Democrat Graham Platner urges Americans to resist Trump’s ‘disgusting’ capture of Maduro, ‘gangsterism’

Far-left Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is urging Americans to protest the capture of Venezuelan socialist dictator and alleged narco-terrorist Nicolás Maduro, which he characterized as “immoral” and “utterly disgusting.”

Platner, a Bernie Sanders-backed oyster farmer and veteran running to unseat Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins in November’s midterm elections, has emerged as one of the sharpest critics of the Trump administration’s overnight raid in Caracas Saturday that resulted in the seizure of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The Maine Democrat has called on Americans to “stop” the Trump administration from using additional force against Venezuela and argued the overnight raid was a “failure” despite no American casualties during the military operation.

“The government of the United States has illegally invaded a foreign country and kidnapped its leader,” Platner said in a statement accompanying a two-minute video that has racked up half a million views on X. “We need to all turn out in opposition to this egregious failure of our government, and stop it.”

Platner’s video omitted that Maduro is a brutal dictator who persecuted his opponents and made Venezuela into a safe haven for trafficking drugs throughout Latin America and into the United States. Federal prosecutors allege Maduro oversaw the shipment of “thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States.”

The Maine Democrat’s social media commentary also neglected any mention of the U.S. military personnel who carried out the operation. He also did not speak about the approximately eight million Venezuelans who have fled Maduro’s brutal regime. Crowds of Venezuelan nationals in the United States and Latin American countries celebrated Maduro’s removal from power Saturday.

During a protest rally in downtown Portland, Maine, Saturday afternoon, Platner seethed about the U.S. military’s seizure of Maduro.

“The illegal attack on Venezuela is not foreign policy. It’s gangsterism on an international scale,” Graham’s campaign wrote on the social media platform TikTok.

“We must not be fooled by the childish lies being used to justify this illegal aggression,” Platner added in his speech.

The illegal attack on Venezuela is not foreign policy; it’s gangsterism on an international scale. pic.twitter.com/nEGS1W7LDv

— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) January 4, 2026

Platner previously sparked controversy after unearthed social media posts revealed that he had previously described himself as a “communist” and implied that violence is necessary to bring about political change. The Maine Democrat also removed his chest tattoo that appeared to resemble a Nazi symbol after a torrent of media scrutiny.

The oyster farmer, who served in the Army and Marine Corps with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, also posted messages denigrating the military and law enforcement.

The Maine Democrat slammed Collins for voting against a resolution in November that would have required the Trump administration to seek congressional approval to strike Venezuela.

“From Iraq to Venezuela, you can count on Susan Collins to enable illegal foreign wars,” Platner wrote on X Saturday.

The Trump administration has insisted that Maduro’s capture was simply a law enforcement action and not the start of a war between the United States and Venezuela.

Collins slammed Maduro as an “international criminal” in a post on X Saturday, though she argued Congress should have been informed about the operation prior to its execution.

“Nicolas Maduro is a narco-terrorist and international drug trafficker who has been indicted twice in U.S. courts and who should stand trial in this country,” Collins wrote on X.

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