Authentically Bad: How We Get Shameless Candidates

Last April, a profile of Maine’s Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner in the political news outlet NOTUS observed that, “far from dooming his campaign,” the controversies swirling around him “seem to have simply played into Platner’s brand as a regular person — someone outside the usual political system.” The reporter, who went to high school with the candidate, said that a few months earlier he’d spoken with Platner supporter Jacob Makoujy, who was 27 at the time. “He told me he appreciated the way the candidate had not dodged questions about the revelations but took accountability. ‘It feels like I can see my own growth, myself, in him,’ Makoujy said.” Like Platner, he’d looked back on things and thought, “‘Wow, that was kind of stupid of me.’”

Honesty about past mistakes is an admirable trait, but Platner practiced nothing of the sort. The self-described military history buff’s claim of inadvertently getting a tattoo of the Totenkopf, a Nazi SS symbol — and somehow not noticing for 18 years what it was — never made much sense. Platner’s former political director Genevieve McDonald and his ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield both said that Platner had told them he knew exactly what it was.

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Jim Geraghty

Jim Geraghty is the senior political correspondent of National Review.

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Last April, a profile of Maine’s Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner in the political news outlet NOTUS observed that, “far from dooming his campaign,” the controversies swirling around him “seem to have simply played into Platner’s brand as a regular person — someone outside the usual political system.” The reporter, who went to high school with the candidate, said that a few months earlier he’d spoken with Platner supporter Jacob Makoujy, who was 27 at the time. “He told me he appreciated the way the candidate had not dodged questions about the revelations but took accountability. ‘It feels like I can see my own growth, myself, in him,’ Makoujy said.” Like Platner, he’d looked back on things and thought, “‘Wow, that was kind of stupid of me.’”

Honesty about past mistakes is an admirable trait, but Platner practiced nothing of the sort. The self-described military history buff’s claim of inadvertently getting a tattoo of the Totenkopf, a Nazi SS symbol — and somehow not noticing for 18 years what it was — never made much sense. Platner’s former political director Genevieve McDonald and his ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield both said that Platner had told them he knew exactly what it was.