The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: The Fresh, New ‘Jacobin’ Faces of the Democrat Party

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

Democrat Maine senatorial candidate Graham Platner claims that he didn’t know he got a Nazi tattoo in 2007 while serving as a U.S. Marine, saying on “Pod Save America” that he was “very inebriated” and “chose a terrifying skull and crossbones off the wall because we were Marines and skulls and crossbones are a pretty standard military thing.” “The Democrats are in a quandary. The old guard of Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, are very worried about this young group of more radical, Jacobin, younger people who want to shut down the government … “The problem that these people have is they are not in the mainstream of American politics. And so, they have said things in their past before they were candidates—sometimes during—that are incompatible with the majority of Americans’ views on what denotes proper behavior and conduct of a politician or an official. “For example, Mr. Platner in Maine … “It was the exact replica, facsimile of the Totenkopf, death’s head, emblem of the 3rd SS-Waffen Division in World War II, a division that was made up of former, at least in its 1939-41 inception, former death camp guards and special Einsatzgruppen group killers of Jews,” argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest short videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1⁠  👉Want more VDH? Watch Victor’s weekly, hour-long podcast, “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” now! Subscribe to his YouTube channel, and enable notifications:  https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273?sub_confirmation=1 👉More exclusive content is available on Victor’s website: https://victorhanson.com 👉The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: ⁠https://secured.dailysignal.com/⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk, business. The old guard of Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, are very worried about this young group of more radical, younger people who want to shut down the government. That was the impetus behind the shutdown. Do not cooperate whatsoever with Donald Trump. Mr. Platner in Maine, who wants to be the Democratic nominee for the Maine Senate, got the exact replica of the Totenkov, Death's Head emblem of the Third SS-Waffen division in World War II, tattooed on his body, a division that was made up of former death camp guards and special

Einzen group and group killers of Jews. It's kind of ironic because no one in the Democratic Party has really criticized him. Remember when Elon Musk did this, they said he was a Nazi, so we know that they were sensitive to it, but the reply of the old guard is to ignore it because they're terrified of them. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hansen for the Daily Signal. The Democrats are in a quandary. The old guard of Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, are very worried about this young group of more radical Jacobin, younger people who want to shut down the government. That was the impetus behind the shutdown. Do not cooperate whatsoever with Donald Trump and then take the House and the Senate. The problem that these people have is, They are not in the mainstream of American politics. And so they have said things in their past before they were candidates, sometimes during, that are incompatible with the majority of Americans' views on what denotes proper behavior

and conduct of a politician or an official. For example, Mr. Platner in Maine, who wants to be the Democratic nominee for the Maine Senate and run against incumbent Susan Collins, has said some really, atrocious things. He's castigated black people. He says that stereotypically they don't tip. He said that white rural people are racist. He's in a lot of trouble, though, because when he was in the Marine Corps, he went to a tattoo parlor and got a skull and crossbones tattoo. Now, he would like us to believe that this was no big thing, that it was just, I don't know, a skull and young people do stupid things, he said, but it was a long time ago. He's had, I don't know, 17, 18 years

to get rid of it if it was something more than skull and crossbones. And it was something more than skull and crossbones because it was not just skull and crossbones. It was the exact replica facsimile of the Totenkov, Death's Head emblem of the Third SS Woffen Division in World War II, a division that was made up of former, at least in its 1939 to 41 inception, former death camp guards and special Eisen Group and group killers of Jews. And so when he went to this parlor, he put on the official logo of the third Woff and SS Panzer Division. And he's had it on his chest. And he's referred to it himself as a Totenkov death head, the German word.

So he knew what he was doing. You can say, well, Victor, do you really believe he's a Nazi? And I'm going to say, I don't know what I believe. But from what he said and what is tattooed on his body, I think he's reckless, indiscriminate. and can't tell the truth. It's kind of ironic because no one in the Democratic Party who's afraid of this base that he represents has really criticized him and said,

you should drop out of the race. Remember when Elon must did this and this, they said he was a Nazi until we found pictures of everybody from Heikim Jeffries to Barack Obama doing this. And I think even Elizabeth Warren did this, just a salute. So we know that they were sensitive to it, but the problem is deeper, and that is if you're going to go to your base to get statewide candidates or national candidates, or your old guard is going to emulate the ethos of the base, then you have certain, I don't know, background checks. We have Jay Jones, remember, who's running for Attorney General in Virginia. And it's not that he just happened to say, I would like my Republican opponent to be killed or I would like to go to his funeral.

When he was chastised in a text by a Republican counterpart, not to say that, he doubled down. And he said, oh, I would not only like him dead, I would like his children dead and want him to be dead in his wife's arms. And he hasn't really explained. He says that's not him. But he didn't really come forward until it was exposed in the way that Mr. Platner didn't come forward until it was exposed. And then they can't give adequate explanations of why they said it or why he was tattooed. And they seemingly embarrass the old guard of Democrats, but they don't because the reply of the old guard is to ignore it because they're terrified of them. And I think it goes beyond ignoring it.

Gavin Newsom recently said that Christy Noem was going to have a bad day. Thank you, America. What is that? An implied threat that if she came into California with ice, something bad would happen to her. He said that he wanted to hit Donald Trump in the mouth. If a private citizen put that on social media, the FBI would be knocking on his door. He also said he wanted to hit them in the mouth his Republican. opponents that were engaged as he is in redistricting congressional districts.

And so we've had Mr. Pritzer who's warned, warned that he's going to go after ICE agents if in his view he feels that they're breaking the law. In his view, I don't know if that means he's going to arrest them or when the state government is going to investigate them and indict them, but it's actually a violation. of Article 6 of the Constitution. So what am I getting at is that the new Democratic Party is drawing on a base that is way out of the mainstream. And they're out of the mainstream on the issues of crime, on the border, on illegal immigration, on foreign policy, on energy, radical abortion on demand, transgendered males competing in female sports.

but more importantly, the way that they're out of touch is one that's on the record, their language, their threats, their promises of violence, and that's not going to go away. And the problem that we're having now is this rhetoric is escalating, escalating, escalating, and the more that they are shut out of official power in the House, the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court, And the more they realize that they have to double down in language and heat because they have no light on the issues. In other words, the more they accept that the people do not have what they want to offer, the angrier they get. And so they are controlling this new Democratic Party, the primary system and the base of the party, and the angrier and more violent they get, the more the old guard who's on the way out but does not want to go on the way out,

will itself either tolerate it or double down on it. At best, it leads to 20 years of the wilderness that period, I don't know, comparable to George McGovern's catastrophic left-wing defeat in which the Democratic Party committed suicide. They had a little four-year blip with Jimmy Carter that only reminded people how bad they were until Bill Clinton in 1992 came back for eight years. He never won the popular vote over 50%, but he acted as a moderate and he was able to win 49%, 43%, and the Electoral College on two occasions, and he saved the Democratic Party.

That would be the best scenario for them. The worst scenario is they take their rhetoric seriously and they really do want to escalate to violence and use state authority such as they have to challenge a federal government. That's uncharted territory, but we know one thing. It's not going to end well. Thank you very much. This is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to The Daily Signal.

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