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Posted

I literally have a ring of that, and I'm as far from a Nazi as it gets. I would say the chances of anyone involved in special forces from 2001 to 2010 or so not having some sort of Totenkopf memorabilia is lower than those that do just fwiw

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Posted
Just now, G650 said:

I literally have a ring of that, and I'm as far from a Nazi as it gets. I would say the chances of anyone involved in special forces from 2001 to 2010 or so not having some sort of Totenkopf memorabilia is lower than those that do just fwiw

A tattoo is not memorabilia. 

Posted
Just now, wildcat09 said:

A tattoo is not memorabilia. 

I'm just saying almost all those guys have them from that era. It's not because they have Nazi sympathies.

Posted
2 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

Naw, I'm not willing to cut him that much slack. He grew up a millennial and obviously interested in the military. WW2 movies were huge then, Band of Brothers was huge, etc.  Nearly every popular first person shooter when he was growing up was about shooting nazis. In one of those, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the main bad guys are literally the SS lead by a guy named Deathshead.  It's not a swastika but it's also not obscure.  It's literally what they're talking about in the are we the baddies clip that became a huge meme!

No0PtGA.gif.958e2b252d778760449ba002e37f11d1.gif

There's no way this fucking redditor hasn't seen that gif a thousand times. And not once did he think "hey, that looks kinda like my tattoo"?

this is the first time I've noticed his hat and i've seen other gifs of the same guy

Posted
2 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

He hasn't had it removed. His excuse is that he just thought it was a cool skull and crossbones symbol and that he never knew it was a nazi symbol until the last few weeks or so.

I mean, honestly, when you consider we have like 15 years of posting we can go through (and people have, with a fine tooth comb) with this guy without a hint of right wing or anything even resembling Nazi sentiment, and the fact that he's openly talked about how he was indoctrinated by the military and his time as a Blackwater operator, I find his explanation that he got the tattoo in Croatia as an active duty Marine and had no clue what it was to be perfectly plausible. Especially considering I, as a terminally online leftist, had no clue what the SS Totenkopf even looked like until this morning.

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Posted
28 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

If he got it removed after finding out what it meant, I think that's acceptable. Not great, but again I don't believe they have a very deep bench in a state that's 100% white. Find me a replacement candidate, I'm all for it. However, I still pick him over Susan Collins.

Do you live in Maine?

Posted
20 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

A clearer pic and the actual explanation.  https://boingboing.net/2025/10/21/progressive-populist-graham-platner-has-nazi-totenkopf-tattoo.html

Not knowing that that is a Nazi/SS symbol is probably acceptable from a meathead enlisted guy.

Thought this was funny:

Quote

 the choices in Maine's Democratic Party primary election are "oldest freshman Senator in history" or "guy with Nazi tat."

 

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Posted
1 minute ago, Brian Fantana said:

I mean, honestly, when you consider we have like 15 years of posting we can go through (and people have, with a fine tooth comb) with this guy without a hint of right wing or anything even resembling Nazi sentiment, and the fact that he's openly talked about how he was indoctrinated by the military and his time as a Blackwater operator, I find his explanation that he got the tattoo in Croatia as an active duty Marine and had no clue what it was to be perfectly plausible. Especially considering I, as a terminally online leftist, had no clue what the SS Totenkopf even looked like until this morning.

Nazis are proud of their imagery, in-group jokes, and memes. They can't shut the fuck up about how oppressed they are for being "race realists" in their message boards. If they get called out about their racism they double down.

"Badass" military/police bros meanwhile will cover their trucks in Punisher skulls without ever having read a single pane of the comics and without knowing anything about the Punisher. We can no longer assume someone with a lot of Punisher decals is necessarily a fan of the comic, or even aware the comic exists.

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Posted
1 minute ago, Biff Tannen said:

Do you live in Maine?

I wish. One of my old drinking buddies relocated to New England and is in-the-know about politics there. His read on Maine is that the people are unpredictable and skeptical of outsiders.

Posted

Listening to the Pod Save America video, I think it's kinda funny that he is owning, if not doubling down, on the problematic reddit stuff, especially about "HeY GuYs WhY dOnT bLaCk pEoPle TiP, iS iT CuLtUrAl?"

His defense of, "hey, I was just asking questions because I didn't grow up around black people and was genuinely curious" feels like a miss.

