Is It Cool to Say “I Love Hitler”? The Republican Party Is Trying to Decide.

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Thousands of pages of Telegram chats obtained by Politico^[2] laid bare what young Republican leaders talk about in private: They use racial slurs with abandon, they make vile jokes about rape and gas chambers, and they say they love Hitler.

In another time, the leaked messages from leaders of young Republican groups across the U.S. might have constituted a major bombshell or a scandal for the GOP, perhaps even ushered in a period of serious self-reflection. Instead, the response has highlighted the ongoing tussle between MAGA and the increasingly weak Republican establishment over the soul of the GOP and whether normalized racism, antisemitism, and violent speech have a place in it.

State Republicans in Kansas immediately deactivated their young republican organization after its chair and deputy chair were exposed by Politico as participants in the Telegram chat. The Young Republican National Federation, a 94-year-old organization catering to Republicans between the ages of 18 and 40, said it was “appalled by the vile and inexcusable language” and called for the resignation of the chat members. Many state chapters issued their own statements condemning the leaked chats. And some participants, such as the chief of staff for a New York State Assembly member, have since been fired.

But the response from MAGA influencers—including Vice President J.D. Vance—has so far followed a familiar script: peddling whataboutism, denying, downplaying, or shifting blame. Some even celebrated the chats: “Not only am I ok with what was said in the group chat, those messages have my full endorsement,” posted Alex Rosen, an internet personality who conducts “sting operations” against suspected pedophiles, to his 480,000 followers on X.

Vance shrugged off the chats, characterizing them as idle conversations by college students—despite Politico’s reporting^[3] that “many of the chat members already work inside government or party politics, and one serves as a state senator.” The vice president wrote that he refused to “join the pearl clutching” in response to the chats. “Far worse,” he said, was the text-messaging scandal involving Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones. In those messages, from 2022, Jones, a Democrat, fantasized about a scenario in which he’d kill then–Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert; he also mentioned his wish that Gilbert’s children would die and spur gun-safety legislation.

(The underlying tribalism seemingly preventing Vance and others from condemning the young Republicans in the Telegram chats is perhaps not exclusive to the GOP. Even after Jones’ texts came to light, Democrats have largely stuck by him^[4] in his bid for Virginia AG.)

Vance doubled down^[5] on his position in an appearance on the network Real America’s Voice on Wednesday afternoon. “Grow up! Focus on the real issues. Don’t focus on what kids say in group chat,” Vance said. “The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys—they tell edgy, offensive jokes. That’s what kids do.

“We live in a digital world,” he added. “We’re not canceling kids because they do something stupid in a group chat.”

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh struck a similar note, referencing the Virginia Democrats’ tepid or nonexistent^[6] response to the Jones text-messaging scandal and falsely describing the participants in the Telegram chats as college students. “Meanwhile, a few college kids make edgy jokes in a group chat and conservatives are tripping over themselves to denounce and disavow and call for firings and resignations,” said Walsh. “Absolutely pathetic.” Other conservative media types tried to suggest that left-wing group chats following the assassination of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk would have been far uglier. “If it had them, do you think Politico would make graphics for a story about liberal group chat messages the day Charlie Kirk was assassinated?” wrote Brent Scher, the Daily Wire’s editor in chief, on X. “Hint: it does have them, because all the outlets are filled with young socialists and are in the group chats.”

Republican organizations that issued statements condemning the leaked chats were bombarded with angry messages calling them “RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only). When the Indiana chapter of the Young Republican National Federation wrote in a statement that it “unequivocally” denounced the chats, one MAGA activist responded: “Pearl clutching. Total cowards. You show everyone why the state run GOP’s are a clown show. All about the establishment.”

Meanwhile, College Republicans United, an organization affiliated with white supremacist livestreamer Nick Fuentes’ “groyper army,” pounced on the opportunity to recruit. “Your cowardly remarks do not reflect the base of the party,” the group wrote in response to Indiana’s Young Republican National Federation’s statement. “Any [Young Republican] member who is persecuted should consider reaching out to us. We are willing to help you.”

Many others online suggested that the content of the leaked messages—which included racist statements such as “I’d go to the zoo if I wanted to watch a monkey play ball” in response to a question about the NBA—was no different from that of their own chats.

“Lol they’re worried about these milquetoast chats?” wrote Proud Boy chairman Enrique Tarrio on X. “Wait till they see mine.”

Canadian “groyper” Tyler Russell expressed a similar sentiment on his livestream. “There are thousands of group chats like this where gen z people talk like that,” he said. “This is how we talk. We shit post … it’s just locker room talk—get over it.” Conservative journalist and activist Cassandra MacDonald wrote on X, “I just reviewed my group chats and can confirm i will be burned at the stake if we dont start making an example of leaking traitors.”

Many on the far right have been concerned less about the contents of the chats and more about how they came to be made public.

Peter Giunta, who was fired as New York State Assembly member Michael Reilly’s chief of staff for his active involvement in the chat (using racial slurs and making statements like “I love Hitler”), suggested to Politico that Gavin Wax, president of the New York City Young Republican Club, was behind the leak. Wax, who previously oversaw a Facebook chat^[12] that was rife with white nationalists and racial slurs, did not respond to Slate’s request for comment. But many on the far right had settled on a theory: Wax was feuding with members of the chat and ultimately blackmailed one of them into handing over access.

“Literally everybody talks like this,” Russell said on his livestream. “Unfortunately, it can be weaponized if you have someone like Gavin Wax, who has political clout and wants to throw it around and dunk on his enemies.”

And Fuentes—whose long-stated goal, via his “groyper army,” is to drag the Republican Party to a place where saying slurs and making antisemitic statements are acceptable—praised Vance for his response to the leaked Telegram chats. He noted that the vice president had once defended him when he was banned on X. “Now he’s defending these young Republicans, and I never thought I’d see it ever, but Republicans are finally learning to play the whataboutism game, and that’s overdue,” Fuentes said.

He also went after Wax, highlighting his Jewishness and calling him “a traitor to his generation, to young white men, to right-wingers, to free speech, all of it.” “I’m not a fan of the guy,” Fuentes said. “At the end of the day, the guy is Jewish.”

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