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'The Establishment Is Spooked': Poll Shows Platner With Big Lead Over Mills in Maine Democratic Primary
(www.commondreams.org)
this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
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That’s a totally legit question, and the host followed up with that same rebuttal during the interview. I won’t get his exact wording right, but his answer was something to the effect of him still being fucked up when he went back as a contractor, but thinking that seeing things from the other side might be better (pretty sure he worked in diplomatic security as a contractor). But it turned out to be worse, and seeing it from that side ended up being the thing that convinced him how pointless it all was. He also said it was the only thing he was ever good at, so he didn’t feel like he had any other options. Makes sense to me even if it’s not something I would ever do.
Coming back to the civilian world is hard as fuck, especially if you woke up during your time with the military. You get home and people call you a hero for what amounts to crimes against humanity, and if you try to explain the horror to them you get labeled crazy and dangerous. Nobody wants to hear that their government is run by mass murdering psychopaths and nobody wants to believe that "defense" is a myth that tricked their friends/family into participating in said mass murder. I was lucky enough to have the financial and emotional support to spend a year just working on myself, but i still have times where something will remind me of what I've seen and been part of and all I can do is hide myself and cry, and it still makes me uncomfortably furious when I hear people who have never experienced meaningful violence in their lives wish it upon others. I completely understand why some people who get home and immediately have to work to survive turn to a career with people who can at least understand/accept them and their trauma. It can feel like the only other option is isolation until inevitable suicide.
That’s such a valuable perspective, thanks for sharing your experience.
The fact that the people pushing against Platner—by mischaracterizing his personal growth and discounting his trauma—are the very people who sent you guys to war unnecessarily, makes it even more infuriating. This is a disgusting move from Democratic leadership.
No, sorry, he's the one who mischaracterized his own growth. Or the lack of it.
https://newrepublic.com/post/202083/graham-platner-knew-nazi-tattoo
This guy ain't no Mamdani
Yup. He's a piece of shit who's campaigning for giving more money to war criminals like him. People who want to call themselves leftists bend over backwards to honor and respect "veterans" who wasted their lives fighting for ~democracy and freedom~ subjecting other nations to American terrorism to enforce the empire is EXACTLY WHY nothing will ever get better.
Have principals, and refuse to back people who are principally apposed to your principals.
Edit: downvote you right wing bootlickers. In his own words after going to Iraq three times and loving murdering Iraqis so much he did it again with blackwater, he has this to say:
We owe him a lifetime of respect and support for what he did? Fuck him and fuck you if you support war criminals as soon as they can themselves progressive.
Is there any evidence that he specifically committed war crimes or are you just assuming that literally every military person by default is a war criminal because words are meaningless when faced with self righteous anger from privileged white kids
Are you asking if there's evidence of what he says he regrets being a part of happened? Or are you asking for evidence of blackwater operations being war crimes?
I'm a Palestinian adult, not a privileged white kid. I'd take someone who calls the genocide what it is over a full blown Zionist any day, but a neo-liberal Zionist who uses soft language to get elected isn't what society needs. You deserve better, you should fight for better.