A House Democrat drew backlash from across the political spectrum after appearing to soften his criticism of Graham Platner, Democrats\u2019 presumptive Maine Senate nominee.<\/p>\n
Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., initially sparked <\/u><\/a>outrage<\/u> <\/a>on the left when he denounced Platner\u2019s Nazi-linked tattoo and said, “I hope Maine voters agree with me.”\u00a0<\/p>\n But after clarifying he was not endorsing Platner\u2019s opponent, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine \u2014 while also backing away from his earlier call for Maine voters to oppose Platner \u2014 Auchincloss found himself under fire from both sides.<\/p>\n Platner has faced mounting scrutiny since disclosing last year that he once had a black skull-and-crossbones tattoo, which he said he got while drinking on leave during a Marine deployment in Croatia and did not recognize at the time as a Nazi symbol.<\/p>\n GRAHAM PLATNER BLAMES NAZI TATTOO ON MILITARY \u2018CULTURE,\u2019 DRAWS BACKLASH FROM GOP VETERANS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “Susan Collins is a rubber stamp for the worst admin in history. Claims that I would endorse her, implicitly or otherwise, ignore my track record supporting Democrats to take back both chambers,” Auchincloss wrote on social media Tuesday. “As I said months ago, I find Platner’s Nazi tattoo and his commentary about it personally disqualifying. If it were me, I’d vote for someone else in the Maine Democratic primary.”<\/p>\n “Regardless of what happens in Maine, Democrats need to take back the Senate, and I’ll keep working hard to make it happen,” he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n Leftist journalist Peter Beinart griped, “This is totally incoherent. The race is between Platner and Collins.”<\/p>\n “If @JakeAuch opposes them both, then he doesn’t care if Maine elects a Democratic senator,” he went on. “And if he doesn’t care if Maine elects a Democratic senator, he doesn’t care very much about Democrats taking the Senate.”<\/p>\n Progressive commentator Rachel Bitecofer mocked Auchincloss, a Jewish Democrat, for focusing on Platner\u2019s tattoo resembling a Nazi design instead of discussing what she described as “actual policy Nazis” in the Republican Party.<\/p>\n “We need to take back the Senate, but don\u2019t vote for the D because I want to pretend a tattoo and not positions make him a Nazi while we are facing actual policy Nazis,” Bitecofer wrote.<\/p>\n Tommy Vietor, a Platner ally and co-host of the influential Democratic Party-aligned podcast “Pod Save America,” questioned whether Auchincloss\u2019 objections to Platner could be solved by having a heart-to-heart with him.<\/p>\n “Have you called or met with him to discuss it?” Vietor said.<\/p>\n WARREN SAYS HER \u2018KIND OF MAN\u2019 IS LEFT-WING SENATE HOPEFUL ROCKED BY NAZI-TATTOO, REDDIT CONTROVERSIES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Conservatives, meanwhile, accused Auchincloss of caving to the left after his initial criticism of Platner.<\/p>\n “It only took 24 hours for you to bend the knee to the Nazi tattoo guy?” Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Trump-aligned Article III Project, wrote on social media. “Your ancestors are rolling in their graves.”<\/p>\n “You\u2019re a real profile in courage, dude,” Republican communicator Tim Murtaugh said of Auchincloss.<\/p>\n Conservative journalist Curtis Houck mockingly wrote, “Well, well, well, look who’s back with their tail between their knees.”<\/p>\n Houck compared Auchincloss\u2019 comments to Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who similarly faced backlash after breaking with Democrats on transgender issues following the 2024 election.<\/p>\n Moulton has since pivoted to toeing the party line on transgender rights amid his Senate run in deep-blue Massachusetts.<\/p>\n Fox News Digital reached out to Auchincloss for comment before publication.<\/p>\n TOP OFF-THE-WALL REDDIT POSTS HAUNTING GRAHAM PLATNER\u2019S MAINE SENATE BID<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Auchincloss was among a handful of Democrats to call on Platner to exit the Democratic primary after the Senate hopeful disclosed his Nazi-linked tattoo on an episode of “Pod Save America” in October 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n The far-left candidate backed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee after Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, suspended her campaign ahead of the June 9 primary.<\/p>\n Platner, 41, wore the tattoo for nearly two decades after getting it in 2007 while inebriated with fellow Marines<\/a> in Split, Croatia.<\/p>\n He has since covered up the design and has repeatedly claimed he was not aware of the symbol\u2019s Nazi origins.\u00a0<\/p>\n CNN<\/u><\/a> and Jewish Insider<\/u><\/a> reported that Platner knew about the design\u2019s affiliation with the Nazi SS.<\/p>\n Platner has come under fierce criticism for since-deleted Reddit posts as recently as 2021 in which he called himself a communist, said White rural Americans are “actually” racist and stupid and argued that all law enforcement officials are “bastards,” among other deleted messages.<\/p>\n He also discussed masturbating in portable toilets<\/a> and mocked a Purple Heart recipient who was shot multiple times in combat in since-deleted posts, Fox News Digital first reported.<\/p>\n Collins is widely viewed as the most vulnerable GOP incumbent running for re-election and the battleground race is likely a must-win for Democrats if they are to retake Senate control during the midterm elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A House Democrat drew backlash from across the political spectrum after appearing to soften his criticism of Graham Platner, Democrats\u2019 presumptive Maine Senate nominee. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., initially sparked outrage on the left when he denounced Platner\u2019s Nazi-linked tattoo and said, “I hope Maine voters agree with me.”\u00a0 But after clarifying he was not … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}