Posted
20 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

A clearer pic and the actual explanation.  https://boingboing.net/2025/10/21/progressive-populist-graham-platner-has-nazi-totenkopf-tattoo.html

Not knowing that that is a Nazi/SS symbol is probably acceptable from a meathead enlisted guy.

In the real world, probably. In politics, it's completely unacceptable, especially if you're trying to run under the banner of the party opposing fascism in the federal government.

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Posted

I just watched the interview with Tommy Vietor.  It seems clear this guy had some ignorant and terrible ideas when he was a young infantryman, shocker.  But he seems to have had a lot of self-reflection and broadened his world view.  I think people can change, so he gets the benefit of the doubt from me.  Again, I don't live in Maine, so it doesn't fall to me to vote for him anyway.

Have you ever seen American History X?  Seems like that could apply here.

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Posted
5 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

Alright fellas, enjoy the next Fetterman I guess.

 

The nepo baby cosplaying as working class. Sucks about the stroke, but I don't remember a better candidate in that primary. As much as Fetterman sucks I'm glad he was there to approve Biden's judges and it wasn't Dr Oz

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Posted
2 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

I just watched the interview with Tommy Vietor.  It seems clear this guy had some ignorant and terrible ideas when he was a young infantryman, shocker.  But he seems to have had a lot of self-reflection and broadened his world view.  I think people can change, so he gets the benefit of the doubt from me.  Again, I don't live in Maine, so it doesn't fall to me to vote for him anyway.

Have you ever seen American History X?  Seems like that could apply here.

People can certainly change. But I doubt he's changed enough, given the fucking SS tattoo he still hasn't had removed. 

Posted

Man, this guy is not media trained at all. He sounds like when you interview a guy for a job who isn't a great fit but they really want the job and it's just very hard to sit through (Pod Save America interview).

Posted
2 minutes ago, Vegas64 said:

Man, this guy is not media trained at all. He sounds like when you interview a guy for a job who isn't a great fit but they really want the job and it's just very hard to sit through (Pod Save America interview).

Yeah, I hate when people are genuine and talk like human beings instead of telling you what you want to hear.

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Posted
1 minute ago, Biff Tannen said:

Yeah, I hate when people are genuine and talk like human beings instead of telling you what you want to hear.

I want everyone to sound like trump personally. 

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Posted
Just now, Biff Tannen said:

Yeah, I hate when people are genuine and talk like human beings instead of telling you what you want to hear.

It actually sounds like he is trying to tell you what you want to hear and isn't doing a great job of it. The tone feels like an afectation, like one of trying to sound agrieved and attacked, as his defense.

Have you listened to the PSA podcast interview? I listened to about 20 mins of it.

Posted
1 minute ago, immamac said:

I want everyone to sound like trump personally. 

Honestly though we could be in the minority on this. Most American voters seem to prefer being spoken to by morons

Posted
Just now, Vegas64 said:

It actually sounds like he is trying to tell you what you want to hear and isn't doing a great job of it. The tone feels like an afectation, like one of trying to sound agrieved and attacked, as his defense.

Have you listened to the PSA podcast interview? I listened to about 20 mins of it.

I'm about halfway through right now.

Posted
Just now, chainsaw said:

Honestly though we could be in the minority on this. Most American voters seem to prefer being spoken to by morons

The way Mayor Pete communicates is the gold standard for me, personally. I also appreciated Mitt Romney's communication style and Bill Clinton and Obama. I even appreciated some of Dubya's "folksy" communication style. So I can appreciate a spectrum.

1 minute ago, Biff Tannen said:

I'm about halfway through right now.

Fair enough, we are just hearing different things I guess. It happens.

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Posted
1 minute ago, Vegas64 said:

It actually sounds like he is trying to tell you what you want to hear and isn't doing a great job of it. The tone feels like an afectation, like one of trying to sound agrieved and attacked, as his defense.

Have you listened to the PSA podcast interview? I listened to about 20 mins of it.

He just sounds like he's being forthright to me.  Honestly, I don't care if this guy gets elected or not.  I'm more just reacting to your insinuation that a job interviewee being honest and open is a bad thing.  Perhaps it's because I'm currently interviewing for jobs at the moment, but I have always hated the idea that you have to not be yourself in an interview and should play the game to say what you think the employer is wanting to hear.  Frankly, it's insulting to the intelligence of the employer.

