Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate running for the US Senate in Maine, who defended a series of controversial Reddit posts he made between 2013 and 2021, said they were intended to provoke reactions rather than reflect his true beliefs.

“That was me trying to get a rise out of people on the Internet,” Platner told Tommy Vietor on Pod Save America. “Those weren’t even reflective of my opinions back then.”

Apology and acknowledgment of mental health struggles

Despite his defense, Platner issued an apology in a video posted Friday on social media. He said the posts were made shortly after leaving the Army in 2012 and reflected his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

“I still had the crude humor, the dark, dark feelings, the offensive language that really was

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