Sen. Elizabeth Warren threw her support behind Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner this week, calling the 41-year-old oyster farmer "the real deal" in a video posted to social media Wednesday.
There was just one problem: Platner has been widely criticized for having a chest tattoo of a skull and crossbones resembling a symbol associated with the SS.
Fox News reported that Warren, one of the Senate's most liberal members, largely brushed off questions about the controversy when asked by Huffpost on Thursday.
"Look, he has apologized for that, and he's out there talking to the people of Maine every single day."
That's a remarkably forgiving posture from the same senator who, just months earlier, wrote a 33-page letter to Pete Hegseth questioning whether his Christian tattoos made him unfit to lead the Pentagon.
In early 2025, Warren scrutinized Hegseth, a decorated veteran with two Bronze Stars, for Christian symbols on his body. She implied that Hegseth could be a traitor for having them. Her words during the confirmation process were plain enough:
"We cannot have a Defense Secretary whose fellow servicemembers feel concerned enough about to report as a potential insider threat."
Hegseth had volunteered for inauguration security as a member of the D.C. National Guard and had been employed by Fox News at the time.
A Reuters report described him being removed from National Guard duty during former President Joe Biden's inauguration. He defended his tattoos in an exchange with Sen. Kristen Gillibrand during his confirmation hearing.
So the standard Warren established was clear: tattoos reveal character. Tattoos are grounds for disqualification. Tattoos warrant 33 pages of formal concern. That is, unless the person wearing the ink has a "D" next to their name.
Platner's problems extend beyond the chest ink he has since had removed. He pleaded ignorance, saying he was unaware of the symbol's meaning. That explanation is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Then there are the Reddit posts. In a 2013 comment, later deleted, Platner wrote about people who "get so f---ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don't mean to." He apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after they made headlines last fall, soon after he launched his Senate campaign.
"For those of you who have read these things and been offended, have read these things and seen someone that you don't recognize, I am deeply sorry."
His opponent in the Democratic primary, two-term Gov. Janet Mills, isn't letting any of it slide. Her campaign launched a blistering attack ad featuring the tattoo and the Reddit comments, spending six figures to run it statewide.
The ad's narrator delivers the tagline: "The closer you look, the worse it gets." Four women in the ad called his comments "a horrible thing to say," "disgusting," and "disqualifying."
Both Mills and Platner are vying for the Democratic nomination to unseat longtime Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who seeks a sixth Senate term. The primary is less than three months away, and Platner holds a large lead in recent polls.
Warren didn't just endorse Platner. She did it enthusiastically.
"Graham Platner has the grit to go against the grain and to fight for what is right."
She added that "the people in Maine are fired up and excited for change."
Consider the contrast. A combat veteran with Christian tattoos gets a 33-page inquisition and is labeled a potential insider threat.
A Democratic Senate candidate with a tattoo resembling an actual SS symbol gets called "the real deal" and praised for his grit. The veteran's ink was treated as evidence of extremism. The Democrat's ink was treated as an honest mistake, something he apologized for, time to move on.
It's worth noting who else is involved. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, who chairs Senate Democrats' campaign arm and sparred with Hegseth over his tattoos during his confirmation hearing, is notably backing Gov. Mills in the primary.
Even within the Democratic Party, there's no consensus on whether Platner's baggage is acceptable. But Warren decided it was.
This isn't complicated. Warren's objection to Hegseth's tattoos was never really about tattoos. It was about finding any available weapon to use against a Trump nominee. The 33-page letter, the "insider threat" language, the implication of disloyalty: all of it was theater dressed up as principle.
When the tattoo belongs to someone on her team, the principle evaporates. Apology accepted. Moving on. Nothing to see here.
That's the thing about standards wielded selectively. They stop being standards. They become tactics. And voters can tell the difference.
Warren could have endorsed Platner quietly. She could have acknowledged the obvious tension between her treatment of Hegseth and her embrace of a candidate with far more troubling ink. She did neither. She went on camera, smiled, and called him the real deal.
The hypocrisy isn't even hidden anymore. It's the strategy.
