Lefties Suddenly Change Tune On ‘Locker Room Talk’ After Their Graham Platner’s Reddit Posts Leaked

Leftists appear to have softened their stance on “locker room talk” after old Reddit posts from one of their favored Senate candidates resurfaced.

Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s past Reddit posts came back to light just two months after he launched his campaign. Platner released a video Friday addressing the remarks, but many on the left seemed willing to overlook them. (RELATED: Democratic Senate Candidate Graham Platner Calls For Violence In Now-Deleted Posts)

Platner, a veteran and former oyster farmer, described himself as a “communist,” called “all” police officers “bastards” and said rural white Americans “actually are” racist and stupid, according to a review of previously deleted Reddit posts.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Ken Martin said he doesn’t believe Platner’s comments are “disqualifying,” though he called them “indefensible, hurtful and offensive.”

“I’m glad that he apologized for them,” Martin told Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

The first-year DNC chair stressed that he believes “in second chances” and noted that “a lot of people say things at their most vulnerable times.”

“The question for me is whether or not they actually learn from them — whether or not they actually reflect on those, that they’re sincere in their apology, and, more importantly, that they have changed their behavior,” he added.

In a video addressing the posts, Platner said he had reread them and saw things he no longer stands by. “I see words and statements that I abhor. I also see the trajectory of my life,” he said.

He explained that after returning from overseas in 2011 and completing his Army service in 2012, some of his “worst comments” and “least defensible” statements came during a difficult transition period.

Having spent his twenties deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the infantry — a very “male-dominated place,” he said — Platner suggested much of his past language reflected the “crude humor, dark feelings [and] the offensive language that was the hallmark of the infantry” at the time.

Platner said he could see his tone evolve over time.

“My language gets less crude, my thoughts and my feelings get a lot less kind of rough around the edges. I do get almost more disillusioned, though, and it’s important to note that this was a time in my life where I was struggling deeply. I got out of the Army in 2012 — I had PTSD, depression, I had all of the things that come with serving in two wars that I eventually began to not believe in at all,” he said.

He said the experience left him feeling “unmoored, very disillusioned, very alienated and very isolated.” Like many others, he turned to the internet for “community” or an outlet to express what he was feeling. The Reddit posts, he noted, stopped around 2020, when he began to find a real community again.

Former Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild praised Platner’s apology video on X, writing, “Very well done. No bullshit. Seems genuine.”

Questions about the post surfaced just days after Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills launched her Senate bid Tuesday, reportedly after lobbying from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a race that could decide control of the upper chamber in the midterms.

Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna also weighed in, suggesting the resurfaced Reddit posts were part of a coordinated effort by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) to undermine Platner’s campaign.

“Let’s be clear. The DSCC leaked this to try to destroy Platner the day their hand-picked candidate entered the race,” Khanna said. “I respect Platner’s journey & the man he is today. I reject the politics of personal destruction. I stand by my endorsement. I won’t cower to the establishment.”