A Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maine is facing backlash after refusing to apologize for a deleted Reddit post in which he said a Purple Heart recipient 'didn’t deserve to live.' Graham Platner, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is running in the primary election against Maine's governor, Janet Mills. The winner will face incumbent Republican Susan Collins in November.
Platner's now-deleted Reddit account, under the username 'P-Hustle,' has stirred controversy after a resurfaced post from June 2019 mocked a veteran during a standoff with Taliban fighters. The post referred to a viral 2012 video showing PFC Ted Daniels exchanging fire with the Taliban, being struck four times, and surviving to earn a Purple Heart. Platner wrote, 'This video never gets old. Dumb motherf***er didn't deserve to live. At least his stupidity and fat a** wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness and hold in contempt. Poor marksmanship on the Taliban's part is the only reason this mouthbreather made it home.'
When confronted by Fox News Digital, Platner initially did not respond to requests for comment. Later, in an on-camera interview, he said, 'I did four tours in the infantry, any attempt to say that I disrespect veterans is slanderous and offensive. Do you know how many of my friends have Purple Hearts, do you know how many of my friends got wounded? Yeah, a lot of them, thank you.' He did not apologize.
Daniels responded to Platner's remarks, calling him a 'coward' and stating, 'I don't get offended, I've been getting attacked by the left for years. Honestly, that's not the type of leadership that we need in our government. People like this don’t say stuff like this to my face.'
The deleted post remains accessible in the Maine Monitor’s database of Platner’s Reddit history. Platner has previously spoken about his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as other offensive social media posts resurfaced after he announced his Senate run. In October, before the Daniels remarks surfaced, Platner apologized for earlier Reddit comments, saying, 'For those of you who have read these things and been offended, I am deeply sorry. I’m sorry for this. Just know that it’s not reflective at all of who I am. I don’t want you to judge me on the dumbest thing I ever wrote on the internet.'
