Our ‘Modern-Day’ Media - Forgive an Avowed Nazi, Fire the Republican for Words Spoken by Others

It would not be our media complex if it were not rife with glaring contradictions, fluid morality, and a sheer avoidance of pragmatic analysis. This dysfunctional matrix is entirely permitted, you understand, because of one characteristic making them “better” than the rest of society: They have twice as many standards as anyone else!

To see specifically what I refer to, we have a magnificent display of paradoxical outrage taking place in real time. On the one hand, we have an individual who might be classified as a borderline sociopath (or, at least on that spectrum), while in the other instance, there is a politician I am certain most have not been aware of before this week, but who is now being metaphorically burned in effigy on social media. The dichotomy in these cases is displayed in the bifurcated outrage from the press.

In case Number One, we have the disturbing sort by the name of Graham Platner. He is the Maine Senate hopeful with a (former) Nazi tattoo, and more baggage than the storage hull of a tour bus for a heavy metal group.

As covered previously, Platner has a list of disqualifying evidence the media needs to excuse away, the likes of which, if a fraction of the examples were found with a Republican, they would be chased from Congress with torches and pitchforks. But the desperate need for Democrats to take over Congress is such that the press will contort itself to explain away all of the disturbing facets of the man’s existence.

The crew members at the bad-ship Bulwark have been especially desperate to explain away his foibles and excuse their fractured standards on these matters.

I have a litmus test for people who have said terrible things in their past: Have they apologized and said the previously-stated terrible views were terrible? Because if they have, then I’m inclined to judge them based on the views they are currently expressing.
— Sarah Longwell (@SarahLongwell25) May 11, 2026

Graham Platner

Now we turn to the other side of the political scale, just to prove the validity of this point. Right now, we are seeing something of a dogpile in the press over Rep. Jen Kiggans (VA-02), concerning allegedly disturbing words heard during a radio appearance she recently made. During the interview with Richmond’s Morning News host Rich Herrera, they were discussing Hakeem Jeffries and his involvement in Virginia’s redistricting fight over the past few weeks.

In the course of their discussion, it centered on the man who represents New York fiddling with their state’s political operations, and during this exchange, it was suggested that Jeffries "keep his 'cotton pickin’ hands off of Virginia!” That this common southern idiom was used in reference to a black individual is all that was needed to generate hysteria in the press. Fox News figure Jessica Tarlov is but one example, as she strains to impugn the entirety of the Republican Party over this lone example.

I know folks were really excited to be able to say ‘retard’ again, but would hope ‘cotton picking’ hands about a Black man is a bridge too far. Modern day GOP. https://t.co/RKRXPpNapE
— Jessica Tarlov (@JessicaTarlov) May 12, 2026

Welcome to our modern-day media. Now, if you listen to that recorded segment, you may notice something significant. It was actually the radio host, Rich Herrera, who said “cotton pickin',” not Jen Kiggans. But, she is expected to instantly repudiate that language, apparently, and since she did not do so in an appropriate fashion, there is a need for her immediate dismissal. Because she is a Republican.

First they gutted the Voting Rights Act.

Now they are using brazenly racist language to attack Black leaders.@JenKiggans should immediately apologize and resign. https://t.co/F3iPYBZPSi
— Katherine Clark (@TeamKClark) May 11, 2026

So to recap:

Graham Platner can have a Nazi tattoo for nearly two decades, say numerous disturbing things online that needed to be deleted, acknowledge his tattoo is problematic by having it covered up, follow that by appearing on a supremacist’s podcast, dispel defenses of him simply reaching a new audience by declaring he is a fan of that program, and then promote a neo-Nazi on his social media that his staff had to clean up with more deletions – and he is perfectly fine to represent Democrats in the Senate.

But if Jen Kiggans is on a radio show when someone else says something that is quasi-offensive to some people, she needs to be expelled from Congress instantly.

These are the people we are supposed to listen to and take seriously. Instead, these are the people we point at and laugh mercilessly, as their vacant mores are exposed and they display entirely fluid “standards” on social propriety. Now, allow me a moment to prepare more popcorn before continuing with the laughter.

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