I can’t believe a former US marine who joined specifically for Iraq would be violent towards women.
TBH I did not know he was a Blackwater mercenary. News keeps calling him a Marine, which I don’t think is the same thing.
That would have been a dealbreaker for me, but then I’m not a Mainer and did not do much diligent research about him.
ETA Ten years ago, I wrote a blogpiece discussing the Are We The Baddies skit by Mitchell & Webb, observing Skulls in military symbolism are actually not particularly odd, as indicators of toughness and ferocity… Skulls were a tradition of mobile units, first cavalry and later mechanized and air units as a symbol of their ferocity.
So when Platner allegedly had buyers remorse regarding a tat that he got in the service when he was a front-line rifleman, I could sympathize. I am lucky that the stupid things I did as a youth left no permanent record. (The internet never forgets, and I have plenty of bad takes still buried out there from my adult years.)
Okay but consider his pattern of violently impulsive bad behavior.
Violent. Impulsive. Electing him would put him in a room full of congressmen.
That’s a great point. I’m thinking about nominating this guy
I’m registering to vote and writing him in for congress.
Plus he has a cool ass name. It would be awesome to see him sitting next to all those pedophiles congress. Lmao. Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run , run
Don’t even care about the name.seems kinda faschy. I just want him in that room, being himself.do we have an inmate number?
He’s killed six rapists and pedophiles he’s based AF. It’s a name to remember
But can we count on him to scour and hunt from the Epstein files? A lot of folk in the US who are anti-pedophile seem to get all wishy-washy once directed towards wealthy elites, even the ones who can and do afford sex tourism.
Again, do we have an inmate number I can put next to his name, so it doesn’t seem like I’m voting for a dead roman guy?
That’s the thing. I was introduced to Platner by campaign materials and friendly bios showing up in my feed. At most I heard of the tat and some online discourse from a long time ago. I didn’t know of his history of violence or his war crimes during his military service.
When it came to actually researching candidates, I was focusing on the ones we have here in California. And we too have our problematic ones.
No, I’m saying I want to out the violent impulsive war criminal in the middle of a room of congressmen. That is the most productive place for that guy to be.
Bonus points if he also votes to put trans rights or free healthcare in the constitution or whatever. That’s all fake shit that will never benefit me.
You really Britta’ed this meme…
Graham Platner fought in the military, yes, but he has since gained consciousness of the Military Industrial Context and wants to limit its influence across the world. Veterans deserve a chance to develop dissent and grief for their active duty. Many that join the military at a young age fall hook, line, and sinker for propaganda.
Graham Platner had a totenkopf tattoo, yes, but he has since covered it up. Also, that tattoo was exposed for everyone to see at his sister’s wedding where the fiancé’s family was largely Jewish. I’d wager to say that most Americans don’t know about a totenkopf as much as the Nazi symbol or iron cross as the skull might be mistaken with a pirate flag.
All of the above points to a story of a broken person lied to by the American government to use their body as a meat shield for endless worldwide conquer, and their rehabilitation and reeducation to attone for their actions and do better in the world.
But that rehabilitation story falls apart with these rape allegations. Platner doubling down and denying his involvement, when Racicot had receipts with her friends and therapist before he even started his political campaign, nullifying any political motivations unlike with Fifield, alludes to a masked narcissism that risks his character. Why go to therapy to work on everything about yourself except this one aspect of your life? It’s inconsistent and introduces risks to how Platner might perform as a senator in the future.
Also, as a senator, Platner would have probably needed to undergo hearings about his past relationships to air out all of his dirty laundry in front of the entire nation if he gets elected. Other things may be dug up that Platner didn’t want people to know.
While Platner’s socialist policies are good, we can have better candidates with less baggage, like Troy Jackson.
If your instinct is to think the guy with the Nazi tattoo openly talked about how he enjoys war and killing people, bombed a city center, without being ordered, was a guard at one of the most infamous torture centers we know of, and joined fucking Blackwater isn’t an opportunist psycho taking advantage of you, you’ve crossed the line from sympathetic to gullible.
