At least four members of a Young Republicans group chat in which members fantasized about violence against their enemies, celebrated Hitler and repeatedly used racist slurs have quit their jobs as others face calls to resign after Politico made the texts public.
Key data
Peter Giunta’s time as chief of staff to New York Republican Assemblyman Mike Reilly “is over,” Reilly told Politico, and Joseph Maligno no longer works in New York’s Unified Judicial System, the outlet reported.
Two other members’ employment statuses changed after Politico began asking questions about the chat ahead of Tuesday’s article: William Hendrix is “no longer employed” in Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office, and Bobby Walker will not move forward with plans to work on New York congressional candidate Peter Oberacker’s campaign, according to Politico.
The four were among participants in a Telegram chat between January and mid-August between a dozen Republicans campaigning for control of the national Young Republican organization.
In the chat, Giunta, then president of the New York State Young Republicans, suggested that anyone who voted against him becoming president of the National Federation of Young Republicans “goes to the gas chamber,” compared watching an NBA game to watching “playing ball,” referred to black people as “the watermelon people,” expressed support for slavery, and wrote: “I love Hitler,” Politico reported.
Maligno, who previously identified himself as general counsel of the New York State Young Republicans, reportedly responded to Giunta’s gas chamber suggestion by writing, “Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit Hitler’s aesthetic.”
Hendrix, vice president of the Kansas Young Republicans, allegedly used the terms “n-ga” and “n-guh” more than a dozen times, and Walker, vice president of the New York State Young Republicans at the time, referred to the rape as “epic” and used the term “f—t,” among other troubling messages.
chief critic
The National Federation of Young Republicans said it was “horrified by the vile and inexcusable language revealed in the Politico article” in a statement that said “those involved should immediately resign from all positions within their state and local Young Republican organizations.”
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Tangent
Giunta apologized for the messages in a statement to Politico, but claimed they were “obtained by extortion” and questioned whether they were “deceptively manipulated.” Walker said he believes some of the chat “may have been altered, taken out of context or otherwise manipulated, but he also apologized. Maligno and Hendrix did not respond to Politico’s request for comment.
What to look out for
Vermont State Senator Sam Douglass also participated in the chat and has faced calls to resign, including from Vermont’s Republican Governor Phil Scott. Politico quoted Douglass using a racist epithet about Indians in the chat. He did not respond to Politico’s requests for comment.
Crucial ideals
Vice President JD Vance dismissed the messages as a “college group chat” in a post on
Key background
The National Federation of Young Republicans is a long-standing political organization made up of 15,000 members between the ages of 18 and 40. Politico obtained the Telegram records while investigating allegations of financial mismanagement by the New York chapter of the Young Republicans, which is more than $38,000 in debt, according to records cited by Politico. At least one person in the chat, Michael Bartels, works for the Trump administration as a senior adviser in the office of the general counsel of the US Small Business Administration, according to Politico, which reported that his participation in the chat was minimal.
This article was originally published in Forbes US
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