HBO’s Bill Maher quipped on Friday’s Real Time that Bernie Sanders-endorsed Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s days as a Democrat are limited and that he might have to become a Republican given his Nazi tattoo and other controversies.
Maher began:
In bilateral Nazi news, because there's always a lot of Nazi news these days, one Republican and one Democrat. One Republican, the nominee for the Office of Special Counsel, they found out he can't take the job because he was found to have said ‘Sometimes I have a Nazi streak.’ And then, a guy named Graham Platner, is the Democratic candidate in Maine for the Senate, he’s an oyster farmer in Maine, and he has a tattoo that's a Nazi thing. Not good.
At this point Platner, who also has a history of embracing communism, is a Democratic candidate, but he has not won the nomination. Regardless, Maher continued, “On the bright side, I think I have found my Halloween costume: Nazi oyster farmer. But this guy, maybe-Senator Platner, he apologized for his racism and his misogyny, but now there's scrutiny about anti-gay remarks. So, it seems like his days as a Democrat are numbered, and his days as a Republican are just beginning.”
Far from the suggestion that Platner’s sins make him a Republican, his biggest supporters are standing by him, and, according to polls, he has a massive lead on Gov. Janet Mills in the primary despite everything Maher mentioned. Meanwhile, it is also interesting that Maher brought up Paul Ingrassia’s doomed nomination because Ingrassia’s nomination was pulled due to lack of GOP support.
Couple Platner with Jay Jones in Virginia, and it becomes clear that for a lot of progressives, warnings about Nazis and political rhetoric are just ways to smear Republicans. Recent weeks Republicans have seen Democrats hold their unsavory types accountable. Why can’t Democrats?
Here is a transcript for the October 24 show:
HBO Real Time with Bill Maher
10/24/2025
10:08 PM ET
BILL MAHER: In bilateral Nazi news, because there's always a lot of Nazi news these days, one Republican and one Democrat. One Republican, the nominee for the Office of Special Counsel, they found out he can't take the job because he was found to have said "Sometimes I have a Nazi streak." And then, a guy named Graham Platner, is the Democratic candidate in Maine for the Senate, he’s an oyster farmer in Maine, and he has a tattoo that's a Nazi thing. Not good. On the bright side, I think I have found my Halloween costume: Nazi oyster farmer. That's what I'm going as. But this guy, maybe-Senator Platner, he apologized for his racism and his misogyny, but now there’s scrutiny about anti-gay remarks. So, it seems like his days as a Democrat are numbered, and his days as a Republican are just beginning.