Show me where he said he enjoyed killing people.
All I’ve seen since the late 2010s is Platner denouncing his involvement with the MIC, and MIC as a whole.
Otherwise, you sound like another ML ultra that sees veterans as a monolith and has no room in the revolution for vets that have come around to leftist ideas.
Reddit thread “Why did you enlist in the Marine Corps”. Now deleted comment from 01/02/2020
“Wanted to have an adventure and kill some people. Joined up in ‘04, did Fallujah and Ramadi, and managed both. Hell of an excellent experience.”
Wtf!? 😨
deleted by creator
The people are so desperate for progressive candidates they have backed this guy. That tells you how far gone the sysstem has gone.
Yes, in fact, we are that desperate.
One of the gubernatorial candidates here in California was a private prisons billionaire with a progressive platform who took the climate crisis seriously. He got third place and beat the progressive woman who at most has temper issues.
I’m personally afraid of establishment Democrats doing nothing and going full Neville Chamberlain.
I’m actually just in favor of putting violent impulsive murderhobos in rooms full of congressmen. I know the system can’t and won’t work for me.
You think this might be a psyop by the military to discredit progressive moments as a whole by having a progressive candidate that’s the worst human they could get to be a believable candidate?
Not sure if I worded that right, but hopefully you get what I’m tryna say
The misuse of this meme is far more upsetting than the political message
At this point, I don’t know, I can’t change anything about it anyway, and so I’m just at peace with it for now. I’m not in a position to vote for the guy, I can’t change the mind of anyone who is, and I have no idea if he is a leftist with a colored past or a fascist playing pretend with his politics. If he doesn’t get elected, he’ll probably get forgotten within a year. If he does get elected, he’ll be voting on and proposing laws and we will see what his true policy positions are. I’m just waiting at this point.
I got absolutely shit on for saying that I didn’t support him due to my long standing policy of not supporting people who get Nazi tattoos. People falling over themselves to say he had grown a lot since getting it, or that he didn’t know what it meant when he got it (bullshit). People saying I was some Collins loving conservative just because I refused to support a man who got a Nazi tattoo on his chest.
I hope this is a lesson to the idiots who thought I was being unreasonable and unforgiving. It takes a special kind of asshole to knowingly get a Nazi tattoo. Those kinds of people don’t grow out of it. They don’t change. They might get shamed enough to cover it up, but they will remain an asshole. The only good that someone with a Nazi tattoo can do is to throw themselves in a wood chipper and become fertilizer.
The problem with your logic is that you are saying knowingly gets a Nazi tattoo, but you’re against anyone having a Nazi tattoo, knowingly or not. So, let me take a slight detour before I get to the point.
The problem I have with an absolutist statement like that is that there are plenty of reasons someone might have a Nazi tattoo, even knowingly, that wouldn’t make me immediately not support them. Now, given that statement, the circumstances are probably gonna be pretty stringent, but I don’t think it’s necessarily unforgivable or even disqualifying… BUT I think it mostly is, especially because you’re right that you can probably find someone that is just as good as whoever I could find that fits the bill, but does not and has not ever had a Nazi tattoo. So, like… I guess the point is simple.
You’re right. And I am wrong.
I think it’s worth noting that many of the people who supported him did not do so out of idiocy. They were taken advantage of, their willingness to forgive exploited. They knew all of these things and were wary of them, but chose to ignore them because they were lied to about the kind of person he was. They trusted him. And they were scammed.
It is easy to say in hindsight that this was easy to see. I was willing to forgive the tattoo at first and the military service at first (though, not the mercenary work, nor the reddit comments, and definitely not the fucking rape) because, well, in some ways I am kinda gullible, and in other ways, I kinda give a lot of leeway to certain privileged people (mostly rich white men) who make mistakes that ruin lives because they never considered the consequences of their actions because society allows them to do so with little to no repercussions, and that subconsciously affects my opinions.
