Maine Democrat Platner Faces New Backlash Over 2019 Army Posts as Collins Calls Remarks Appalling
Updated
Updated · Fox News · May 23
Maine Democrat Platner Faces New Backlash Over 2019 Army Posts as Collins Calls Remarks Appalling
14 articles · Updated · Fox News · May 23
2019 Reddit posts newly spotlighted in Maine’s Senate race show Democrat Graham Platner calling the Army “absolute trash” and saying wounded veteran Teddy Daniels “didn’t deserve to live.”
Susan Collins seized on the remarks, calling them “just appalling,” as the deleted posts — tied to an account Platner has acknowledged was his — widened scrutiny of his online history.
The controversy now spans more than the Daniels comments, including slurs, attacks on white rural Americans, self-identification as a Marxist and later criticism of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in a 2024 podcast.
Platner, a Marine Corps and Maryland Army National Guard veteran with Iraq and Afghanistan tours, apologized in October and said the posts reflected trauma and crude military humor rather than who he is today.
When does a veteran's psychological trauma explain harmful rhetoric versus simply excusing it?
Can a decade of toxic online posts be erased by a story of trauma and personal growth?