Veterans and GOP leaders have slammed Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner after resurfaced forum posts showed him insulting the Army and mocking a soldier wounded in combat. The uproar centers on crude comments that call the service “trash” and a 2019 post that said a Purple Heart recipient “didn’t deserve to live,” stirring sharp rebuttals from veterans, retired special operators, and Republican senators.
Holland “Ricky” White, a Vietnam War veteran who served in the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade, spoke bluntly about what service cost him and why Platner’s remarks cut so deep. “I am a decorated veteran, and people need to understand what serving in the Army cost me: congestive heart failure, bilateral hearing loss, COPD, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, hypothyroidism and PTSD,” White said, listing wounds that are both visible and hidden. The 173rd Airborne Brigade, known as “The Herd,” saw some of the toughest fighting in Vietnam, and veterans from those ranks rarely mince words about respect and sacrifice.
White didn’t stop there. “I understand ridicule better than most. I was ridiculed not only as a Vietnam veteran, but as a black man as well,” he said, describing lost friends and lingering pain that shape his view of service and honor. “That is why comments like Graham’s are so offensive,” White added, making it clear that cheap shots at fellow Americans aren’t tolerated by those who have paid a steep price.
The controversy centers on a deleted forum account where Platner denigrated the Army and celebrated crude graffiti and admissions, painting a picture at odds with the image he’s used on the campaign trail. He leaned heavily on his military background while courting Maine voters, and these resurfaced entries threaten to undercut that appeal. One of the most shocking passages came in reaction to combat footage, a line that many found unforgivable.
“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,” Platner wrote in 2019 in response to video another user posted, adding, “Poor marksmanship on the Taliban’s part is the only reason this mouthbreather made it home.” The comment targeted footage from the helmet cam of U.S. Army veteran Ted Daniels, who was shot four times and received the Purple Heart, and veterans said the line crossed a clear moral line.
“As a Purple Heart recipient myself – having been wounded for my country, I find his comments to be especially vile,” a veteran identified as Steve told reporters, noting that mocking someone who took enemy fire betrays a lack of basic understanding of brotherhood and selfless service. Other veterans agreed, saying a uniform alone does not guarantee honor. “Being a veteran does not make someone honorable. Honor is how you carry yourself, how you treat others, and how you speak about those who served beside you. In this case, the uniform may have been earned, but respect clearly was not,” said Kate Monroe, a Marine Corps veteran and CEO of a veterans organization.
Platner’s broader attack on the military also resurfaced, including an April 2019 line where he wrote, “I spent another 4 in the Army after the Corps, and while I was very lucky to serve in some sh–t hot units with good dudes, as a whole the organization is absolute trash. As an organization it’s awful. Full of fat, lazy trash who would rather not be in uniform.” That kind of language alarmed retired operators who pointed out the Senate’s role in sending troops and confirming leaders.
“A Senator who calls soldiers ‘trash’ and mocks a man’s Purple Heart has shown who he really is,” Bill Brown, a retired Navy SEAL who served in Iraq, said, arguing that elected officials must respect the people they may send to war. Retired Army staff sergeant John Rourke echoed that sentiment, calling the mockery “a disgrace to the uniform” and saying it does not make the writer edgy or tough but simply dishonorable.
Republican senators weighed in with sharp condemnation. “Mocking servicemembers for getting wounded or killed is absolutely despicable. These are our brothers and sisters, people who volunteered to put everything on the line for this country,” Sen. Joni Ernst said, drawing on her own decades of service. Sen. Tom Cotton added a harsher political jab, saying, “Platner’s comments about American servicemembers are disgraceful, but it’s what we should expect from a communist with a Nazi tattoo.”
Other GOP voices challenged Democrats to respond and questioned whether a candidate who disparages the military should be trusted with power. Sen. Tim Sheehy pointed to the gulf between such rhetoric and the responsibilities of the Senate, while Sen. Dan Sullivan appealed to the core values of the Marine Corps: “The motto and ethos of the Marine Corps is Semper Fidelis – always faithful. This means fidelity to Marines and fellow service members.” “This guy has failed that test,” Sullivan said succinctly.
The Platner campaign did not provide a response when contacted, and some Democratic veterans in the Senate also did not comment. For a candidate trying to position himself as a defender of working people and a veteran, these resurfaced posts have hardened criticism from those who served and those who believe the next senator should honor the sacrifices of American servicemembers.