For the record, I wasn’t a Platner supporter before this, but I understand how many of them got there. He said a lot of things that people desperately wanted to hear, and that is how people get scammed. They aren’t dumb, even if they did act like morons. They’re desperate. They’re hopeful for anything that can make their lives better. They’re even gullible to believe a man with a Nazi tattoo who was a Blackwater mercenary that assaulted many women was a good candidate, and responsible for perpetuated a culture that allows these horrible decisions to continue not being as bad as they should rightfully be. But, even though I understand why you think so, I still don’t think they’re stupid. And maybe that’s another thing on me.
Platner aside, are you saying if someone had a controversial tattoo at any point in their life, then you would never vote for them?
A Nazi tattoo? Yes. I am saying that.
If someone had a Nazi tattoo at any point in their life, I would never vote for them. To me, they will forever be a piece of shit. I don’t see how this is a difficult concept to grasp.
I’m actually just genuinely curious. Not trying to attack or defend anyone here.
To me if it was between an actual Nazi and someone with a Nazi tattoo but progressive politics, then I would vote against the actual Nazi.
Are you saying that you wouldn’t vote in that case?
Like, the two candidates are a literal, not-even-hiding-it, Nazi vs. a person with a Nazi tattoo?
If there is a situation where those are the only candidates, I would take it as a sign to move out of my city, state, or country.
So you would be comfortable if the actual Nazi won by a single vote?
Like correct me if I’m wrong but you think a symbol of hate is so bad and that people cannot change that you would leave the community and let an actual Nazi win?
There is literally no situation where you would go, “I understand that this person at one point in there life made a mistake, but they have demonstrated that they have moved past that and at least they want to improve material conditions and they are not a literal Nazi”
Your response still lacks nuance, your not asking if they knew what the tattoo represented. Your drawing wide black&white judgments on, in this case, an entire demographic of largely dumb young men with an amarica-grade history education.
If they knew what it meant and to who, then you are correct, let society treat them as such.
Otherwise, you come off as having an inflexable mindset and dont believe people can make mistakes or change.
Please, feel free to give me examples of non-shitty people who got Nazi tattoos. There’s just not that many of them.
A Nazi tattoo is not something you accidentally get. Most artists will refuse to do them. You have to specifically seek out an artist who is willing to do one, and at that point, claiming ignorance on what you are getting is an excuse that would only work on idiots.
My philosophy is simple; Nazi tattoo = irredeemable fuckwit. I’m not going to be flexible when it comes to Nazi’s. It’s insane to me that someone would suggest otherwise.
Cool, if were going to set the standard. Then you should be able to recognize every symbol and what it represents between cultures, times and historical context.
The fact that you can’t identify them all is the point, and I dont expect you to, nor some dumb 20-something year old man with a public education and prospects to join the US millitary to do so either. No one is arguing against you, just pointing out that there is deeper context and a persons willingness to correct it in the future that should be weighed before the court of public opinion passes judgment.
It’s the Totenkopf. You know the skull on the hats of every Nazi portrayed in media for the last 50 years?
Come on man, this is a losing battle. It wasn’t some obscure symbol. He knew what he was getting, just as anyone who gets a Nazi tattoo knows what they are getting. What, are you going to try to claim that someone with two lighting bolts is just a big fan of lightning?
I was thinking of the exact same meme, but I thought it would get a lot of backlash from the “progressive” opportunists who will now pretend to have always been against Platner, or that this accusation somehow changes his general character.
They forgave him for his enthusiastic murdering of a bunch of brown people, but rape is across the line lmao
Love how we still got people defending the Nazi Mercenary part of this Nazi Mercenary Rapist.
🌽
He was a history buff who said he didn’t know what his tattoos meant.
Anyone that supported Platner is just another blind zealot voting because of the letter (D). Same shit we accuse Republicans of doing. We’re supposed to be better than them.
6 months from now, we’ll have all always been against this.
The standard is perfection. You establish that any and all leftists must attain this standard, or they are not true leftists. This works because perfect is an unattainable standard for every single leftist (and in fact every human, everywhere), so all are guaranteed to fall short of it. It’s such an easy, effective means of suppressing actual leftist movements. Remember, liberals are not new to this. They’ve been doing this for the better part of a century now, and they’ve gotten quite good at it.
