It’s hard to know what’s worse — Graham Platner’s pattern of deception, or the willful credulity of his supporters.

In a friendly interview with progressive host Chris Hayes meant to do damage control on the latest scandal involving abusive behavior toward ex-girlfriends, the socialist Senate candidate insisted, “I have been very open with the people of Maine.”

Like so many other things he says, this isn’t remotely true. The candidate claims to be a straight shooter who served his country honorably as a Marine, went through a rough period when he got back, put the past behind him, and emerged from it a better man. Yet there has been a steady stream of revelations that show his appalling behavior has continued more recently and that have consistently undermined his self-justifying explanations of his life story.

Platner has portrayed himself as just a regular “working class” oyster farmer and has relied on lies or omissions to obscure the fact that, in reality, he had a wealthy upbringing. As the Washington Free Beacon reported, he did not purchase his current house with “the support of the VA,” as he has claimed, but with a $200,000 loan from his dad, while the primary customer for his oysters is his mom’s restaurant. He claimed that he attended Hotchkiss, the elite private school in Connecticut, because his local school lacked accreditation. But when the Maine Monitor, a local publication, found that it was accredited well before he was of school age, the campaign claimed Platner “misspoke.”

Late last month, the New York Times reported that early in their marriage, Platner’s wife had caught him in sexting relationships with as many as a dozen women (his campaign put the number at “up to six.”) This happened in 2023 and 2024, months into his marriage. Asked by Hayes when it stopped, Platner responded with an answer that was as clear as lobster bisque: “It stopped when it was happening.” Huh? Even the most charitable interpretation of this conduct would place his reckless behavior in the year prior to launching his Senate campaign.

As of last week, Platner had an active account on Kik, an anonymous chat app whose loose standards have given it a reputation as a “predator’s paradise” that allows for the sexual exploitation of young girls. The Senate candidate’s profile picture was himself wearing just a towel.

It was in the wake of these controversies that the New York Times reported on Platner’s history of toxic behavior based on accounts from his ex-girlfriends. One of the women, Lyndsey Fifield, corroborated Platner’s abusive behavior by providing, among other things, diary entries, text messages, and Facebook messages.

Fifield stated that during one argument, Platner “twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn’t get out, telling her to remain there until she was ‘calm.’”

In perhaps the most damning piece of information, Fifield said Platner regularly spoke about the Nazi tattoo on his chest, a skull-and-crossbones image that was adopted by the branch of the Nazi SS that served as concentration camp guards. Fifield, whom Platner supporters are trying to dismiss because she is a Republican, provided a screenshot of a private chat last summer where she described the Nazi tattoo to friends. Platner has implausibly insisted that despite having gotten the tattoo in 2007, he didn’t know what it was until last October, when the image became a subject of controversy after he announced his candidacy.

Asked how Fifield could have texted her friends about the Nazi tattoo months before he claims to have learned about it, Platner said, “Well, she certainly didn’t send a text to me. Whoever she sent it to and was talking to, I can’t say why. But I will say that I certainly didn’t know. And the text messages she is sending to friends who may have recognized it, they didn’t tell me that.”

The idea that Platner would have needed to rely on Fifield and her friends to let him know the origins of a symbol he had emblazoned on his chest for nearly two decades is preposterous (of course, she says she learned about it from him). And the transparent dishonesty makes his denials of abusive behavior harder to believe.

Platner lamented to Hayes that he’s been open about making mistakes earlier in life, dismissing the focus on “things that happened before I became a public figure.” But the deceptions are happening right now, when he has all but locked up the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine.

He’s given Democrats assurances that there will be no more embarrassing revelations — which is probably as credible as everything else he’s been saying about his background.