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this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2025
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Yeah. There are a few ways to read this but what we know is:
So... that means he was lying to voters AND had the tattoo for at least 5 years after knowing it was a nazi symbol. Maybe he changed... in the last week... which was like two and a half months into his political career. Or, you know, maybe he is lying about more than one thing.
To be clear. I think a VERY reasonable take is that he didn't want to acknowledge the military was rotten back in 2020 because that would be acknowledging he was part of something evil. It happens.
But to not have gotten it removed/covered up the MOMENT he considered running for office? That is just immense stupidity.
And to continue to not want to acknowledge that "yeah... the US military has a hard-on for nazi imagery" as part of that campaign? Absolute best case scenario, that depicts someone who cares more about votes than truth which, again, raises the question of what else he is saying to get those votes.
If the election were next week? I mean... we all voted for Kamala, right? But it isn't. This is pre-primaries. We got time to find a candidate who has progressive ideals but doesn't have a fucking SS skull on their chest. And, preferably, someone who is actually a leader and isn't afraid of addressing the wrongs of the world.
It’s a BS distraction. Nobody reporting on this honestly thinks this guy is a nazi. But they think they can knock him out of the race by running nazi stories about him.
It’s just like the phrase “globalize the intifada” being brought up in every single media interaction with Mamdani. He doesn’t say it, but simply doesn’t condemn people for saying it cause it has many meanings. He’s made it clear and yet every interview or debate I’ve see it is brought up.
Sure, let's pretend this is all some evil conspiracy theory against the guy who came out of nowhere a few months back and has the entire left leaning podcast space glazing him.
They are not "running nazi stories about him". They are reporting facts about a nazi tattoo he has. And then reporting facts about him defending said nazi tattoo after he had already denied understanding it was a fucking nazi tattoo.
I don't care if it is mother fucking trump screaming he has an SS skull on his chest while raping a toddler ian watkins style if there is actually a fucking SS skull on his chest that had been there for twenty years and through at least one crash out over defending the fucking SS skull.
This is the kind of shit that happens in really bad direct to VHS 24 ripoffs.
So you honestly believe this guy is a Nazi? He called himself a “radical left” in those same comments.
If it walks like a nazi, oppresses people as part of a paramilitary organization like a nazi (again, he willingly joined fucking Blackwater), and tattos its skin like a nazi?
I genuinely don't care how he says he'll vote (and trust him about as far as I can throw him). I just know he'll clearly have no problem hurting the people I love.
But nah, this was just a roman salute that he tattooed on his flesh for 20 years
I'm terminally online and just thought it was a funny looking skull until this article. It's not distinct like it's a hammer and sickle or a laser shooting kiwi. It's a skull and crossbones and there's probably 100 combinations of those and only this one with the Nazi roots.
It doesn't seem like something unreasonable.
It does seem like a well funded smear campaign.
So... back in 2020 he knew it was a totenkopf and had a lineage to the SS but figured it was just funny looking?
Something is definitely getting smeared alright.
The article just said reddit acct talked about ss lightning. Not that skull and bones symbol. Or am I wrong,
You are wrong
https://web.archive.org/web/20190226141422/https:/www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/auy0bi/battleweary_ss/ is one of the threads. He is specifically replying to someone talking about the military's use of skulls and nazi imagery by insisting it is actually a punisher skull.
At BEST you are arguing that he has immensely poor judgment, zero reading comprehension, and suckles on propaganda from the teat without a moment's thoughts. Which is not leadership material.
Mean this skull? That looks nothing like the actual skull in question? And that apparently was being used by military and police?
https://www.inverse.com/article/39633-marvel-netflix-punisher-skull-meaning-cops-soldiers
No, I mean this skull (no idea on the legitimacy of that site but most mainstream outlets apparently don't want a picture of a nazi in his tighty brownies on the front page) https://themainemonitor.org/platner-tattoo-nazi-totenkopf/
Or is the point you are trying to make is that he saw a discussion of people talking about how many people in the military have fucking SS skulls everywhere (including as battalion flags and the like), looked down at his chest, and then insisted on defending a completely unrelated symbol?