Don’t be a Nazi rapist. -impossible standards of the puritanical left.
The other side of that coin is that we have structured a lot of our society to foster certain viewpoints.
It works real good to control people. It kinda makes sense that it works. It’s sort of what we’re all talking about.
It doesn’t seem like he can win, or should run so that’s sort of that. If someone’s going the same way as you are, you can walk together for a bit without moving in. Who knows we might hear from him again sometime.
I liked a lot of what he was saying, but I don’t live in Maine so I haven’t really looked into this person like someone on a ballot. So I may be out of line in this case.
Even if he was completely free of controversy, you’d find something to disqualify him. Maybe even just the fact that he’s white and/or a man. Men are inherently sexist and white people are inherently racist, so either of those characteristics alone would be enough.
But I will concede that there could potentially be a candidate who could be deemed acceptable, but such a candidate would necessarily hold limited appeal to the working class broadly, and especially the white working class, specifically, thus making them not a threat to capital. So, yes, liberals might allow a candidate who fails to meet their unattainable standard, but only if that candidate poses no threat of actually organizing the working class.
Maybe even just the fact that he’s white and/or a man. Men are inherently sexist and white people are inherently racist, so either of those characteristics alone would be enough.
We’re just gonna completely ignore that the most prominent figure on the American left is Bernie Sanders, then? Someone who somehow, incredibly, didn’t need to rape anyone to appeal to the working class?
It’s more than a little disingenuous to pretend that Bernie Sanders hasn’t received significant criticism from the left, especially on matters related to race and gender.
Is it? From who, when?
I found this in 30 seconds.
Oh, I see. When you talk about the left, you’re talking about mainstream media like MSNBC.
every single person who supported him was a literal nazi supporter.
at least you blue Nazis draw the line at raping white women. y’all didn’t give a fuck about him killing brown people for money.
I been saying fuck him since day 1, but calling him or his supporters Nazi is flat-out ridiculous. He was an ex-Nazi at worst.
Anyone can and should fix their ideology but nobody can undo their actions. Killing peoples for fun, and [very likely] sexually assaulting women can not be undone
he kept his nazi tattoos until there was national pressure.
every day he woke up with a nazi tattoo and decided to keep it. yhea, it’s a nazi.
don’t gaslight me, “people can change”, then point to a blackwater merc with a nazi tattoo. yhea, they can, he didn’t.
under that logic, you can’t be mean to Elon, because he can change.
And even if he changed, I don’t want a Blackwater merc that had a nazi tattoo either.
Nobody, including him, knew it was a nazi tattoo until the smear campaigns. Who associates cartoonish skulls with Nazis except nerds with a special interest in a specific German military unit in WW2?
PS. Yes, that’s how gaslighting works. The first to call it is being gaslighted. Not the person saying that words are meaningless and are equal to Elon’s imaginary words. gtfoh
he had that tattoo for 18 years. Did he never see an SS uniform in a movie or something? Did he never see a picture of a concentration camp guard? Pretty sure I’d recognise my tattooes if I had any. Here is him commenting under one such picture https://undelete.pullpush.io/r/CombatFootage/comments/auy0bi/_/ehbh3n6/?context=4
This exact skull is what SS deaths head units are named for, you know, the ones that were working the concentration camps? It’s so well known that this is the skull the “are we the baddies” sketch is about. You can see it everywhere in pictures about the death camps. And this guy was frequenting military history subs. Guess what’s on the cap of Heinrich Himmler? It’s not the “runes” it’s the totenkopf. The reason that sketch chose that skull is because of it’s prominence.
I was that day years old when I learned what a totenkopf was. A basic picture would’ve made me say “Oh, nice pirate tattoo.” Even after he gets the tattoo, it wouldn’t come up in conversation much if it’s under his shirt, and not in his own field of vision.
I have watched movies about the holocaust and that particular symbol never comes up. I don’t know why people so readily assume it must be common knowledge.
