Maine Dem Senate candidate Platner deletes social media post about Iran

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner deleted a social media post about Iran originally shared by far-right personality Stew Peters.

The original post by Peters included a video of President Trump's State of the Union speech on Tuesday in which he touted U.S. military strength and efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear power program, the Portland Press Herald reported.

“War with Iran is the only thing republicans and democrats have both given a standing ovation for. Let that sink in,” Peters posted along with the video.

Platner's campaign shared the post with its own caption, writing, “As always, there’s one thing that brings Republican and Democratic politicians together: sending other people’s children to die in stupid wars in the Middle East.”

A spokesperson for Platner's campaign told the media outlet that the post was quickly taken down once they realized it was from Peters.

“We were reposting a C-Span clip of Trump speaking about the potential war with Iran and didn’t realize that the video had been posted by a despicable account,” the spokesperson said. “When we learned who the poster was we immediately deleted the post.”

Platner, who's competing in the Democratic primary for the opportunity to challenge long-time GOP Sen. Susan Collins, apologized last year for his past online comments that included anti-gay slurs, calling them "indefensible."

He also admitted to having a tattoo resembling the Totenkopf, a skull-and-crossbones emblem used by Nazi SS units, which he has since had altered. Platner told Pod Save America’s Tommy Vietor in October that he got the tattoo in 2007 while on leave in Croatia and “didn’t know” of its association with Nazis.