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Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville compared supporting Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner to the United States allying with Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin during World War II.
Carville praised Platner for his military service, contrasting it with other politicians, saying, “He’s f—ed up, he’s been shot at, he’s a veteran, he’s a little bit weird, he’s an oysterman.”
“Then his opponent, I can hardly say her name without the utter contempt dripping, Susan Collins, whose spine reminds me of a blueberry jelly from Maine,” he said. “Maybe we need a combat veteran right on that Senate floor who is f—ed up.”
“If you believe, as I do, that the country is in imminent peril — I mean imminent peril — who is most likely to slow this criminal in charge? Susan ‘Blueberry Jelly’ Collins, or five degrees off dead center Graham Platner?” Carville asked. “I think it’s Graham Platner.”
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James Carville argued that if past presidents could ally with Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Democrats could rally behind politician Graham Platner. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images for The New York Times)
“And you know if Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill could work with Joseph Stalin — who, by the way, well, I’ll tell you this, he was a bad guy, a really bad guy, alright — then I can overlook a tattoo,” Carville added.
Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee in Maine’s Senate race, has been dogged by scandals ranging from allegedly having sent sexually explicit messages to multiple women while married to his wife Amy Gertner, to having had a tattoo for decades that resembled the Nazi SS Totenkopf skull and crossbones insignia associated with concentration camp guards.
One of his ex-girlfriends, Lyndsey Fifield, told The New York Times how Platner would poke fun at his chest tattoo and that he and other members of his military unit chose it because of parallels between them and the Nazi German SS — in that “they were a death unit… killers,” which appears to contradict his narrative that he did not know the tattoo was associated with the Nazi emblem.
She also accused him of physical misconduct that he has since disputed.
“There are some allegations in this piece that I just want to be kind of unequivocal about, are simply not true. Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who’s politically motivated,” Platner told MS NOW host Chris Hayes on Thursday.
Fifield, in turn, has said that The New York Times coverage was actually too soft on the Democratic candidate, and failed to use evidence she provided.
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The Democratic candidate looking to unseat Sen. Susan Collins in Maine has been dogged by numerous scandals. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“I don’t know how to tell The New York Times this, but boy puts hand on girl’s t—y, girl moves hand, boy walks away rejected and despondent. It happens,” Carville said in response to the report.
“If you committed a crime, then charge him. And then throw his a– in jail. But so far, we have none of that! We got a f—ed up guy, who, he could be a hundred times more f—ed up than he is. He’d never be as f—ed up as what we got in Washington now anyway,” he continued.
“Abraham Lincoln had to suspend habeas corpus, why? Because he had to win a Godd— war, OK?” Carville added. “We got to win this.”
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James Carville minimized concerns about Platner’s past tattoo that was associated with concentration camp guards. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SCAD)
Carville also argued that Platner’s military service would provide some perspective that would contrast with Collins, who he said voted in favor of wars as Platner actually fought in them.
“Maybe they need to look at this guy before they start sending young people off to fight wars and see what the consequence of it is,” he said.
“The tattoo is very troubling,” Carville admitted, “but f—, people get drunk.”
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Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner stand together during a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour stop at the Collins Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus in Orono, Maine, on May 24, 2026. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Digital reached out to Collins and Platner but did not receive an immediate response.
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’ Charles Creitz, Leo Briceno, and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
