Purple Heart recipient slams Maine Senate candidate over mocking post

A Purple Heart recipient wounded in Afghanistan is speaking out after Reddit comments linked to Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner resurfaced, saying PTSD does not excuse mocking a wounded American service member.

Speaking on “The Ingraham Angle,” Pfc. Ted Daniels, who received a Purple Heart after surviving a Taliban attack, pushed back against efforts to explain Platner’s comments by citing PTSD.

“Right now it appears that Graham Platner is the poster child for people who suffer with PTSD, and it’s an embarrassment to veterans, to first responders, to sexual assault victims, to everybody who deals with it,” Daniels said Tuesday.

The controversy began after a Reddit comment linked to Platner resurfaced. The comment referred to a helmet-cam video of Daniels fighting Taliban operatives in 2012 before he was shot four times.

COMBAT VETERAN NEARLY KILLED BY TALIBAN FIRES BACK AT PLATNER’S DELETED ONLINE ATTACK: ‘YOU’RE A COWARD’

The Reddit account “P-Hustle,” linked to Platner, posted, “Dumb motherf—– didn’t deserve to live. At least his stupidity and fat a– wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness and hold in contempt. Poor marksmanship on the Taliban’s part is the only reason this mouthbreather made it home, he managed to make every possible s— decision possible when it comes to small unit combat.” 

The post was deleted but remains available in the Maine Monitor’s archive of Reddit posts attributed to Platner, a former U.S. Marine who served three combat tours in Iraq and a fourth in Afghanistan with the Maryland Army National Guard. 

But Daniels said Platner’s past does not excuse the comments.

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“I can empathize with the fact that I’m sure he has PTSD. What I cannot do is excuse that for his poor decisions in life and abhorrent behavior,” Daniels said.

Daniels added that since the comments surfaced, he has not heard from Platner or received an apology from his team. Daniels, however, said he believes there are other people Platner needs to apologize to first.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner participated in a television interview on May 1, 2026, in Portland, Maine, following a campaign event with the Maine AFL-CIO. (Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)

“I don’t need an apology. Who deserves the apology is every Gold Star family out there who lost a loved one in combat because people like Graham Platner are online cheering for their death,” Daniels said.

Platner addressed criticism of his past online posts in a video posted to X in October 2025, saying, “As I read through them, I read things that I absolutely do not agree with. I read through and I see things, words and statements that I abhor.”

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“I had PTSD. I had depression. I had all of the things that come with serving in a war, in two wars, that I eventually began to not believe in at all. It left me feeling very unmoored. It left me feeling very disillusioned, very alienated and very isolated. And I think like a lot of people, I went on the internet to post stupid things and get in fights and find some form of community in some way, some outlet for my feelings, for my rage, for my isolation,” he later added.

Platner recently won Maine’s Democratic Senate primary and will face GOP Sen. Susan Collins in November. 

He has also faced criticism over allegations involving sexting with multiple women during his marriage and a tattoo that resembles a Nazi symbol.

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Platner said he got the tattoo during a “night of drinking” while on leave in Croatia and was unaware of its meaning at the time.

Digital reached out to Platner’s campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.