In a resurfaced social media post, Maine U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Graham Platner appeared to mock an American Army soldier who got shot while fighting in Afghanistan.
In his since-deleted Reddit account, Platner wrote in 2019, “This video never gets old,” referring to a viral footage taken by PFC Ted Daniels’s helmet cam during a clash with Taliban fighters in 2012, Fox News reported.
“Dumb motherf***er 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,” wrote Platner, who is a U.S. Marine Corps and Army veteran, who served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
Daniels — 37 when the gunfight took place — earned the Purple Heart after being shot four times. The video, which was uploaded on YouTube in September 2012, has over 47 million views.
In the video, Daniels yells, “Hey! I’m moving down!” and then starts to go down a rocky hillside into the open.
WARNING: The following video contains explicit language and scenes from combat.
Daniels told The Washington Post in 2012 that he was hoping to draw fire away from his fellow soldiers.
Soon, enemy bullets are striking near him, and he takes partial cover behind a rock. But, eventually, he is hit by shrapnel from rounds bouncing off rocks nearby.
He yells out, “I’m hit! I’m hit! Help me!”
This wasn’t a Netflix special. One of our troops got shot by enemy fire. This is disqualifying and completely screwed up. https://t.co/Qc5ZINAxhc
— Rick Scott (@ScottforFlorida) May 20, 2026
Daniels defended his actions, telling the Post in 2012, “I put my a** on the line for other guys. I still functioned even though I was scared to death.”
Adam Schwarze, a former Navy SEAL and Marine veteran running for U.S. Senate as a Republican in Minnesota, told Fox News that Platner’s mocking a fellow soldier on an open online forum was inappropriate.
“We don’t post about our brothers getting wounded in action,” Schwarze said.
“I feel bad for him,” the veteran added. “I think he should get some help. He deserves help from his time down range, from his PTSD and his mental health issues, but he certainly shouldn’t be running for the United States Senate.”
Platner also smeared now-deceased Navy SEAL Chris Kyle during a 2024 podcast, The Washington Free Beacon reported.
“Platner — who did not belong to an elite Special Forces unit like the SEALs — took issue with public portrayals of Task Unit Bruiser [which Kyle was part of] and Kyle as heroes of the Iraq war,” the Free Beacon’s Chuck Ross wrote.
Platner said during the interview that he read Kyle’s 2012 book “American Sniper,” which was later turned into a hit movie directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper.
“[Kyle’s] stories about how many people he was shooting certainly tracked with the behavior I witnessed [in Ramadi, Iraq]. It’s relatively easy to get high numbers like that if you’re a little less discriminating in your fire than, say, a more professional unit would be,” said Platner, claiming Task Unit Bruiser shot at unarmed civilians.
“I almost felt like there was like a weird practical joke being played on me by the war that, like, all these years later, I’m, like, having to, like … People are telling me, like, ‘Oh, look how great this guy is, these guys are amazing heroes’ — this whole incredible thing,” Platner continued. “The paragon of leadership, and I’m just sitting there, like, ‘Am I living in, like, an alternate reality?’ Because this is the exact opposite of my experience.”
Kyle was shot and killed at a firing range in Texas in 2014 by a Marine Corps veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, whom he was trying to help.
In a recent New York Times interview, Platner said that he has suffered from PTSD from his combat experiences in Iraq.
He also blamed Republican incumbent Senator Susan Collins, whom he is seeking to replace, for sending him to war there.
The Free Beacon’s Ross noted, “But the timeline doesn’t match up with Platner’s military service. The Senate voted to authorize the Iraq war in 2002 on a 77-23 vote, with Collins joining the bipartisan majority. Platner joined the Marines in 2004 and wrote on Reddit in 2020 that he did so because he ‘wanted to have an adventure and kill some people.’”
“Joined up in ’04, did Fallujah and Ramadi, and managed both. Hell of an excellent experience,” Platner wrote, regarding his service in Iraq.
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