told CNN\u2019s KFile in an interview<\/a> published Thursday.<\/p>\nCNN\u2019s KFile reviewed posts that Platner once wrote on Reddit in 2020 and 2021 in which he criticized police officers, showed frustration and disillusionment about his time serving in the military and spoke about being a \u201ccommunist\u201d and a \u201csocialist.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBastards. Cops are bastards,\u201d Platner said in one since-deleted post on Reddit, in response to a thread and reporting from Vice that a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Medical Corps had been held at gunpoint by a police officer after pulling him over. <\/p>\n
In a post responding to body camera footage showing Daunte Wright\u2019s murder, a Black man who was shot after a police officer mistakenly pulled out her gun instead of a taser in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis, Platner wrote, \u201cAnybody who has spent even a modicum of time around guns as part of their living knows this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew there was no such thing as an \u2018accidental discharge\u2019 by the end of range week at Parris Island. I was also a 19 year old moron. F\u2011\u2011\u2011 these cops,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Platner described some of those posts as \u201cme just being an a\u2011\u2011hole on the internet\u201d to CNN\u2019s KFile.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have an immense amount of friends who are police officers. They\u2019re not all bastards because they\u2019re literally buddies of mine,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on his time in the military, in which he deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, another post of his showed him grappling with his service and his politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy time in America\u2019s imperial wars definitely radicalized me further, and I\u2019m significantly more left today than I was back then. It is difficult to see all that horror, as well as all the grift and corruption, and not find the entire thing utterly bankrupt,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did used to love America, or at least the idea of it. These days I\u2019m pretty disgusted by it all,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In another post, responding to a thread titled \u201cWhite people aren\u2019t as racist or stupid as Trump thinks,\u201d Platner wrote, \u201cLiving in white rural America, I\u2019m afraid to tell you they actually are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Addressing his post reflecting on his military service, Platner told CNN\u2019s KFile that he did love America while also acknowledging he was \u201cvery angry\u201d about the wars he was involved in. Platner suggested he was upset about the state of affairs when he made his post about white people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m also a white guy, and I don\u2019t think I\u2019m a racist,\u201d he told CNN\u2019s KFile.<\/p>\n
Platner is running in a crowded field for the Democratic nomination to take on Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) next year, with his toughest primary opponent being Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), who entered the race this week. <\/p>\n
Platner has generated national attention for his economic populist pitch and the endorsement he received from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). He\u2019s also raised $4 million since he launched his campaign in August \u2014 an impressive sum for someone who started out largely as a political unknown.<\/p>\n
But Platner\u2019s comments around police officers, white Americans and the country\u2019s past military involvement could roil his campaign heading into a tough primary in which he\u2019ll need to court a crossover of voters including moderate Democrats and independents.<\/p>\n
The Hill has reached out to Platner\u2019s campaign for additional comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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