“But you know now!” Yes! And so did Graham! So what’s the point?
I love how the main defense is “bro we all are so ignorant about history that we don’t know one of the most recognizable symbols of the nazis, but trust, we can definitely tell this guy isn’t one”
Because it is.
You don’t know what a black sun is? Okay, I can get that.
You don’t know what a deaths head is? That’s on you.
To be clear, at this point you are not insulting Graham Platner on the idea that he’s a Nazi. You are directly insulting every single voter that doesn’t recognize all Nazi symbols offhand; because all of them were identifying with his excuse. I’m not a Mainer, but otherwise I was one of them.
Dude.
Dude.
There are Celtic symbols that Nazis like to use that make you wonder if the person is a Nazi or just ignorant of what that symbol looks like.
This ain’t that.
This is a 100 percent Nazi tattoo. Don’t blame the world for your ignorance, or try and justify your ignorance by ascribing it to the world. This is your ignorance.
so, you decided to defend a blackwater Merc with a nazi tattoo by complaining about those who pointed it out. and you’re so making excuses for him, even after the rape allegations.
are you sure you want to be that kind of person?
Now, this is gaslighting. Bizarre you try it on a public forum with written record.
I am not defending a Blackwater Merc that run for politics with Nazi tattoos who has rape allegations.
The bar couldn’t be lower.
Now I know that if there is a Blue Trump idiots will vote for him
It was a skull and crossbones and he got it converted into a celtic knot with dogs on it, very quickly. Then eight billion bots tried to tell me he was a homophobe because he said “All officers are gay, and not in the fun dick-sucking way” on Reddit in like 2012. I really didn’t buy that, and it primed me to get pretty dismissive of the noise pretty quickly.
Dude was defending people getting the SS doppelrune tattoo’d as “military tradition” or whatever on reddit. He had the tattoo for 18 years, there is nothing “quick” about it.
The only part I believe about this is that it’s tradition in the US Military to get matching Nazi tattoos.
I sourced it in the comments below the first comment, have a look yourself.
Source?
see also https://themainemonitor.org/platner-reddit-comments/ and just search for “bolts”.
You don’t have the original post, image or link, that discussion was placed under do you? Srsly, I can’t form an informed opinion with only selected facts.
here is one such comment chain: https://www.reddit.com/r/liberalgunowners/comments/gysbbx/comment/ftdomxz/
you can also use pullpush to resurrect his comments:
sorry but you’re gonna have to do the rest of the work yourself.
German here. Is there any real image of the tattoo anywhere? I could only find some images with a big black blob.
Also it’s not like he denied having it, he for sure had a Totenkopf-tattoo that he put a “celtic knot” over.
https://jewishinsider.com/2025/10/graham-platner-ss-tattoo-maine-senate/
The issue with this kind of stuff is history. As a 40 you’re old American, whose grandfather served in World War II, I had no idea what that tattoo meant before this whole scandal.
The only symbolism we ever went over in school was the flag and swastika. I believe they thought dumb kids would mimic the iconography to look edgy.
Yeah, I keep saying this but idiots keep telling me I must have been a dumbass not to recognize it. I told them to show me a single screenshot of this symbol appearing in any media that depicts nazis or WWII and they couldn’t provide one, they just kept deflecting and calling me a dumbass.
It’s prolific enough that’s it’s specifically mentioned in that “are we the baddies” video. They’re wearing it too.
Yes, we all see so many of those on a day-to-day basis, and photos from the time are such high-def it’s astounding that anyone could miss it!
(/s, just in case)
You asked for “a single screenshot” and claimed people couldn’t produce one, I showed you a whole sketch specifically about the symbol, and now the goalposts have moved to “high definition photos that I personally see on a daily basis.”
Oh great, you’ve proven that there’s a wikipedia article for it. This is proof that anyone who hasn’t already stumbled upon it by chance is clearly a willfully ignorant nazi! /s
The only reason you’re even linking it now is because we’re already discussing it. My whole point is that hardly anybody knew what this symbol was prior to the discussion around Platner.
