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Molly Butler / Media Matters

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Right-wing media downplay racist Republican group chat as just “jokes” by “kids” they've “never heard of”

Some also attacked conservatives who criticized the chat, calling it a “bitch move” by “supplicants”

Written by Pete Tsipis & Casey Wexler

Published

Various right-wing media figures dismissed Politico’s reporting that leaders of Young Republican groups around the country used variations of the N-word, made jokes about gassing political opponents, and described rape as “epic” in a group Telegram chat. Right-wing figures claimed people were overreacting to edgy jokes made by young people (even though the participants reportedly ranged in age from 24-35), dismissed the chat as full of nobodies, and attacked conservatives who criticized the comments. 

  • Politico reported on a racist Telegram chat involving state-level Young Republican leaders, leading to fallout from prominent Republicans.

    • Politico reported on months' worth of Telegram chats between state Young Republican leaders around the country that “reveal a culture where racist, antisemitic and violent rhetoric circulate freely.” According to Politico, “They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.” At least one member of the chat lost his job while another lost a job offer. One of the chatters, Peter Giunta, former chair of the New York State Young Republicans, was quoted as writing “I love Hitler.” He claimed that the leak of the chat is part of “a highly-coordinated year-long character assassination” by Gavin Wax, who leads the city-based New York Young Republicans Club that is at odds with the New York state organization. [Politico, 10/14/25]
    • While Vice President JD Vance has downplayed the severity, other Republican officials have disavowed the messages. Vance said people should not “focus on what kids say in group chats” and suggested that the leaker is a “scumbag.” (Despite Vance's dismissal of the participants as “kids,” Mother Jones reported that the chat participants “appear to range from 24 to 35.”) Other Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Gov. Phil Scott (R-VT), and numerous Young Republican state chapters have denounced the text messages. [Rolling Stone, 10/15/25; Mother Jones, 10/15/25; Politico, 10/14/25; ABC News, 10/15/25; The Hill, 10/16/25]
    • Many of the people involved in the chat are established in the GOP. William Hendrix, who was one of the youngest in the group chat at 24, is vice chair of the Kansas Young Republicans. Joe Maligno, who Mother Jones said “public records suggest is 35,” previously identified himself as general counsel for the New York State Young Republicans group. Alex Dwyer, 29, is chair of the Kansas Young Republicans. Giunta, 31, the former chair of the New York State Young Republicans, was photographed with Trump at a campaign rally in 2024. Samuel Douglass, 27, is a Vermont state senator. [Mother Jones, 10/15/25; HuffPost, 10/16/25]

  • Right-wing media figures excused the chats as just jokes by young people

    • White nationalist Nick Fuentes downplayed the chats, saying, “This is just how young kids talk, OK? It is jokes. … This is the language of Generation Z.” He noted, “If these guys are not joking and they’re unironic, you know, they want to kill everybody, then obviously I don’t support that,” but said he didn’t think that was the case. He also noted, “These guys were doing a great thing. These guys are — they’re not woke — they’re base — and they’re doing what they’re supposed to be. They’re rising up in the party leadership. They’re rising up in the government. The mistake that they made is that they were sloppy.” [Rumble, America First, 10/14/25]
    • Fuentes further lamented that the “kids” in the group chats “had their lives destroyed because they made jokes in the company of people they thought they could trust.” Fuentes later added, “You could argue these guys were being careless,” but he blamed Gavin Wax for leaking them, saying he “fed them into a wood chipper” and arguing that “now this guy needs to have his life ruined.” [Rumble, America First, 10/15/25]
    • Podcaster Tucker Carlson described the chat messages as “young men texts” that were “edgy” and said the people involved were “kind of showing off to each other.” Carlson stated, “So these are Young Republicans from across the country texting each other. They are young men. And you might think at first glance that these are kind of young men texts. These are mildly or, in some cases, more than mildly edgy, and they're kind of showing off to each other. So how bad is this? Well, you probably wouldn't say it at Thanksgiving dinner, but is it a death penalty offense?” [YouTube, The Tucker Carlson Show, 10/15/25]
    • Daily Wire host Matt Walsh said that the leaked messages are “not a story” and that conservatives who disagree with him are a “liability” and should “step aside” for other leaders, “even someone who might make the occasional off-color joke.” According to Walsh, “If we’re going to become fractured over some jokes in a group chat and over the next thing that the left throws at us … then we simply, we’re not going to make it.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 10/15/25]
    • Walsh also said the messages are “being taken wildly out of context” and that at least one message was “clearly … sarcastic.” Walsh posted, “If you actually read that Politico hit piece you’ll see that many of the messages are being taken wildly out of context. For example, the guy who said ‘I love Hitler’ was clearly being sarcastic. It’s explicitly meant to be a sarcastic joke.” [Twitter/X, 10/15/25]
    • Rumble host Vince Coglianese, also of The Daily Caller, described the comment “I love Hitler” as “some sort of dark, insane joke” and said the chat is “people who are just edge-lording each other.” He also noted that there’s “flatly racist, bigoted garbage in there” but added, “I’m wondering what the hell does this have to do with anything.” [Rumble, VINCE, 10/15/25]
    • MAGA media influencer Mike Cernovich posted, “If you're a young man of ambition, you don't get to ‘joke around’ in group texts. You will be sold out by the envious if your star rises. Having fun must be set aside as a childish diversion.” [Twitter/X, 10/16/25]

  • Some right-wing media figures dismissed the people in the chat as “no-name” “losers” they'd never heard of before

    • SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly dismissed the Politico report as centered on “losers none of you has ever heard from before.” Kelly claimed, “The left is making a big deal out of this story that some no-name so-called Young Republicans — literally who none of us has ever heard of — were on some derelict text chain using racial slurs and bad-face jokes about, I’ll be Hitler if it’s going to get me more right-wing votes. Whatever.“ [SiriusXM, The Megyn Kelly Show, 10/15/25]
    • Newsmax host Greg Kelly said of the chat participants, “I don't even know them. I never heard of them.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 10/15/25]
    • Podcast host Tim Pool posted, “I literally do not care what a bunch of magger college kids said in a group chat.” [Twitter/X, 10/14/25]
    • Vince Coglianese downplayed the leaked chats by saying, “I have no idea who these people are.” Cogilanese stated, “I've been in and around conservative politics, on conservative media for a long time. I have no idea who any of these people are.” [Rumble, VINCE, 10/15/25]

  • Right-wing media figures attacked conservatives who denounced the group chat

    • Matt Walsh attacked conservatives for denouncing the Young Republicans at the center of the leaked chats, calling it “a bitch move.” He posted, “If you're a conservative and you have a problem with someone on the Right, you can reach out to them privately and express your concerns. Performatively attacking and denouncing your own people in public is a bitch move.” [Twitter/X, 10/14/25]
    • War Room host and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon criticized Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and “establishment Republicans” on Tucker Carlson’s podcast for denouncing the leaked chats. Bannon said, “They'll always fold. Establishment Republicans will always fold, as you know this better than anybody. In any fight, they're going to fold, and they're going to try to be supplicants to the media.” [YouTube, The Tucker Carlson Show, 10/15/25]
    • Gateway Pundit writer Cassandra MacDonald said anyone disavowing the Republicans involved in the leaked chats is “a weak loser,” adding, “Don't apologize or disavow shit.” [Twitter/X, 10/14/25]