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Posted
3 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

He just sounds like he's being forthright to me.  Honestly, I don't care if this guy gets elected or not.  I'm more just reacting to your insinuation that a job interviewee being honest and open is a bad thing.  Perhaps it's because I'm currently interviewing for jobs at the moment, but I have always hated the idea that you have to not be yourself in an interview and should play the game to say what you think the employer is wanting to hear.  Frankly, it's insulting to the intelligence of the employer.

I'm not insinuating that a job interviewee being honest and open is a bad thing, I'm saying that trying to bend a narrative to fit what you think the other side of the desk wants to hear, is cringy when it's a miss which is what is happening in that PSA. I would argue that it's actually NOT being honest and open when you are trying to fit a square hole in a round peg and you can hear it. It's like when a musician makes music and an album that you think would best sell and will make you popular versus playing good music intrinsic to you.

Either way, that's why it's always good to have a couple of different people in the room, for like when you are interviewing, some people hear things or perceive things differently than others and that diversity is good.

How is the job search going btw?

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Posted
1 hour ago, wildcat09 said:

How many acceptable explanations do you think there are for why a person would get an SS logo tattooed on their body?

 

1 hour ago, wildcat09 said:

He hasn't had it removed. His excuse is that he just thought it was a cool skull and crossbones symbol and that he never knew it was a nazi symbol until the last few weeks or so.

Gimme a break with this shit, it’s 2025. 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Brian Fantana said:

I mean, honestly, when you consider we have like 15 years of posting we can go through (and people have, with a fine tooth comb) with this guy without a hint of right wing or anything even resembling Nazi sentiment, and the fact that he's openly talked about how he was indoctrinated by the military and his time as a Blackwater operator, I find his explanation that he got the tattoo in Croatia as an active duty Marine and had no clue what it was to be perfectly plausible. Especially considering I, as a terminally online leftist, had no clue what the SS Totenkopf even looked like until this morning.

Somewhat surprising.  I thought most of us inclined to be political perverts (granted I haven't been one until the last 10 years or so) were also inclined to be history and/or military history buffs.

Posted
40 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Somewhat surprising.  I thought most of us inclined to be political perverts (granted I haven't been one until the last 10 years or so) were also inclined to be history and/or military history buffs.

I am, but I associate that particular death’s head more with Prussian Hussars and preexisting German military insignia that persisted from the time of Frederick the Great through Weimar to the Nazis than I particularly associate it with Nazis. 
I’m not making the case that historical usage is redemptive, but the Nazi-ness of the totenkopf strikes me as pretty weak compared to the much more well known symbols such as the Doppel Sigrun or the far more ancient and universal swastika.

When I see the totenkopf I mostly think of fat, trashy bikers. 

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Posted
5 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

I am, but I associate that particular death’s head more with Prussian Hussars and preexisting German military insignia that persisted from the time of Frederick the Great through Weimar to the Nazis than I particularly associate it with Nazis. 
I’m not making the case that historical usage is redemptive, but the Nazi-ness of the totenkopf strikes me as pretty weak compared to the much more well known symbols such as the Doppel Sigrun or the far more ancient and universal swastika.

When I see the totenkopf I mostly think of fat, trashy bikers. 

Yeah, mostly this.  And y'all know my pretty unambiguous stance on Nazis (I think they are bad....which is apparently a controversial and un-American take these days, to hear the admin tell it).

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Posted

I think the bottom line here is if this dude was a secret Nazi, there'd be way more out there to find than this. There always is. There's ALWAYS smoke.

We should be cheering for people who were indoctrinated and subsequently realized what was what like him instead of tossing them aside for a tattoo that probably meant nothing to him but "a scary looking skull" or whatever in his early 20s.

And yeah, there's always a chance that he becomes Fetterman 2.0 but looking at all the shit he's written over the last 15 years it certainly doesn't seem like he's anything like that piece of shit.

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Posted

Independent of this specific tattoo: if there is ever a debate over the relative Nazi-ness of a tattoo, tchotchke, or accoutrement; “I got it in Croatia” is almost never exculpatory or mitigating. 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Brian Fantana said:

I think the bottom line here is if this dude was a secret Nazi, there'd be way more out there to find than this. There always is. There's ALWAYS smoke.

We should be cheering for people who were indoctrinated and subsequently realized what was what like him instead of tossing them aside for a tattoo that probably meant nothing to him but "a scary looking skull" or whatever in his early 20s.

