But beneath the carefully crafted image of the plainspoken veteran outsider is a candidate whose own claims begin to collapse under even modest scrutiny.

The most extensive portions of Platner’s interview with the New York Times centered on his military service. A veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Platner stands out among the majority of the Democratic bench, unable to point to any experience with the military. Platner told the New York Times about how his service inspired his decision to run, “The anger that I feel is for the people that sent me, who are frankly still the same people who are sending people off right now to be in harm’s way so we can have this stupid war with Iran.”

Platner went on to implicate his opponent: “Susan Collins voted to send me to Iraq, and she’s also there to help Donald Trump continue this absolutely insane conflict in the Strait of Hormuz. If I have any anger, it is reserved for the political system itself and the people in it who view war not as a thing that has a human toll but as a political game.”

There’s just one problem: The timeline doesn’t work.

Platner joined the Marines in 2004, but Congress voted two years earlier, in 2002, to authorize the war.

That wasn’t the only claim in the interview that strained credibility.

Platner also insisted he had no idea that a tattoo he wore on his chest had Nazi associations until the issue was exposed during the campaign. He told the New York Times he got the tattoo alongside other Marines while in Croatia and only later learned of its white supremacist connotations, at which point he “promptly got it covered up.”

But CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski reported months ago that acquaintances of Platner recalled him discussing the tattoo’s resemblance to Nazi imagery more than a decade earlier. Kaczynski also reviewed text messages predating the controversy in which others discussed the tattoo’s Nazi-like appearance, well before Platner claims he became aware of it.

The New York Times titled its profile, “Graham Platner Thinks a Political Revolution Is Coming.” In that respect, at least, Platner appears to be telling the truth. Platner should know: He fancies himself a revolutionary.

Previous reporting has revealed that Platner once described himself as a “communist” and referred to rural white Americans as “racist and stupid.” The Washington Free Beacon also uncovered a long history of anti-police rhetoric in which Platner portrayed law enforcement as fundamentally corrupt, racist, and authoritarian.

“Every small town is ‘shocked’ when its cops do the thing that cops do everywhere else,” Platner wrote in 2021. “It’s almost as if there is a problem that extends deep into the profession as a whole.”

It is not difficult to see why the Maine chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America has rallied behind him.

Platner wasn’t just recruited for his rugged good looks. He is part of a broader ideological movement that increasingly controls the base of the modern Democratic Party.

We’ve seen this playbook already, in elections like the one that just took place in New York City. Platner is Maine’s Zohran Mamdani. Reporting in the wake of his victory as mayor of New York in November 2025, the Free Press’s Olivia Reingold reported, “The internal DSA documents that I saw show that its leaders have their eyes on bigger prizes than New York City: a takeover of Congress and even the White House. The 2028 presidential election was referred to dozens of times in a 340-page planning document, while one resolution by the DSA’s National Electoral Committee stated the intention to ‘recruit at least three socialists to run as independent or nonpartisan candidates in 2026–2028 local, state, or federal elections.’”

Platner’s candidacy is ultimately about more than one Senate seat. It is a choice between two fundamentally different views of America itself. Platner speaks openly about political “revolution,” has described himself as a communist, and routinely expresses contempt for the institutions and culture of the country he seeks to represent.

Collins, by contrast, is the daughter of a World War II veteran who has spent decades embodying a far less fashionable idea in modern politics: that America, while imperfect, is fundamentally worth preserving. She told the Washington Examiner, “My father, Don Collins, had just turned 19 when he was wounded twice in the Battle of the Bulge and awarded two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for his bravery. It was from him that I learned the true meaning of sacrifice and love of country, and how important it is to honor those who have worn the uniform. Throughout time, Americans like my father have always answered the call to serve.”

STEPHEN COLBERT’S DEMISE BY THE NUMBERS

Precious few Democrats are willing to grapple with the coup taking place under their noses. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is one of the few in the party sounding the alarm on the takeover underway. Earlier this month on Fox News’s Jesse Watters Primetime, Fetterman lamented the “small communist takeover in Maine.”

The question facing Maine voters is not whether Washington needs change. It is whether America should be represented by people who still believe in it. Memorial Day is a reminder that America was built and defended by people willing to sacrifice for their country, not undermine and radically transform it.