I don’t live in Maine anymore, but his handling of this, and clear stance on other issues important to me, have actually strengthened my willingness to vote for him was I still in the state.

I actually believe him when he says he got it while drunk on a night off with the marines, supposedly not knowing the meaning at the time. He then went on to say he immediately scheduled to cover it because getting it removed would have taken too much time to figure out because Maine doesn’t have any places that do it. Like he wanted that shit no longer visible on his body asap and went out of his way to get it done sooner than later.

Similarly with LGBTQ+ rights. Yeah he said some edgy shit on the Internet a long time ago, but he’s said he’s changed and now aggressively supports queer rights in Maine. Idk, maybe he’ll pull a Fetterman, but I don’t get that vibe.

Even if he is still in the process of fully deconstructing things, he is clearly taking the correct actions in the here and now to further that process.

I grew up with people like him and almost without fail, when I actually sat down and had real conversations with them as adults, they’ve been positive and minds have been changed in all directions.

Blue collar Mainers are some of the first people to hate billionaires, and fiercely support small government, personal freedoms and privacy. This honestly means supporting queer rights in so far as they want the freedom to be themselves too. They have been systematically lied to by a party that doesn’t actually want small government or personal liberties, and many of them have realized that.

We need to be able to welcome these people willing to be educated, and genuinely capable of changing their thinking and their ways. These people are closeted radical leftists. We will need them on board.

He seems to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.