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“President Donald Trump ’s pick to lead a federal watchdog agency withdrew from consideration Tuesday evening, after his offensive text messages were made public… Paul Ingrassia, who was nominated to lead the Office of Special Counsel, had been scheduled to have his confirmation hearing this week…
“On Monday, however, Politico reported on a text chat that showed him saying the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be ‘tossed into the seventh circle of hell.’ Ingrassia also described himself in the chat as having ‘a Nazi streak’ at times. After the texts came to light, several Republican senators said they would not support his nomination.” AP News
“His U.S. Senate campaign under fire, Maine Democrat Graham Platner said Wednesday that a tattoo on his chest has been covered to no longer reflect an image widely recognized as a Nazi symbol. The first-time political candidate said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007, when he was in his 20s and in the Marine Corps. It happened during a night of drinking while he was on leave in Croatia, he said, adding he was unaware until recently that the image has been associated with Nazi police…
“Questions about the tattoo come after the recent discovery of Platner’s now-deleted online statements that included dismissing military sexual assaults, questioning Black patrons’ gratuity habits and criticizing police officers and rural Americans. More old Reddit posts surfaced Wednesday, with The Advocate reporting that Platner used homophobic slurs and made anti-LGBTQ+ jokes between 2018 and 2021.” AP News
Both sides are critical of Ingrassia’s comments:
“‘We need competent white men in positions of leadership,’ he wrote at one point. ‘The founding fathers were wrong that all men are created equal. […] We need to reject that part of our heritage.’ Prior to that, he posted a picture of several paintings of said founding fathers, stating that ‘We should celebrate white men and western civilization and I will never back down from that.’… He also tweeted that the descendants of slaves should pay reparations to the descendants of slave owners…
“During a discussion about how Democrats had supposedly made Black people into victims… Ingrassia wrote ‘Blacks behave that way because that’s their natural state … You can’t change them,’ adding, ‘Proof: all of Africa is a shithole, and will always be that way.’ Honestly, it’s pretty impressive that they can have such a conversation with someone like Ingrassia and then conclude that Black people and Democrats are simply imagining all of the racism and victimization.”
Robyn Pennacchia, Wonkette
“It’s impossible to know what’s in Mr. Ingrassia’s heart, but if his explanation is that he acted like an internet troll, it isn’t much of a defense… The internet is full of personalities, some of them prominent, who seek attention by pushing the edges of political discourse: Was Churchill the bad guy in World War II? Just asking questions, folks. The worry is that young MAGA Republicans imbibe this stuff and think it’s a model for how to act in the real world…
“President Trump could be a counterweight, if he pointed out that he has Jewish grandchildren and doesn’t find Nazis especially amusing. Word late Tuesday was that Mr. Ingrassia’s nomination is dead, a sign that the GOP won’t tolerate his brand of extremist political behavior and rhetoric. It is also a potent lesson for MAGA youth in what not to do.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
Other opinions below.
Regarding Platner, some note that “a former acquaintance of Platner’s [recalled] the candidate referring to the blotchy skull on his chest as a ‘totenkopf’—using the precise terminology for, again, one of the most recognizable insignias of Nazi terror… Even the most charitable reading of the sequence of events—an idiot accidentally signs up for a Nazi tattoo, and celebrates its edginess for years before having a change of heart—is tough to swallow…
“Are you really going to reprimand Trump’s fascist leanings with a totenkopf on your chest? Do you really think you’re the one to advocate for more humane treatment of Palestinians? There is an attitude, among Democrats, that we must be more amenable to voices that don’t fit neatly within the confines of the platform. That we need to be less preachy, and administer fewer purity tests. Where do we draw the line of who gets invited into the big tent? I’ve got an idea. How about we draw the line at Nazi tattoos?”
Luke Winkie, Slate
Others argue, “The [Reddit] posts start as Platner is looking for community and connection online in military subreddits after getting out of the army and trying to find himself. It ends in Sullivan where he finally finds the community, connection and peace he was seeking for so long. He goes into therapy, starts reevaluating the wars he fought in, becomes politically engaged through the Bernie Sanders campaign and gets involved in progressive activism…
“I won’t give up Graham. I believe in him, the policies he is championing and his values. There is no one else in the race who comes close. From following Governor Mills’ political career for many years, I believe she will be an obstacle to progress in Congress, just like Senator Joe Manchin who helped torpedo many of [President] Biden’s domestic priorities to alleviate economic struggles of working people.”
Andy O'Brien, Substack
Regarding Platner, “For some reason, the cottage industry that has formed around identifying fascist semiotics in the wild has gone silent. Perhaps they are taking their cues from progressive [leaders]… ‘In all due respect, all right, what I’m worried about, 50,000 Americans may die unnecessarily?’ Bernie Sanders barked indignantly when confronted with his far-left ally’s indiscretion. ‘And you’re worried about a tattoo?’…
“For good measure, Sanders was similarly dismissive when asked about Platner’s social media comments, in which the Maine oysterman mused that getting so drunk (a theme emerges) that you wind up in bed with someone you ‘don’t mean to’ shouldn’t rise to the level of sexual assault. ‘Have you served four tours of duty?’ Sanders shot back. ‘I have not.’… Much of the far-left ecosystem followed Sanders’s lead.”
Noah Rothman, National Review
“The defense from Platner is that, ‘I don’t think any of that is indicative of who I am today, really.’ He insists that he is not a communist. The posts are from 2021, a whole five years ago. Platner was 37 at the time…
“Platner doesn’t have a record as a state legislator, town councilman, mayor, or other office. He has no bills he’s introduced, no legislation he’s shepherded to passage, no amendments offered… In other words, these comments on Reddit are his political record…
“Now, if Democrats want to argue that obnoxious, hateful, or incendiary comments in an online forum are not the sort of thing that should be held against someone later in life, they can do that, but they probably ought to begin with, ‘we agree with Vice President JD Vance.’ If it seems ridiculous to argue that men in their mid-20s aren’t responsible for what they write and say, it is even more absurd to say the same about a man in his mid-to-late 30s.”
Jim Geraghty, National Review