Now find a movie, TV show, book, comic, or video game that depicts that symbol on a nazi. Because that’s what I meant from the start and you know it.
Read my other comments. I link this because this is the only real source, and for reference. A German! Wikipedia article.
No, nobody was an idiot for not seeing this, most Germans would not know that this was a Nazi symbol. And wearing those symbols is illegal here.
I fully admit I am not the smartest or best student of history. However I recall no lessons un symbolism in any history class other than ancient Egypt and Neolithic era or late Stone Age.
Make not mistake I am not supporting any hatred other than towards Nazis. However when I first saw the image I honestly thought it was from Warhammer or something.
Yeah, I thought it looked tacky and stupid. I wouldn’t have gotten it myself. But I also didn’t know it was a nazi symbol until I read about it in the context of platner. Never would have guessed.
I love how the main defense is “bro we all are so ignorant about history that we don’t know one of the most recognizable symbols of the nazis, but trust, we can definitely tell this guy isn’t one”
I think you’re missing my point. And YES, I just told you it wasn’t part of my history lessons. Are you based in the U.S.? If so, eastern, western, north, south, midwest? They all have different types of history being taught in school. For example, in the southeast there was a much bigger unit on trail of tears than in the Midwest. Also I bet if I asked you the name of the fertility statue from the Paleolithic you wouldn’t know it because it wasn’t part of your history lessons. Clearly that version of the totenkopf image was part of your history lessons or part of your history.
If you asked me what skull a bones together mean I would have said pirates and I would have been right because that’s the version of totenkopf I know. As I have now done a quick read on Wikipedia I must disagree with you about it be one of the most recognized symbols. How can it be one of the more recognized symbols if the main use was in concentration camps. They weren’t flying it all over or even putting it on all the uniforms. So yes, please accept that many people don’t know it.
Also no I didn’t say “ohh no this guy is totally not a nazi” but by all means put words in people’s mouth and ignore what they’re saying as it seems you do constantly. What I’m saying is most people I know, don’t know that symbol and thus can readily believe he didn’t know either. Thus the issue with pointing to it and saying “see this guys a nazi” is history lessons. If you’re going to point to shit, point to his words and comments not a tattoo.
Am I going to go dive into this guys Reddit history and learn about him, no. I will not be voting for him and I won’t be voting for his opponent. Not my area and thus I don’t need to go learn all the shit about him.
What I’m saying is most people I know, don’t know that symbol and thus can readily believe he didn’t know either.
The bolded statement is what I take issue with. I don’t care that you personally didn’t know what the SS Totenkopf looked like. But you do now, and if you now see it tattooed on some guys chest wouldn’t that make you highly suspicious of them? Or would you think “nah they probably don’t know either”?
I think that this generalisation of “I didn’t know, so they didn’t either” is really dangerous and gives nazi’s even more plausible deniability to switch to openly fascist symbolism. I’m sorry for being so rude, and it seems like it was misdirected at you, but the amount of people that are willing to look past all these red flags (of which the Totenkopftattoo is but one) got me kind of spiraling…
As I have now done a quick read on Wikipedia I must disagree with you about it be one of the most recognized symbols.
It’s so well recognised that Mitchell & Webb made a comedic sketch about that skull on the radio. They later made it into a TV sketch that became even more famous as the “Hans, are we the baddies?” meme. It’s up there with the Swastika, SS runes and Sonnenrad as far as nazi symbols go.
Your points and observations are very well taken and I admit yes now I would be like WTF.
Your good man, that’s why we should always keep engaging with conversations and discourse. No apologies needed.
Again you are correct and have change my view on it. Accepting “they may not know” (I honestly wouldn’t put it past people like this to suggest to their entire squad to get ‘this cool skull and bones tattoo’) is a bad position and forgives people for not knowing what they are doing. And I think I read it was freaking months of not years after he was informed and fixed it. If I found out there was a symbol on my body was one of hatred and violence I would find an ink shops that very day.