And yeah, there's always a chance that he becomes Fetterman 2.0 but looking at all the shit he's written over the last 15 years it certainly doesn't seem like he's anything like that piece of shit.

I mean truly, it's pretty obvious to me that this guy isn't a sleeper cell or secret nazi, but an ignorant former marine who is trying his hand as a B-team populist. If the fine people of beautiful Maine think he's compelling and interesting and have faith that he can be an operator, then God bless them and good luck. 

Posted
13 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said:

Fair lol

I also think it's possible I am being far too charitable in this instance, I'm just not sure

You're absolutely being too charitable. His explanation wasn't that he was indoctrinated and then reformed, his explanation was that he didn't know it was a nazi symbol. Which sure seems to be a fucking lie: 

Jewish Insider isn't the best source, but I think them or their source making that up is less likely than he's known what it is for a long time and doesn't really care, and in fact seems to enjoy showing it off. 

Posted
2 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

You're absolutely being too charitable. His explanation wasn't that he was indoctrinated and then reformed, his explanation was that he didn't know it was a nazi symbol. Which sure seems to be a fucking lie: 

Jewish Insider isn't the best source, but I think them or their source making that up is less likely than he's known what it is for a long time and doesn't really care, and in fact seems to enjoy showing it off. 

Not only is it a very iffy source, if you watched the pod save america podcast, he mentioned getting threats from the party and leaders that if he didn't pull back from his ambitions and running, they would ruin his life and harrass him. So one could reasonably assume, if you believe him to be a truthteller, that this could be an attempt at some political skullduggery.

Posted

The Pod Save interview was clearly an attempt to try to get out in front of the Jewish Insider story, which was most likely a Republican hatchet job, not a Democratic hatchet job. That's not the type of place they'd leak this to. 

The likeliest explanation is that he's a fucking idiot and he's always been a fucking idiot. That's why he was a jarhead in the first place, that's why he and his boys got nazi tattoos they probably thought looked cool as shit, and that's why he's posted a mixture of completely fine and reasonable and very stupid shit all over Reddit (and probably elsewhere online) for the past decade. His politics have probably evolved somewhat but are likely still largely incoherent because he's an idiot, but he figured out how to speak in a register that appeals to liberals and leftists who are looking for someone who seems like they'll actually fight Republicans. I get the appeal and why people are trying to defend him, but this guy ain't it.   

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Posted
5 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

The Pod Save interview was clearly an attempt to try to get out in front of the Jewish Insider story, which was most likely a Republican hatchet job, not a Democratic hatchet job. That's not the type of place they'd leak this to. 

The likeliest explanation is that he's a fucking idiot and he's always been a fucking idiot. That's why he was a jarhead in the first place, that's why he and his boys got nazi tattoos they probably thought looked cool as shit, and that's why he's posted a mixture of completely fine and reasonable and very stupid shit all over Reddit (and probably elsewhere online) for the past decade. His politics have probably evolved somewhat but are likely still largely incoherent because he's an idiot, but he figured out how to speak in a register that appeals to liberals and leftists who are looking for someone who seems like they'll actually fight Republicans. I get the appeal and why people are trying to defend him, but this guy ain't it.   

100% agree with that explanation.

I think the pod save interview solidified that for me.

Posted

“I got drunk on shore leave in Croatia” is a plausible explanation for an accidental SS Totenakmpf SS tattoo. Not having covered it up before a senate run many years later is incredibly dumbshit behavior if that’s what you’re rolling with. One must be simply be prepared that political enemies might use a massive SS tattoo against you. 

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Posted
1 minute ago, 956 Worldwide said:

“I got drunk on shore leave in Croatia” is a plausible explanation for an accidental SS Totenakmpf SS tattoo. Not having covered it up before a senate run many years later is incredibly dumbshit behavior if that’s what you’re rolling with. One must be simply be prepared that political enemies might use a massive SS tattoo against you. 

Yeah, if he'd had it removed it would've been incredibly easy to come up with an explanation that would've been acceptable to most liberals. It could've been anything from "I was young and stupid and didn't know what it was but got it removed once I learned what it was" to "I was an outright nazi but reformed and let me tell you why..." 

"I got it because I was drunk and stupid and I knew what it was and have known for the last ~20 years and I've still got it and won't get it removed because it doesn't mean anything" ain't it. 



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