Susan Collins would be happy to return as the senior senator representing Maine. She is often more concerned and freequently worried about legislation matters in Washington DC than Margaret Chase Smith was. But Susan Collins is always so reliable and ultimately votes 97.8% MAGA. And her squeaky little voice just grows on you.

I wonder if we should stick with her ?

Trump praises Collins as she holds MAGA hat at bill signing

Beacon Staff February 4, 2026

Any past divisions between Pres. Donald Trump and Maine’s senior senator weren’t in view on Tuesday as Sen. Susan Collins stood next to Trump at a bill signing, held a red hat emblazoned with the slogan “America is Back” and received his praise.

“All right, you’re doing good,” Trump told Collins, as he lauded a series of lawmakers and signed a budget bill that he called “a great victory for the American people.”

Trump noted that the bill cuts funding for PBS and NPR, “continues the closure of USAID,” and cuts funding for tax evasion enforcement at the IRS.

The bill provides only temporary funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and sets up a potential showdown over their violent and lawless tactics over the next two weeks.

Trump also took the opportunity to oppose requiring ICE to obtain judicial warrants to search homes and to downplay controversy over the latest release of documents related to child rapist Jeffrey Epstein.

More at link below,...

https://mainebeacon.com/trump-praises-collins-as-she-holds-maga-hat-at-bill-signing/

that's over 90% white, half of which despises it's most populous city, I don't think this will be much of a liability.

How gas prices and prices behave the next couple of months is going to be key. If it's half as bad as I expect, a lot of vulnerable incumbents in the Republican Party are going to be looking for jobs in the lobbying and consulting fields.

and that, I guess, is a good thing. Where does Joe Rogan live? If we could convince him to run for Congress, the Senate or for Governor as a Democrat, wherever that is, most of the nasty shit he has said over the years wouldn't be a liability, either.

Wouldn't necessarily be a great Democrat, or a sincere one, but he could likely draw MMA voters!

I would support his election.

Even though he's a piece of work.

That turned into a hump-back whale as we got older?

And blamed women for rape?

which is destined to go unanswered.

I suppose we should get used to this if it is going to be 'when they go low, we go lower'.

I was against Tulsi Gabbard when she was still an elected Democrat in the House. And I've been saying for many years that RFK was a weirdo, back when he was still a long time registered Democrat who had fans among the party base.

I get similar vibes from Platner. Maybe my instincts are wrong this time but I'm glad I don't live in Maine because it would be very difficult to vote for him. Naturally, I still hope we win that seat because it will be better than Collins.

and RFK Jr.

Gabbard was my rep, and I started voting against her in the primaries in 2014. She turned out to be a nazi.

I never paid attention to the nazi bobby until he started running for President. Gawd!

And, I was for Coonor Lamb.

So I figured out he was a weird nut job back then. Though he was a little more guarded about it.

Tulsi set off red flags for me with some thinly veiled Islamophobic and homophobic stuff early on and then she associated with Modi and Assad. its been so long I don't remember exactly all the things that tipped me off. But she also just has a vacant look in her eyes. I just always knew something was off about her.

Du. She had some fans standing up for her.

Speaking of the GOP, what kind of tea are you hearing on the ground re: other gop voters and Platner?

We might be able to accept he didn't know it was a popular Nazi symbol. I never saw that symbol before this ordeal, so I can believe he just thought it looked cool.

We might even be able to accept a redemption story that, as a young man, he explored other philosophies, including Nazi thinking, and has rejected that as he matured.

What is hard to accept is that, once confronted with the Nazi connection, he didn't simply repudiate that and pay $1000 to get the tattoo removed. That indicates bad judgment. And the fact that he still hasn't dealt with this amplifies that concern.

and whether or not he gets the tattoo removed is a personal choice. The only reason that people understand that it may be a Nazi themed tattoo is a minor detail of the overall work. Don't overlook the forest for the trees.

To be fair, I'll look it up again, but I do believe it was a small detail that if not expert in Nazi regalia would be totally unnoticed.
Removing it doesn't mean it never happened.

Forehead, dead center.

I’m not an expert. And neither are millions upon millions upon millions of other citizens of the world who know what Nazis look like.

Im supposed to believe he’s an ex-mercenary, who wore the military insignia of the Nazi SS for almost twenty years without ever knowing it? I’m never going to buy that story, and I will loudly oppose that notion every time it’s brought up.

So if you people don’t want to keep hearing it from me and people like me, then quit bringing it up.

Maybe I'm thinking of a different image than you are.

I’m out of here before I say something stupid.



VOTE FOR PLATNER.

I guess I'm naive,
I wonder how many people, before this controversy started, knew the difference.
I just assumed the artist was being creative.

I guess I’m not an expert on nazi imagery or uniforms.

Because I would call that a skull and crossbones.