I had seen it and found the skit very entertaining. However I honestly thought it was just a made up symbols akin to pirates for that skit and only recalled the skull but not the bones. (Doesn’t help that I only remembered the ‘they have skells on them’)
Not trying to be combative with this point because I think it goes with location and personal history. I know you have much more knowledge about this stuff based on how you speak about it. For me it was not a know symbol and not in the top 5. Swastika, SS, war eagle, Astra pistols (my grandfather took one off a soldier in WW2 and had it in his box, to me that was a symbol), then the black sun. Just trying to point out that other symbols were the major ones for me due to the effect they had on my upbringing.
Thanks for keeping people focused on real issues, and continuing to engage in conversations about pitfalls we can fall into by ignoring things.
Thanks a lot!
Ok, after some closer look, it could resemble the SS “Mützenabzeichen”, but it could also just be a generic skull.
BTW, the British atme are no nazis are they? https://www.army.mod.uk/learn-and-explore/about-the-army/corps-regiments-and-units/royal-armoured-corps/royal-lancers/
I can not say what exactly that tattoo was there is no clear image I found, so I can not jump to conclusions in any direction.
The British symbol looks nothing like a totenkopf, the tattoo looks exactly like a totenkopf, 1-to-1 on every detail, no matter how much people try to pretend otherwise.
If you have an image that shows that much detail, please provide it. I really want to see it. I have not seen any. I see some black blobs/outlines that’s all.
And from what I can see, the eyes would be different than on the SS version, and details in the bones are also not visible.
Still, it could be like you said the exact version. I can not tell.
And of course does the UK skull not look like this. But: skull on bone is a common symbol. Look for the example at this pre-nazi Symbol.
If we don’t question the given facts, and form our own opinion, we are not better then the real Nazis.
Discrediting political opponents was part of their playbook.
(I am a German anitfaschist, breaking Nazi bones since 2000, and I am not here to defend anyone, just to animate independent thinking)
But: skull on bone is a common symbol. Look for the example at this pre-nazi Symbol.
First off, that symbol is less similar to the tattoo than then totenkomf (that it 100% is). Second, you could also pull up images of swastikas that predate the Nazis. Should I also suspend judgement if I see someone with a swastika tattooed on their chest?
If we don’t question the given facts, and form our own opinion, we are not better then the real Nazis.
This is an absolutely ridiculous thing to say in this context. I’m seeing a picture that is, very clearly and obviously, a totenkomf, a Nazi symbol. And all I’m doing is calling it a Nazi symbol. And somehow, describing the thing that’s right in front of my eyes makes me “no better than a Nazi.”
I don’t think it’s a totenkopf because I was told it was by some influence campaign to discredit a politician, I know it’s a totenkopf because I have eyes.
I mean, come on! “The Nazis discredited their opponents too.” Ok then, should I not consider Trump discredited, for fear of being like a Nazi? Sure, my eyes have seen him palling around with Jeffery Epstein, but there’s any number of excuses people use, if they really want to. I think there was one narrative that he was just infiltrating the secret pedophile ring to take it down from the inside.
The reality is that there’s this enormous pushback whenever anyone tries to hold any politician to any standard whatsoever. It’s like some kind of internalized authoritarianism. It’s “boys will be boys” dialed up to 11.
I can say with 100% certainty based on the pictures presented that that was a totenkomf. Hell, if it wasn’t, why didn’t he provide pictures to prove otherwise? But no matter what evidence is presented, it’s always possible to just demand high and higher standards of proof to protect politicians from any scrutiny.
First, i never said YOU did not think! How do you assume i have this opinion of you? I said as much as you may be right!
Second, i did the work to CONFORM your statement, something i asked for repeatedly from people that state “trust me bro, this is true”.
Here we go, 5 minute gimp job. But asking for proof is considered hostile now? WTF???
That’s not a pre-nazi symbol that’s a proto-nazi symbol…
He doesn’t even deny it though?? He confirmed it was a totenkopf in interviews with cenk uygur for example. Good god, the amount of proof you all require to confirm that the tattoo of a guy defending people getting SS doppelrune tattoos, goes on murder spree’s in west asia and sexually assaults women matches the SS Totenkopf just to confirm that what? He actually is a piece of shit??