This is a bit of a nitpick, but he didn't defend the totenkopf. He said SS bolts were common in the military and in his opinion not indicative of nazism. He commented in a thread that mentioned the totenkopf, but his comment was in reply to a message about the punisher skull and didn't mention the totenkopf. It's not inconceivable he didn't read the parts about the totenkopf (though the root of the thread is a mention of it).
Do you REALLY want to keep defending this guy because maybe he is just really really really fucking stupid and was selectively reading every single comment he replied to?
And musk really was doing a roman salute and just didn't realize the other possible meanings until it was too late, sure.
What blew my mind about the Nazi salute was Cory Booker doing it and hardly anyone batted an eye.
Not to mention that he was in Blackwater, so there is a lot of truth in US military being rotten, but he would have to acknowledge that part of his life if he wants my personal support. Then again, I'd guess that most of the vets who commit suicide have acknowledged it, so it's not a winning path for him either way.
Yeah. Something was rubbing me weird as I read more on this guy and how he basically came out of nowhere and, allegedly, had a platform very similar to a different military vet who may or may not have had the same PR team at the start but more or less got laughed out of the race. Except Smith-Rodriguez's version of the demsoc candidate platform had actual plans and action items rather than just appeals to emotion.
Like... yes, it is a state level election. But you don't come out of absolutely nowhere and become the one true hope for the Democrats. Okay... Obama actually DID but he had actually had a political career until then, we just weren't paying attention.
And then it hit me. A couple weeks/months back, the youtube (Business) Insider channel did one of their "authorized accounts" on a mercenary who worked for fucking Blackwater. It was one of the darkest things I have watched on that channel and they have had klansmen, murderous neo nazi bikers, and the mother fucker who led the WACO slaughter. So... yeah.
More than a bit tinfoil but that REALLY felt like an attempt to rehab mercs, specifically Blackwater, as "just another soldier" and that they are "misunderstood".
Considering Skorzeny Jr is crashing out and demanding his staff (ex or otherwise) retroactively sign NDAs... stuff is gonna be REAL juicy.
Platner has also had a political career prior to this. He didn't come out of nowhere. You think the unions that recruited him to run did so based on 20 year old reddit comments?
It really sucks how easy it is to co-opt the left. Heard a good term yesterday to describe it. The AOCificafion. And Mamdani is the next one on the chopping block.
Eh. It is really just the same populism we see with trump (actively NOT going to list the "leftist" version of him...).
People don't actually care about his policies. Otherwise we would have immediately said "Yo, is Smith-Rodriguez willing to get back up there?". Instead it is all about wanting to capture the excitement of a candidate that Spoke to them and immediately attacking anyone who isn't via "purity tests".
I mean... look at how many people clown on AOC because she didn't actively snub a conference on antisemitism (?). I'm sure that people will eventually find a reason to get mad at Mamdani because he just isn't .
And... look at Kamala. Yeah, she is a cop and has shitty views on the genocide committed by israel. But her shitty views were still NOTHING compared to trump's shitty views. But the discourse IMMEDIATELY became how she is horrible and the worst candidate ever and blah blah blah let's let trump win to make things even worse for everyone.
Which is why the platner shit is so infuriating. The Left(TM) will throw away any candidate that is not The Chosen One over ordering the wrong cup of coffee. But when we have a fucking blackwater merc with a nazi tattoo, fucked up views on sexual assault, and zero political background? Yo guys, we need to win elections so let's give nazism a chance.
Which... REALLY fucking highlights what women, people of color, and our LGBTQIA+ "friends" have been saying for over a decade now.
Did he even get it removed? I read he got it covered up, frankly there's still a fucking totenkopf under there. I'm not saying he has to cut off his skin, I'm just saying too little too late. Especially for a real life merc.
Getting a tattoo removed isnt a simple one and done procedure. It takes months to remove a tattoo. Several appointments breaking it down, letting it heal, breaking it down, repeat. And it doesnt work with all tattoos/ink colors/skin colors.
You, naively, dont know what youre talking about. Getting a tattoo covered is the fastest and most common way to get rid of an old tattoo.
I know all that, why i said it's too little too late, he's had years to do this the right way. Now i know forever he still has what he described to friends as "my totenkopf" is with him forever just under that tattoo.
To little, to late!