NBC: Platner Has ‘Energized Progressives’ Despite Tattoo ‘Some Say’ Is a Nazi Symbol

Curtis Houck
June 10th, 2026 3:01 PM

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Tuesday was primary day in Maine and three other states, so Maine Democrat Graham Platner’s life of ruin was seemingly unavoidable. While we saw NBC finally get off the sidelines and offer consistent coverage following last week’s allegations by ex-girlfriends in The New York Times, the peacock network gushed Platner’s stormy seas have “energized progressives” and “strengthen[ed] his bond” with them despite a tattoo “some say resembles a Nazi symbol.”

Appearing Wednesday on NBC’s Today, chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles gushed “oyster man” Platner’s “series of scandals” have “seem[ed] to strengthen his bond with a Democratic base, and now he’s prepared to take his progressive message into November.”

Nobles even deployed a classic proverbial drinking game word for conservatives as he huffed Republican incumbent Susan Collins has “seiz[ed] on the reports” against Platner.

Seize! Drink!

Along with ignoring the Nazi tattoo, Nobles bragged, “[t]he oyster man and Marine vet has energized progressives despite facing multiple scandals, alluding to the controversies overnight.”

“His campaign confirming last month that he set multiple women sexually explicit text messages at the beginning of his marriage. And last week, several former girlfriends told The New York Times Platner’s behavior was sometimes toxic and unsettling,” he added.

Before shifting to results in South Carolina and a projection in California that Republican Steve Hilton will advance to November’s gubernatorial general election, Nobles included a disturbing soundbite from a younger, white male in which he laughed in saying “I hate saying this, but sometimes I feel like it’s a lesser of two evils.”

Hours earlier on Tuesday’s NBC Nightly News, Nobles kept it more under control.

While he boasted “[t]he Marine vet-turned-oyster farmer has tapped into a wave of progressive support,” Nobles did say Platner “face[d] several controversies, including past social media posts where he blamed victims for sexual assault,” a “tattoo resembling a Nazi SS symbol,” and “accusations from a trio of former girlfriends...describ[ing] his toxic and unsettling.”

Like we’d see with CBS, Nobles did some man-on-the-street interviews, including an extended soundbite from Maine voters, including the one who had the “lesser of two evils” justification. This time, Nobles included said voter relaying Platner came off as a “down-to-earth” guy.

ABC omitted Platner mentions from Tuesday’s Good Morning America (GMA) and World News Tonight, but came around to it for Wednesday’s GMA.

Correspondent Jay O’Brien made the most of it in the 89-second segment as, unlike Nobles and most of the media coverage surrounding Platner’s Nazi tattoo, he was unequivocal in calling out the “questions about a Nazi symbol tattooed on his chest.”

O’Brien also said Platner’s path to victory was “complicated by a string of recent controversies [about] past, including sexually explicit text messages he acknowledged sending to up to six women when he was first married in 2023.”

“The New York Times also speaking to several of Platner’s ex-girlfriends who described ‘unsettling behavior.’ One even saying that he was physical, which Platner denies,” he added.

CBS’s coverage of the Maine primary was far more substantive and consistent. On Tuesday’s CBS Evening News, fill-in anchor Matt Gutman said Platner has “admitted to a sexting scandal and is now fighting off allegations from several former girlfriends.”

Congressional correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns said he “has caught fire among progressives” to the point that “many Maine voters told us” they cared more about defeating Susan Collins (and, therefore, Trump) than Platner’s behavior, which she described as “unsettling and toxic behavior” and grabbing by ex-girlfriends.

Huey-Burns has also stood out from ABC and NBC by repeatedly mentioning a devastating Monday Washington Post column from a former top campaign official, who wrote Platner “exhibits a pattern of dishonest behavior that’s impossible to ignore.”

By Wednesday’s CBS Mornings, Huey-Burns returned to say Platner “nodded to some of those controversies” in his victory speech by saying “he’s made mistakes in life, but he vowed to make them proud[.]”

She said he won “despite a number of headline-grabbing controversies” and having been “beset by a series of scandals, including allegations of physical abuse, by a woman he dated over a decade ago, which Platner denied, calling them, ‘politically motivated.’”

Once she touched on results in South Carolina, Huey-Burns cleverly said “Platner may be running as an outsider here in Maine, but last night, Washington top Democrats lined up behind him.”

Ahead of voters heading to the polls, CBS and NBC had reports on Tuesday morning. Zooming in on NBC’s Today, their report marked the first time the new show invoked Platner since The Times story broke featuring allegations from Lyndsey Fifield.

Incredibly, Nobles was wildly esoteric in describing the negative headlines, including the “unsettling” behavior with ex-girlfriends and having had “a tattoo that some say resembles a Nazi symbol.”

He gushed that Platner had “set the progressive world by storm” as “a political newcomer, a Marine veteran, and an oyster farmer” (with that last descriptor being dubious).

Over on Tuesday’s CBS Mornings, co-host Gayle King remarked Maine voters have “heard a lot of negative stories about Platner’s relationship with women” and Huey-Burns correctly framed a Platner win as a “test” of “just how much voters are willing to tolerate to ensure success for their party.”

Later, she also brought up The Washington Post column from a former senior Platner campaign official denouncing his candidacy and character as unbecoming.

To see the relevant transcripts from June 9, click here (for CBS Mornings), here (for the CBS Evening News), here (for NBC’s Today), and here (for NBC Nightly News). To see the relevant transcripts from June 10, click here (for ABC’s Good Morning America), here (for CBS Mornings), and here (for NBC’s Today).

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