Peter Hasson writes for the Washington Free Beacon about disappointing political choices from a major American company.
Home rental giant Airbnb is silent after its chief legal officer, former Biden White House chief of staff Ron Klain, described criticism of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s Nazi tattoo as a “partisan attack” and argued that the ink was simply an attempt to remember “fallen comrades.”
One of the most senior members of the Democratic Party, Klain joined Airbnb in January 2024, less than a year after he left the Biden White House. He has quietly advised left-wing Democrats while working for the company, helping socialist New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani with debate prep and doing the same for Platner “in anticipation of a debate with Maine Gov. Janet Mills that never happened,” Politico reported. He is also advising Platner surrogate and aspiring 2028 presidential candidate Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.).
Klain climbed into the comments of an Instagram post from the Republican Jewish Coalition on Wednesday calling on Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) to withdraw support for Platner to call criticism of Platner’s Nazi tattoo a “partisan attack.”
“The tattoo was a skull and crossbones to remember his fallen commrades [sic] from his service in Afghanistan,” Klain wrote.
Notably, Platner himself has never offered that explanation for the tattoo, and he was serving in Iraq, not Afghanistan, when he got the tattoo while on leave from the Marine Corps in Croatia. He had not yet served in Afghanistan.
Two of Platner’s ex-girlfriends have said he acknowledged the skull-and-crossbones tattoo was a “Totenkopf,” or “Death’s Head” symbol worn by Nazi SS officers, though Platner has said he did not know of the tattoo’s meaning until after he launched his Senate campaign.
Airbnb, which has not made any public statement about Klain’s remark, did not respond to a request for comment.
The company’s silence over Klain’s defense of Platner may draw accusations of hypocrisy since it was outspoken about the political activity of its founder’s work with the Trump administration.
