Embattled Senate candidate Graham Platner is facing criticism for calling law enforcement ‘opportunistic cowards’ in a since-deleted Reddit post. Platner, a far-left populist vying to become Maine’s next senator, made the comments in June 2020 in response to a post criticizing the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department for seeking approval to purchase ‘riot gear.’ At the time, Black Lives Matter protests were spreading around the state, with some demonstrations turning violent, including vandalized storefronts and looting.
Platner’s Comments Spark Outrage
Platner, then 35, dismissed the sheriff’s request as ‘ridiculous.’ ‘I guess the Sheriffs [sic] Department is so full of overweight pansies that they now need taxpayer dollars to protect themselves from George Stevens Academy sophomores and aging hippies,’ he wrote. ‘Cops are opportunistic cowards,’ he continued. The post, which is available in The Maine Monitor’s archive of Platner’s since-deleted messages, but has not been previously reported, was published under Platner’s handle ‘P-Hustle’ on the Reddit forum R/Maine.
The comment is the latest in a string of anti-law enforcement remarks Platner made well into adulthood that have raised questions about his fitness for office as he seeks to unseat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. State Rep. Donald Ardell, R-Maine, told Fox News Digital in an interview, ‘It just shows a complete lack of understanding of the way law enforcement operates.’ Ardell, a retired federal special agent and criminal investigator, said conversations with current law enforcement officers and former colleagues reflected widespread disgust with Platner’s comments disparaging men and women in uniform.
Platner has also faced scrutiny over comments declaring himself a communist, disparaging rural White people as ‘racist’ and ‘stupid’ and mocking a female teenager’s suicide attempt. Platner has said many of his comments were taken out of context and attributed some of them to struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder after multiple overseas deployments.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
