ANDREW STILES: Exclusive: Graham Platner’s Crisis PR Handbook Hints at Trouble Still To Come.

Graham Platner is once again struggling to explain why he’s not a Nazi despite getting a Nazi tattoo and repeatedly associating with Nazis on the internet. Days after Platner accidentally promoted a post by an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist, Jewish Insider reported that the U.S. Senate candidate from Maine accidentally appeared on a YouTube program hosted by a different anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist and said he was a “longtime fan.”

On Monday, Semafor reporter Burgess Everett found a “defense guidance” packet at a campaign event, instructing volunteers on how to respond if asked about Platner’s demonstrated fondness for Nazi symbology and other anti-Semitic content. “He did not know the meaning at the time and covered it once he learned about it,” the packet provides as a sample answer to questions about his Totenkopf tattoo, the “death’s head” symbol adopted by Holocaust perpetrators. Promoting the anti-Semitic influencer was a whoopsie that the campaign corrected “once the issue was realized.” It could happen—and keep happening—to anyone.

The Washington Free Beacon pounced upon learning that Platner’s campaign had assembled a crisis communications playbook for downplaying the candidate’s recurring Nazi-adjacent scandals.

What follows from Stiles is satire – or is it? Speaking of which, perhaps Platner should deploy the Mel Brooks crisis PR handbook. The 1963 comedy album, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks at the Canne Film Festival kicked off thusly (audio available at the Wayback Machine):

CARL REINER: Ladies and gentlemen, we are at the Cannes [pronouncing it “Can”] Film Festival here in Lower Italy. And we are going to meet some of the producers, directors, and stars of the films that are being exhibited here for the annual competition.

First, I’d like you to meet the German representative from Nartsi? Narsi? Narzi? From the Narzi Film Company! Herr Adolf Hartler. Good afternoon, Herr Hartler.

MEL BROOKS: Heil Hartler! How are you?

REINER: Now, this is a strange name. It’s Narzi Films.

BROOKS: Yes, we… well, we… well…

REINER: That doesn’t have anything to do with Nazi, does it?

BROOKS: No, are you kidding? They are our worst enemies. We are against them. We always were! Are you kidding?

* * * * * * * *

REINER: Sir, sir, you’re wearing your bathing suit, I noticed.

BROOKS: Yes, yes.

REINER: And as you scratched your head, I noticed a little “SS” tattooed under your arm. What does that mean?

BROOKS: Oh, oh, oh, well, wait! That’s the Simon Says!  Umm, umm, Simon Says, We played that on the beach. I’m the captain of the Simon Says team! And that’s where we get SS from! I’m serious about the game, I love it, and so I had myself tattooed, “Simon Says!”

REINER: How did you feel about the motion picture, Stanley Kramer’s motion picture, Judgment at Nuremberg?

BROOKS Unfair!

REINER: Why did you consider it unfair?

BROOKS: Well, because he didn’t tell the whole truth. What was the picture about? Really about a misunderstanding, really, wasn’t it? I mean, look, you have, you send people to camp, don’t you, in the summer? We sent a few people to camp. I don’t know what the whole fuss is about! Sent some nice people to camp…mostly in the summer!

I’m pretty sure Brooks and Reiner thought they were recording a comedy album, not a how-to guide for campaigning for the Senate.