbones. I like for the I just want to I got a skull and crossbones with a bunch of other Marines in a tattoo parlor in Croatia because skull and crossbones are things that Marines get.

[00:12:40]>> I heard his voice and I said, "Make him president."

[00:12:46]It's like, "Oh, oyster fiber.

[00:12:51]A freaking oyster. Take the seat, brother. That's what we need. We have so many of these politicians who are like robots who have been, you know, trained on every single thing they can and can't say. And he's out here having to explain that the skull and crossbones wasn't a Nazi tattoo. Now we're talking.

[00:13:13]No, I'm kidding. That that's the part that's why I took a while to talk about him cuz that one really spooked me cuz you think with a tattoo you would do research but then I also have met enough of these uh guys to know that it's very likely he went that looks gnarly. I didn't know when I saw the tattoo. I had never known that that was a Nazi thing.

[00:13:33]Like you can take it down. I'll show youall just if you don't know. I I also would have been like I don't know that looks like a skull. Ah platiner tattoo.

[00:13:42]Um, and I'm very Did he They're showing us the He painted over it. Not painted over. He got a tattoo over it. Whatever.

[00:13:52]Here it is. You see? I can't zoom in enough, but you can cut to it, Jaden.

[00:13:55]Like one of these. And apparently that looks like a um looks like a Nazi portrayal. But you're going to hear in this explanation, he's like, I that video of me shirtless dancing at a wedding, was at he says like his brother-in-law, I think the person that his maybe sister was being married to was Jewish. Why would he have ripped his shirt off if he knew that was an anti-semitic symbol? That just wouldn't make any sense. And I actually go, "Okay, yeah, that's that's probably true." That uh you probably just thought it looked like tough or something. So that's that. Let's keep listening. Skull and Crossbones. I like for the I just want to make I got a skull and crossbones with a bunch of other Marines in a tattoo parlor in Croatia because skull and crossbones are things that Marines get. Uh and I had it for 17 years and I took my shirt off. I was out in public. I took pictures with it. I went through two security clearances where I got screened for gang and hate tattoos and it never once came up on a screening. Um, yeah. So that was that's what I I had a skull and crossbones on my chest for 17 years until after the campaign started and then the uh the you know the establishment candidate got in the race and suddenly they drop all this opposition research and part of it is that Grant Platiner has like this this like tattoo with white supremacist ties or Nazi ties and at that point I took a look at the things I'm like well I don't want something that has that kind of connotation on my body and so I promptly got it covered up.

[00:15:29]>> Did other people get the same tattoo?

[00:15:31]>> Yeah. Yeah. Other guys in my unit. Yeah.

[00:15:33]>> You know, I I mean, you say it's opposition.

[00:15:37]>> I mean, that sounds right to me. I believe that he had to go through clearances. If it was a blatant Nazi symbol, wouldn't they have been like, "Hey, you you can't have that. Don't they screen for that?" Um, of course, it would be horrible if there were any secret wise. And he's also said before, like, if you look at his post, he said inappropriate stuff. Um he said hurtful things. He was trying to be edgy and trying to make a point about oh does this group fit this stereotype? But like what he was expressing politically never really aligned anyways with the right-wing Nazi type and actually was him going too far the other direction.

[00:16:13]So that convinces me on that point. But then the thing that really won me over is he has this you talk like like when he went that's just what Marines do. I never knew that and now I'm like of course they do. There's a there's a certain convincing nature to that's just what we do. And I'm like, "Okay, daddy."

[00:16:31]No, wait. What? What? What did I just say? That was weird.

[00:16:38]Can I be your oyster?

[00:16:42]Um but then he also has this like sensitivity to him that came through and then clarity in his message talking about advocacy for a multicultural multi-racial multi- identity beautiful convergence of people workingass movement. when you look back now when do you think >> oh and then sensitivity about his experiences you're going to see here he gets asked about his PTSD >> started to suffer from that because I was also diagnosed from PTS uh with PTSD and for me you know I can remember exactly what happened and that caused the sort of cascade what was it for you >> it was it was 2006 and it wasn't a specific moment I'll just be I I I I think that's not actually true. [ __ ] Oh man.

[00:17:48]>> I'm sorry. No, >> it's okay.

[00:17:51]Um, in 2005, my vehicle got hit by an IED outside of place called Karma north uh north of Fallujah. And uh we uh it was myself and my best friend was in the back of the truck. Uh another Marine, another Marine was driving and you know, we drove over an IED, blew the truck up. I got knocked unconscious.

[00:18:16]Um I come too whole front of the truck is ripped off. Um I like I thought we had engine trouble. I was all like discombob and you can go watch this interview yourself. I just want to show you him getting emotional talking about experience. He goes on to talk about his friend had this really bad wound and he was freezing up and that as he was thinking he went I don't think it's one moment and then it came to him and he was like no there I can actually pinpoint a moment where the trauma began really distinctly and it was his friend getting really injured in that explosion.

