Resurfaced posts show Maine Democrat Platner calling the Army 'fat trash', refuses to apologize

SULLIVAN, MAINE: Graham Platner, the Democrats' Senate nominee in Maine and a US Marine Corps veteran, called the United States Army "absolute trash" and "full of fat, lazy trash who would rather not be in uniform" in a post on his reportedly now-deleted Reddit account.

Platner is Democrats’ nominee in the Maine Senate race, where he seeks to unseat GOP incumbent Sen Susan Collins.

Several of the old posts, including posts in which he allegedly used a slur against a wounded Army veteran, have become a major election campaign issue.

Graham Platner allegedly said Army is 'trash'

Platner’s allegedly resurfaced post shows him boasting about serving in the army after the Marine Corps, but he called the Army in general “trash.”

"I spent another 4 in the Army after the Corps, and while I was very lucky to serve in some hot units with good dudes, as a whole the organization is absolute trash," Platner allegedly wrote in April 2019.

"I am not one to totally bad mouth the Army. It does have some squared away fighting units and good guys, as well as some better doctrine here and there. But it is absolutely lacking in the warrior ethos and leadership obsession that the Corps has, and generally attracts a lower standard of person," he reportedly wrote.

The post also includes a separate 2019 comment about wounded Army veteran Teddy Daniels, who was shot by the Taliban and later awarded the Purple Heart.

In a post, Platner criticized Daniels’s battlefield tactics during a clash with Taliban fighters in 2012 and wrote that the "dumb motherf****r didn’t deserve to live."

Graham Platner refuses to apologize to Teddy Daniels

When Fox News asked Graham Platner whether he would apologize to Maine voters and Daniels for his insensitive comment, Platner refused to do so, saying, "I did four tours in the infantry; any attempt to say that I disrespect veterans is slanderous and offensive.”

"Do you think you owe him an apology?" the outlet asked again.

"Do you know how many of my friends have Purple Hearts? Do you know how many of my friends got wounded?" Platner responded, before adding, "Yeah, a lot of them, thank you."