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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   25487 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 20, 2025

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Following up on the last 2 week's worth of cryptofascist accusations, a Maine Senate candidate apparently had a Nazi-linked tattoo. Fun fact compared to the people involved in past weeks: he's running as a Dem. He also had some questionable reddit posts:

“Why don’t black people tip?” He worked as a bartender at Tune Inn on Capitol Hill, where he was a guest bartender last month.

“I work as a bartender and it always amazes me how solid this stereotype is,” he wrote. “Every now and again a black patron will leave a 15-20% tip, but usually it [is] between 0-5%. There’s got to be a reason behind it, what is it?”

That same year, he also responded to a post about underwear designed to prevent sexual assault saying people should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f—-ked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to?”

Platner also made references to political violence in several posts. In 2018, he said in response to a thread in which someone invoked leaving the U.S. due to Trump-era immigration policies: “Fight until you get tired of fighting with words and then fight with signs, and fists, and guns if need be.”

In other 2018 posts first reported by Politico, Platner said those who “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle … ought to do some reading of history.” He also said “an armed working class is a requirement for economic justice.”

CNN focused on a series of posts from 2021 in which Platner also called himself a communist, said rural Americans are “racist” and “stupid,” called all cops “bastards” and used the word “retard” several times.

I note it's near the bottom of the article where it's mentioned that Platner called himself a communist, as opposed to any article about leaked republican chats which immediately lead with any claims about Nazi/fascist allegations. For example, this next article.

On the Republican side, Trump's nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel has withdrawn because 'a text chat that showed him saying the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell.” Ingrassia also described himself in the chat as having “a Nazi streak” at times.'

According to texts viewed by Politico, Ingrassia told those in the chat that “MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs.”

Apparently, from three weeks in a row of this kind of thing, there is a rule for text chats: if you're a Republican, anything you say will eventually be leaked (and nothing will happen to the duplicitous snitches who leak private conversations), and spicy comments will sink your career. If you're a Dem, you can talk about wanting to see the deaths of your opponent's children and you'll remain the party candidate for a major statewide office.

The causality, in this case, may simply be that these are examples of the underlying character traits that make him a weak candidate, not isolated examples of weakness that have been exploited by opponents

This is exactly the guy Democrats need to be able to pull back the working class. So of course they are doing their best to take him down.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the Reddit allegations came to light shortly after Governor Mills entered the race. I imagine that Collins would prefer to go up against a political unknown with a hard lefty streak rather than an established politician who has shown she can win a statewide election. As for the working class, this guy reminds me a little too much of Fetterman, who had a cadre of fanboys who thought he could do no wrong and ignored every red flag because they thought the party needed a true progressive to drive boring-ass moderates like Conor Lamb out of the party (although interestingly enough, the House seat Lamb vacated went to Chris Deluzio, who is basically a clone of Lamb). Fetterman was always rabidly pro-Israel but this suddenly became a huge problem when the war in Gaza started. He was always a bipartisanship advocate but this suddenly became a problem when he refused to cast meaningless votes against Trump's cabinet appointments. If Platner gets elected it wouldn't surprise me if he ends up holding some opinions that anyone critical of them could have guessed at and they'll be whining again about how he's "practically a Republican", even if he votes with the Democrats 90% of the time.

Determining who the real hypocrites are is an invitation to the Seventh Circle of Hell. Contextual bickering could occur, but the main difference between Jay Jones and Ingrassia I see is:

After the texts came to light, several Republican senators said they would not support his nomination. They included some of the most conservative and stalwart Trump allies in the Senate.

I assume Ingrassia can be sidelined and replaced with ease. He might even have enemies or competitors with reasons to want that. Dems had no such out with Jay Jones. So, yes, I think it's fair to say Democrats are the hypocrites™ here. The respectability standards, as ever, are fluid and contingent. That doesn't mean they aren't real or are permanently unilateral. I do think the Young Republicans got offered as an unnecessary sacrifice to the altar of respectability. Vance was correct about that.

Platner has the support of people who cheered Charlie Kirk's death and faces off against the establishment. They would be happy to see him drop out. At least one of his fellow primary challengers has demanded such. People still go on about how Bernie had the election rigged against him. That may be what Dem operatives are thinking anyway. It does appear less than ideal some reddit communist has garnered a groundswell of support and a real campaign.

What is not believable is that Platner didn't have knowledge of the lineage of his cool skull tattoo. A veteran marine of multiple combat deployments, who then served as a military contractor -- one that, according to his now former campaign aide, "prides himself on his extensive knowledge of military history" -- certainly knows what kind of tattoo he wears on his chest. Weirder things have happened, but if I could bet money against his total ignorance of the design I would bet a good deal. I don't know why he didn't just say he was inspired by any number of killing-is-rad coded skulls as a young marine, and that the Croatian skinhead who gave him the tattoo only had one design to pick from.

questionable reddit posts "suggested people concerned about being raped shouldn’t be inebriated around people they don’t feel comfortable with."

Now that's just good advice.

The story he gives behind the Nazi tattoo (described as a skull-and-crossbones; I would suspect specifically a Nazi Totenkopf) is he was in the Marines, on leave in Croatia, and got drunk and got it. If so, this guy is the most Red Tribe Democrat I've heard of outside of Alaska or West Virginia.