[00:18:45]And then he talk I mean he just is super vulnerable really difficult from the people that I've talked to um and veterans with the types of experiences he's had to be willing to talk about it publicly takes a lot of courage. It's really hard usually uh for for people and then we get to this clip >> which I think is nonsense. I think that just results in you being alone.

[00:19:11]>> Why have Democrats struggled so much with with men lately?

[00:19:16]Uh, honestly, I think it's because they've left behind working the like the working class. And and hear me out here.

[00:19:24]There was a time where like people who like worked for a living, use their hands, were very very close to the Democratic party uh through the labor movement, through just kind of general policies. The Democratic Party was was once the policy that really represented working folks and there is this vision of masculinity in America which has a lot to do with that exact thing, right?

[00:19:49]Like kind of working, building, creating. Um there are elements of that that I think are very positive. I do not believe in this whole like white working class that like the that the working class is just a bunch of rugged dudes and hard hats. That's not the working class is significantly bigger than that and it's very multicultural, multi-gendered, multi-racial, the whole nine yards. But there is an element in our society that we view, you know, we view like kind of working-class people like that. And I think as a Democratic party has for a while now kind of begun to look like the party of like liberal elites.

[00:20:24]There's just an element.

[00:20:24]>> You don't have to whisper it.

[00:20:26]>> Sorry, I'm in New York. Um, so I had never heard someone express that point.

[00:20:31]It's a really fascinating and deep one and he just kind of pulled it up on command.

[00:20:38]There's been all this political analysis dedicated to why did the Democratic Party lose so many male voters? And you could have answers that just kind of bum you out, like, did men stop supporting it because the Democratic Party took a strong stance in favor of women's rights?

[00:20:57]Please don't let that be the only reason that men are like, "Well, if you're all FOCUSED ON THE GIRLS, then we're out."

[00:21:03]Okay, brother. Um, but surely that's not the only reason. And I know people who are very pro-choice, but still swung right. And people started saying it, is it just because Trump went on podcasts or because Joe Rogan Rogan this, Rogan that, Rogan, Rogan, Rogan?

[00:21:20]But then one aspect of it, that's a longer term, not analyzing one election, but a longer term story that doesn't tap into any of this. Well, we need more candidates who will go and say that they like spanking girls on the butt or something, you know, like we need candidates go be all manly and which sometimes people try to um articulate the solution to be like, well, we just need a little bit more edgy dudes out there.

[00:21:51]Instead, there's this beautiful answer, which is there is a vision and a model of masculinity that sometimes can go in a harmful direction. But a very positive form of it is emphasizing the purpose that both genders, but if you're speaking to a guy, that a guy can feel in their work. If there's something being built, produced that there's something productive and that tapping a guy into that. Again, this doesn't have to be a gendered thing, but because we're talking about what the connection with male voters can be a very beautiful manifestation of masculinity and the working class is that archetype.

[00:22:38]And so if the Democratic Party has abandoned in its advocacy and policy a powerful a powerful policy agenda that associates with the labor unions, that associates with these organizations that advocate for working Americans and isn't powerfully in their corner enough, their whole aesthetic becomes less friendly to those people. And if we as a society, not that it always has to be this and you have tons of female working class and working with their hands and all that, but that we have as a society do kind of associate sometimes that archetype of like a working man with masculinity. And there can be elements of that that are actually positive. And so then if you turn your attention away from working- class people in general of all uh identities and genders, you do end up alienating uniquely I think people who associated with that archetype being usually men.

[00:23:43]You understand the distinction between who is actually in this coalition versus whose identity is attached more to a archetype and how you speak to them.

[00:23:55]Really interesting way to examine it because he he emphasizes some people are always like, "Well, you we just need to get he referenced the the white working class is not being spoken enough to."

[00:24:06]And you go, "How does that go?" Hello white working class because of course our working class is it should be and is beautifully multi- a combination of multiple identities. Um and so instead of playing around with that game of is there an a branding thing you can do to get white guys back in your corner. Is there a so he says set that aside. If you just work really hard to be a warrior for working-class people, men and women, different races, different everything, then there will naturally be a heightened loyalty of certain groups of people back to the Democratic party.

[00:24:54]H I hadn't heard that explanation. I always heard like we need to do more ads on NFL.

[00:25:00]Hey, what up dudes?

[00:25:02]We're masculine again. Yeeha.

[00:25:05]And then one other clip from this interview, >> things got harder.

[00:25:10]>> So, you know, one of the things that you've said again about being a New Deal Democrat and the thing that I understand about that period is that it was about creating programs and spending money.

