Reports of violent, racist, homophobic, antisemitic, and misogynistic comments in Young Republican group chats have led to calls for resignations, and at least one state chapter has shut down. But the intraparty pressure is coming from local and state GOP leaders, not from the top: President Trump has not said anything, and Vice President JD Vance was dismissive of the offensive nature of the posts, likening the comments to "anything said in a college group chat"—though the comments were made by local party officials, not college students, the New York Times reports.
A sampling of the cruelty-packed messages written by Young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont was published Tuesday by Politico. In them, the leaders referred to Black people as monkeys, praised Hitler, joked about putting political opponents in gas chambers, and celebrated rape. In one chat, "retarded" appeared more than 250 times, per the Guardian. The Young Republican National Federation has urged participants to resign, and a few of them have lost their jobs. Peter Giunta was fired as an aide to a New York assemblyman; in addition to his love of Hitler, he'd posted: "If your pilot is a she and she looks ten shades darker than someone from Sicily, just end it there. Scream the no no word."
Democratic leaders said the GOP outrage rings hollow. "Some bad apples? These are the future of the Republican Party," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a press conference, calling the posts "vile." US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Republican Reps. Mike Lawler, who joined the call for resignations, and Elise Stefanik have been "palling around with these racist, antisemitic and bigoted 'Young Republicans' for years." Republicans, including Vance, pointed to a Virginia Democrat's violent texts.
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The Kansas Young Republicans, whose chair and vice chair were in the chat groups, was deactivated on Tuesday. "Their comments do not reflect the beliefs of Republicans and certainly not of Kansas Republicans at large, who elected a Black chair a few months ago,"" said Danedri Herbert, chair of the state GOP, per the Kansas City Star. State Sen. Cindy Holscher, a Democratic candidate for governor, dismissed the just-kids defense and said a close look is needed at why participants felt free to write such hateful messages casually. "These aren't kids joking around," Holscher said. "These are 20- and 30-something adults with leadership roles in the Republican Party."
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