I’ve heard the term “death’s head regiment” and always thought the hats a skull (no bones).


I wonder if Jerry was a nazi. Lately, right wingers have been claiming Jerry would have been a Republican

I believe he just got it altered to look less like the Nazi artwork.

You might say, "What's the difference?" And to some people maybe one is as good as the other. To me, I think just about everyone who gets tattoos knows that we have technology to remove them. It may be more expensive than the original tattoo, but we’re talking something like $500 for one treatment to $2000 for several treatments. It seems really obvious to me that removal would have been the best solution. That would fit the story:

However, I saw one reference: "He stated he was 'horrified' to learn of the connection (with the Nazi symbology), moved to have the tattoo covered immediately, and planned to have it removed."

It isn't clear to me that he followed through on that last bit.

off base to visit tattoo parlors, topless bars, and pawn shops.

Those businesses know their market, late teens to mid 20s, and disproportionately men.

Thanks for the thread ShazzieB

That’s the math of it.

He’s selling the second option, which you say may, in fact, be the truth.

Let’s say it is. That doesn’t make me feel any better.

Therefore I support him all the way.

Interesting thread.

close to 20 years ago, when we all knew what the attacks on Joy were really about. How does this work -- if you object to offensive comments or symbolism, you are conservative?

Isn't excused because some might have criticized her for racist reasons. Nor can you honestly lump all criticism of her actual homophobic posts on her own website as due to racism.

who slur others as conservatives because they are offended by commonly recognized offensive things.

THAT is funny.

Many of my fellow soldiers got tattoos, especially near Fort Benning, GA.

I couldn't swear to this, but knowing what was like when you were on leave, most of them WERE drunk or close to it when they got their tattoos.

You have to remember, these young men are 18 to 23 years old, and many of them had never used alcohol until they went on leave from a military base.

In other words, Platner's explanation could be and most likely is true!

Vote for Platner. He can't be worse than Collins.

Think about it. Assuming a young drunk military guy gets a tattoo that he doesn't understand. OK, I guess that happens. Surely in the intervening TWO DECADES he learns what it represents. Why wouldn't he have had it removed or covered up then? Why did he wait until it became an issue in his campaign?

Could it be because he actually agreed with the sentiment represented by that tattoo?

wow, that is interesting. Obviously I haven't been reading the media articles about him, but this does change things if he just did it to run for office.

who voted for Trump. He said he works on the water now. Combine all that with his military background, and it's highly doubtful he didn't know what the tattoo was when he got it and it suited him -- until it didn't.* But his macho persona doesn't seem to match a dumb guy going to get a tattoo. He knew what he was getting and it fit his image at the time. Having nazi tattoos probably didn't help him in business much as he aged, but I wouldn't buy any dumb drunk guy story of not knowing what he was putting on his body.

*just seeing that Platner only covered up his tattoo because of his current campaign.

...from a few days ago by a historian whose field includes Nazi Germany. He said he wouldn't have recognized it as a Nazi symbol. I, for sure, didn't. Looks like another stupid skull and crossbones to me.

but he's a lifelong war history buff. He can identify all the planes in the old films, all the uniforms. They are symbolic.

But I don't take it that people are judging the tattoo itself, only the implications of the mindset of what that might imply about the person who chooses that and what that means about his real political affiliations since he's new to the scene and voted for a Republican before. Those are fair questions.

"a historian whose field includes Nazi Germany" to have at least a passing familiarity with Nazi symbols.

In this subthread, not the candidate, aren't we.

I have voice my opinion about his alleged ignorance previously. Since he is now the presumptive candidate I will not repeat here.

Is not an expert on Nazi Germany.

If they were even an amateur historian they would know the Totenkopf was worn on SS caps, the symbol of the 3rd SS Pz Division and most infamously by the SS-Totenkopfverbände [SS- Death's Head Battalions], the units that ran the concentration camps.

So not just another stupid skull and crossbones to someone familiar with history.

I have seen a great deal on this. This is just one example that Collins would use against Platner in a general election campaign.

Link to tweet

But they need to stop trying to explain away the Nazi shit. Too many of us have been dealing with that for fifty, sixty, seventy years or more. There are no grown up accidental Nazis. In fact, “Yeah I fucked up. I should’ve got that covered up years ago…” would’ve been better than trying to play dumb about it.

But yes, definitely Vote for Platner.

And next time, pick a better candidate.

...he had a literal prison tattoo (he got it in prison) that was very badly rendered, and said "STAIRDUST" instead of STARDUST.

That amused me.

We all gave Kegsbreath a pass, too.
Let’s be consistent here.

Seems very silly and performative. I’m not going to pretend that I hate a Dem who I’m not terribly thrilled about as much as I hate Trumpy GOP subhuman vermin who have proven to be enemies of democracy.