I do not need nothing.
Why should I care? I want to understand, that’s all. Maybe just read my other comments…
And, maybe you should read the fucking comments of him defending the SS dudes. He is not a nazi. He is just as stupid as one.
On the rape, no idea. Of course, believe women and investigate, but still, assumption of innocence holds.
But after all, America vote a class of Nazis and Neop Babies into power. A convicted rapist, fraud and openly corrupt man.
But hey, this dude is your biggest problem ATM?
Yeah. Nobody can help America anymore. You are lost
read the fucking comments of him defending the SS dudes. He is not a nazi.
read this again but slowly…
On the rape, no idea. Of course, believe women and investigate, but still, assumption of innocence holds.
This not a courtroom?? The guy is running for office?? He should meet higher criteria, like e.g. not “defending the SS dudes”?? Or carelessly lobbing grenades into dense population areas?? Or raping women?? What the fuck??
And, again you did not read his commwnts, you did not have a look at the deleted comments database
You asshole just echo some sentiment without checking the facts for yourself.
You did not read my other comments …
This moron called white America racist, around the same time he defended the SS dudes.
He called himself a communist and more.
I did not found anything about him throwing granades, and I DON’T CARE. USA, the land where kids can walk with full automatic weapons in a school and shoot other kids, and all You do is fucking thoughts and prayers.
Do you no exit e. V.? A German organization that helps neo nazis to exit the scene? No? Maybe check this.
Bo defending a nazi is not the same as being a Nazi.
Read the fucking comments.
And I said: I don’t know.
I never said you can’t say what you want.
Now. I am not allowed to thing critical because this is not a courtroom?? WTF???
he only covered it when pressured by national outcry, he spent his adult life with a nazi tattoo and never regretted it.
I fucking hate nazi apologists.
And that’s the other thing, dude has been being AGGRESSIVELY smeared since he announced his run. And it’s very obviously because he’s one of the only candidates in the US that are espousing actual leftist talking points. It’s also why I was immediately skeptical when I heard this.
Yeah, republicans and centrist dems alike are terrified of this guy, and yet tankies are still going “nah, he’s a fascist!”
And then they’ll complain that america never elects leftists and the overton window keeps ratcheting to the right. Like gee, I wonder why…
To be clear, the reason is 100% the republicans and centrist dems, and 0% the tankies.
It would be a lot harder for right-wingers to sell this insane caricature of leftists to the average voter if there weren’t so many tankies out there behaving exactly like the caricature.
Are the tankies that are anti platner in the room with us now?
Yes, actually. Yes they are.
Yes, actually. Yes they are.
We all need to start expecting oppo drops against progressive candidates with centrist primary runners-up the week or so before ballots finalize.
If they have progressive runners-up, expect the oppo drop in October the week before early voting opens.
Yeah well of course. But the thing is, we can expect it all we want but we will see if it works. Because if it does then I don’t know what progressives in north america do to actually combat that within the realm of voting and democracy within the system we are in.
I expect an october surprise against Talarico. And it’s not gonna come from republicans.
If democrats can’t find any dirt on Talarico, they’ll fuck with his campaign funding instead.
The circumventing of democracy through all this dirty bullshit is maddening. Theres no way through the system. If you go outside the system you’re branded as a violent terrorist of some kind. Damned if you do, damned if you dont. Without a mass movement with a large (majority?) support base from the population, which I dont think will happen in north america in my lifetime, we are just fucked.
Too bad half the working class became right-wing populists instead of left-wing populists because 90% of their interactions with leftists were just them being blamed for all the world’s woes on account of their whiteness.
Like maybe if you told them “we’re all working class, and those billionaires and corporations are the problem,” then maybe you’d get results.
But no, and whenever one of them complains about global financial elites, people accuse them of anti-semitism. Like, what the fuck? What’s actually anti-semitic is assuming “global financial elites” refers specifically to jewish people, yet here we are…
Its not leftists that did that. Its liberals and online psy ops.
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