The reporting on the other stuff makes me want to defend him:

The headline: "Graham Platner asked why Black people ‘don’t tip’ and referenced rape in old Reddit posts"

Oh, he REFERENCED rape, did he? Obviously a terrible misogynist. The explanation in the article body isn't much better: he "suggested people concerned about being raped shouldn’t be inebriated around people they don’t feel comfortable with". Uh, yeah, I know the progressives consider this victim blaming but Captain Obvious couldn't put it better.

Then there's

In other 2018 posts first reported by Politico, Platner said those who “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle … ought to do some reading of history.” He also said “an armed working class is a requirement for economic justice.”

Well, this could be a call to violence. Or it could be lefty pro-gun stuff.

Some of the other stuff is more clearly stuff I wouldn't like, but I think I still dislike the media more than this guy.

He also said “an armed working class is a requirement for economic justice.”

Yeah I'm thinking based

The story he gives behind the Nazi tattoo (described as a skull-and-crossbones; I would suspect specifically a Nazi Totenkopf) is he was in the Marines, on leave in Croatia, and got drunk and got it

As I read this, I oscillate between sarcastically saying "this is the kind of congressman we need" and unironically saying "this is the kind of congressman we need".

I've never been in a state where I'm compelled to write Schrodinger's shitpost before.

Usually skeptical of dog whistle claims but I would say this leans more Totenkopf than pirate:

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-871235

Granted he's a marine so I could buy he just legit thought it looked cool.

I find it quite hard to make out in that picture, even increasing the brightness did not help much. From the shape, it could be an SS Totenkopf. Or a similar design.

My priors for finding a SS skull as a design in a seedy tattoo parlor in Croatia are actually not all that low. They did have a puppet government allied with the Nazis, after all, and at least a few of them were likely proud to fight the Serbs and Soviets.

There's an underground but strong pro-Nazi current in Croatian nationalism just like there is in Ukraine, because of their anti-Serbia/USSR history. Even back in the 90s the Serbian side of the war were calling them fascists/ustase (see the famous Serbia Strong song).

He also has a 1919 tattoo that hasn't been getting as much attention. (Visible in the third image here: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/22/politics/graham-platner-tattoo-senate-candidate)

How many Nazi symbols does someone get tattoed on themselves before they start to wonder the providence of them?

The entire tattoo is of an Appalachian Mountain Club TFC (Trail Fucking Crew) logo, with Est. 1919 written on either side, and 2002 written at the bottom. Apparently he worked on the crew that summer. I'm not a Platner fan and I think a lot of this stuff should raise alarm bells, but this isn't one of them.

Ah, my bad.

What's a 1919 tattoo symbolize?

In addition to what ABigGuy4U said, the 19th letter of the Alphabet is S, so 1919 is SS.

1919 was the year that Anton Drexler founded the German Worker’s Party, the predecessor organization to the NSDAP.

Do you think a guy who takes his shirt off in bars is going to have very granular standards about what tattoo he gets when drunk with his pals in a foreign city? They're young, they're stupid, they're in the military - "yeah that one looks badass, gimme!"

Some of the other stuff is more clearly stuff I wouldn't like, but I think I still dislike the media more than this guy.

Yeah, I have no idea if he's my outgroup or fargroup or what he is. He's obviously a shitposter, so he's my tribe in some ways. Some of his comments wouldn't be out of line here at the Motte. But of course the media makes him into a Nazi rapist when the communist identification and possible calls to violence strike me as the bigger potential problem.

Some of his comments wouldn't be out of line here at the Motte.

I regularly wonder whether people I read about are actually posters on the Motte. Odds are against it, but you never know.

I'm a big fan of the "joke" that Vance posts (or at least lurks) here.

Maine produces some genuine red tribe leftism occasionally. This guy seems to be an actual revolutionary communist, not the namby-pamby Berniecrat thing.

Now, of course, an actual revolution by the proles… would not lead to a far left government. But he doesn’t know that.

Is this post just boo outgroup? Does the comparison to last week's happening (Young Republicans) make this something higher effort than that, and my interpretation of "boo outgroup" is just my bias? Who can tell!

Did you think last week's post was boo outgroup?

Uh yes, it totally was. I'm assuming you mean the magicalkittycat post. I tried to give him/her (for some reason the username makes me think a girl) the benefit of the doubt for a long time, but the last couple of weeks of posts were just looking for chances to bash the outgroup imo.

for some reason the username makes me think a girl

The same problem plagues Beloved Kitten on X/substack even though his writing style (and very frequent statements of being a man) could not make it more obvious.

Calling CatgirlKulak, paging Dr. CatgirlKulak.

I love the people who yell at Kulak "That's a man, baby!" like they've uncovered some cunning plot. That shit must go so hard if you think wrestling is real.

I’ve only pointed it out in response to people insisting otherwise, which happens more often than I’d expect.

I mean, I get it. We all want to believe that there is a cute Rhodesian catgirl out there who is obsessed with guns and violence; it's like the tomboy fantasy on steroids! But real life is not an anime.

In their defense, I've seen people claim and going some lengths to defend, the idea of him being a woman.

I have written on this.

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Depending on your proclivities, it could also be "based outgroup"?

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