Democratic Senate Candidate Disavows Old Posts Calling White Americans ‘Racist,’ Cops ‘B*stards’
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Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner disavowed his old Reddit posts calling police officers “b*stards” and rural white Americans “racist” after being confronted by CNN with his past comments this week.
CNN’s KFile discovered several controversial posts on Platner’s old Reddit account, documenting the Maine candidate’s political views on forums such as “AntiWork” between 2020 and 2021.
In several posts, Platner railed against police officers, writing, “F*** these cops,” and “Cops are bastards… All of them, in fact.”
In another exchange, Platner responded to a post titled, “White people aren’t as racist or stupid as Trump thinks,” by writing, “Living in white rural America, I’m afraid to tell you they actually are.”
Platner – who is running to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) – also described himself in posts as a “communist” and a “psychedelics taking socialist,” and opened up about becoming disillusioned with “patriotic nonsense.”
“I’m a vegetable growing, psychedelics taking socialist these days. After the war, I’ve pretty much stopped believing in any of the patriotic nonsense that got me there in the first place,” he wrote. “Still got the guns though, I don’t trust the fascists to act politely.”
In another post, Platner confessed, “I did used to love America, or at least the idea of it. These days I’m pretty disgusted by it all.”
After CNN confronted Platner with his since-deleted posts, the Senate candidate quickly disavowed them.
“I don’t think any of that is indicative of who I am today, really,” he said. “I’m not a communist. I’m not a socialist. I own a small business. I’m a Marine Corps veteran.”
Asked about his history of anti-police posts, Platner claimed, “I can honestly say that that is me just being an a**hole on the Internet.” He added, “I have an immense amount of friends who are police officers. They’re not all bastards because they’re literally buddies of mine.”
Platner, who is running as a progressive and is endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), also disavowed his comments about rural white Americans.
“I’m also a White guy and I don’t think I’m a racist,” he told CNN. “I don’t believe that. I’m sure I was just angry on the Internet about the state of things back then.”
Platner concluded, “I absolutely love the place that I live and I love the people around me… And I do actually believe firmly in the idea that we as Americans have a lot in common and that we can be the thing that we want to be the thing that we claim to be.”
