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Vice president JD Vance has been slammed for defending shocking, racist, misogynistic messages that emerged from a leaked Young Republicans group chat as kids being kids – but there’s one major problem.
Messages from within the Young Republicans group chat were leaked to Politico and reveal how members in the group expressed their adoration of Adolf Hitler, described black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and joked about raping their enemies and putting political opponents in gas chambers.
The publication obtained 2,900 pages of messages from the group chat over a period of seven months. The group included Young Republican leaders from New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont.
Defending the group chat on The Charlie Kirk Show, Vance suggested: “By focusing on what kids are saying in a group chat, grow up, I’m sorry. Focus on the real issues, don’t focus on what kids say in group chats.”
Vance, 41, continued his defence, saying: “The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys – they tell edgy, offensive jokes. That's what kids do.”
But, it didn’t take people very long to point out the many vocal members in the group chat are not “kids”, but in fact, full-grown adults.
“My precious little 31 year old boys were just joshing around when they said ‘I love Hitler.’ My baby children. They’re so little,” one person mocked in reaction to Vance’s comments.
“‘Kids’”, another shared alongside images of some of those involved in the chat.
Someone else claimed: “The ring leaders of the conversation are two years younger than Vance.”
Mehdi Hasan summarised: “1. These were not ‘kids’ or ‘teenagers’, these were GOP political operatives & lawmakers in their 30s.
“2. If young people shouldn’t be punished for social posts, why did his administration just announce six students’ visas rescinded for anti-Kirk posts?
“Oh the gaslighting!”
Journalist Sam Stein said: “I think it's important to note that [Vance’s] definition of kids might be different than anyone else’s. These were not college kids. These were people who were in the GOP operative class.
“One of them is a state legislator, the others were running for elected party office and staffing elected officials so I don’t think we should qualify them as kids.”
California governor Gavin Newsom hit out at Vance for not condemning the remarks, writing: “Vice President @JDVance has yet to denounce the explicit praise for Hitler, calls to send political opponents ‘to the gas chamber,’ racist slurs, and endorsements of sexual violence.”
It seems even some of those within the group chat itself were aware their comments were abhorrent.
According to Politico, Bobby Walker, who was the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans during the time of his participation, wrote in the group: “If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr fr.”
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