Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) says scandal-ridden Graham Platner has the “guts” to fight billionaires — despite headline after headline proving a nightmare for the Maine Democrat Senate candidate’s campaign.
“What we’re looking at right now is a situation where billionaires have already pledged to spend $90 million in a tiny state like Maine,” Sanders said, according to a report by Fox News.
“Trust me, that is a lot of money. They don’t want him in,” the Vermont senator added of Platner, who, during his campaign, faced scrutiny for sporting a Nazi-linked tattoo.
Sanders, however, argues that the skeletons in Platner’s closet are only being revealed because he has “the guts” to stand up to billionaires.
“The reason that they do not want him in the Senate is he has had the guts to stand up to the big money interests, to fight for healthcare as a human right, to demand the billionaires start paying their fair share of taxes,” Sanders asserted.
Platner’s slew of campaign scandals began after video footage surfaced of his chest adorned with a tattoo of a totenkopf — a symbol of the Nazi war machine from World War II.
The 41-year-old first-time candidate has denied being a Nazi and maintains that he would not have gone through life with the tattoo had he known its significance.
Senator Sanders, however, does not seem phased.
“I think what we, as a nation, need to do is to focus on the important issues facing working families, 60 percent of whom are living paycheck to paycheck,” he said. “And I think that Graham and his wife, Amy, will work on their marriage, and I wish them the best.”
Meanwhile, unearthed Reddit posts show Platner admitting to masturbating every time he defecates in a porta-potty, as well as praising crude penis drawings he has spotted while inside portable toilets.
Additional recently revealed past Reddit posts also showed the Maine Democrat Senate candidate mocking a U.S. soldier and Purple Heart recipient who was shot four times in Afghanistan, writing, “Dumb motherfucker didn’t deserve to live,” among other similar sentiments.
Platner — who has also been endorsed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) — faced backlash late last year when more recent Reddit posts resurfaced, including one from five years ago in which he referred to himself as a “communist” and “socialist.”
Other posts show him calling police “bastards,” saying Americans who live in rural areas are “stupid,” and claiming sexual assault victims should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so messed up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.”
In April, Platner became the Democrats’ presumptive nominee after his primary opponent, two-term Gov. Janet Mills (D), ended her campaign. If he wins this month’s primary, he will go on to run against incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in the November election.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.