[00:25:21]And I'm I'm just wondering especially in the moment that we find ourselves spending money from where? Um, >> well, where did the money for where the where the $50 billion >> where these these ide um I I guess you know we are at a moment where you know our debt is has ballooned. um spending is government spending is you know many view it as out of control and unsustainable.

[00:26:00]How are you going to find the money to do these very ambitious things like Medicare for all? These are all very expensive things.

[00:26:09]>> So we just spent $50 billion in 2 months in the war in Iran and I haven't heard a single question of where it came from.

[00:26:17]I am always amazed that this nation can just expend billions, trillions of dollars on wars that enrich the military-industrial complex, protect people in power, and we never have to have a conversation about where the money came from. But the moment you say that Americans deserve to see housing costs come down or energy costs come down, the moment we have to talk about health care, suddenly we have to pull our pockets out and pretend like we're poppers. I just take issue with the framing. Uh primarily because we have taken on an immense amount of debt specifically over the past 30 years.

[00:26:56]>> I guess I'm asking are people's taxes going to have to go up?

[00:27:00]The answer is no because we're going to go after the money where it went. I mean, the reason this nation is an immense amount of debt, and this is important to understand, is because we created lots of new public money, put it out into the world where it went into a speculative financial system where it has now been hoarded and invested in truly ridiculous things for a long time.

[00:27:22]The debt that this nation holds, it holds it because we made public funds.

[00:27:28]And we put them out not into the real world, not into programs that are going to uplift the average American, not into small businesses, not into small farms.

[00:27:37]No, we put this money out in the form of fossil fuel subsidies. We put it out in the form of tax cuts for billionaires and for corporations. We put it out into massive amount of funding for the American military.

[00:27:47]>> So, you get the just really strong answer. First of all, remind me what this little thing is called that you look at like the stars with. I I'm completely banking for some reason. Help me.

[00:27:56]>> Telescope.

[00:27:57]>> Telescope.

[00:27:59]>> He has a telescope. Go put put this back up. He has a telescope. He's looking at the stars.

[00:28:07]So, elect him already. That sounds like I'm being sarcastic. Obviously, it's a joke, but there is something like his telescope. He's looking. He's saying, "Look, Venus is out tonight."

[00:28:22]He's not just sitting all day. There's a metaphor there. It's not about the telescope. Stop thinking about the telescope. It's about a bigger point.

[00:28:31]He's not sitting all day thinking about, "Oh my gosh, how where's my next career opportunity?" He was shucking oysters.

[00:28:40]Don't know if that's the word at all. At all.

[00:28:44]I actually don't think it is. He's peeling them open. What do you do with them? I eat them. That's what I do with them. Um, so good. I mean, obviously, of course, if you were crafting policy, you have to think about the numbers.

[00:28:58]Just going, "What about war?" is not an answer to the specific way you would fund a program. But it's a very strong rhetorical response because it's true.

[00:29:07]It's every time we talk about social programs, where the money go fine, it's we do need to think about money. Where's the money coming from? But you never it never asked when Trump's like we have we're doing a war for 50 bill over the two months. I didn't hear someone go where did that come from?

[00:29:25]But always when we're talking about social programs and then Platner nailed it. No one ever asks Republican politicians why they in the last what did we look at seven presidents every Republican increased the deficit. Every Democrat decreased the deficit. So the gap between what we're spending and the revenue we're taking in got smaller. We got closer to not accumulating more and more debt. Even though of course we still were. But the the gap got smaller under Democrats, got bigger under Republicans. The problem got worse under Republicans, better under Democrats.

[00:30:00]And nobody knows that.

[00:30:03]Nobody knows it. Somehow everyone thinks Republicans are better with the debt.

[00:30:07]They're not. And do you know if you exclude the crisis because when something happens, one of the reasons we want the ability to take on debt is so that in a time of economic crisis, we can artificially keep ourselves afloat until we actually recover like the pandemic. We all would have died and suffered if we didn't get some stimulus in the economy cuz we weren't producing the amount necessary to fund all of our lives. And so they made fake money for us to have to keep us alive which caused inflation but at least to keep us alive.

[00:30:39]That's when we should spend deficit spend significantly. If you remove those crisis eras and look at your regular times like 90% of our debt problem comes from Republican after Republican after Republican obliterating our revenue.

[00:30:58]It's not just about spending. revenues half the equation and they obliterate the revenue often disproportionately to funnel so much money in the hands of the wealthiest Americans. That's not a talking point. That's just true. We wouldn't be anywhere close to the problem that we're at now with our debt if Republicans hadn't cut taxes for especially rich people over and over again.

[00:31:25]So anyways, point is platiner making a joke about Jorin in a portaotti does not bother me. Does not bother me at all.