Young Republican leaders are facing significant backlash following the release of 2,900 pages of leaked chats from a Telegram group chat, reported by Politico. These legitimate challenges have created a panicked discourse focused instead on the dangers of a racist and deeply offensive speech. Consequently, cries for accountability are sounding from inside the party and outside it, too.
We were stunned at the language and completed chats that leaked revealing the sentiments. William Hendrix, vice-chair of the Young Republicans, engaged in a sustained tirade of racial slurs. In these discussions, Hendrix repeatedly used the N-word, at least over 15 times during the discussions. That wasn’t all, other members of the group took to making terrifying comments. An opponent who was a Young Republican to suicide, and advocated for those in favor of slavery.
Bobby Walker, chair of the New York State Young Republicans, understood the leak’s potential to poison everything in this chat. Today, he’s worried about the law’s impacts. He continued, “If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr fr.” This incredibly prescient comment here is indicative of an understanding shared by many of the members of the group about the potential political fallout from their deliberations.
The conversations included egregiously offensive and violent comments celebrating historical atrocities. Ultimately, the scale of the mass rape of Indigenous peoples was so profound that one of our participants called it “epic.” Another one gushed with alarming antisemitic rhetoric, laughingly claiming, “I love Hitler.” These comments have been met with widespread condemnation and should raise alarm bells about a troubling trend going on in some circles of the party.
Members asked to each have the term “retarded” used in at least 251 more instances in their colloquies. This kind of behavior serves to mask the brutality that underlies their cavalier interactions. Critics and proponents of social justice are incensed by this kind of talk. They say it nevertheless points to a larger problem in political circles that must be tackled urgently.
The impact from these shocking disclosures has just started. William Hendrix on previously being appointed by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach. For this chat his presence was the immediate reason for this defeat. Joe Maligno, one of the New York participants, is no longer with the New York State Unified Court System. At the same time, Giunta has been fired from his job as chief of staff for New York assembly member Michael Reilly.
Beyond New York, this scandal has encouraged other Young Republican chapters to sever their ties. One chapter has had its operations suspended pending investigations into the behavior and comments of the chapter’s members.
Political leaders have stepped in with a sense of urgency to arrest these injustices. In response to that news, a spokesperson for Elise Stefanik fired off this incendiary statement. She called on whichever NY Young Republicans were behind these despicable comments in the chat to resign at once. Stefanik rebuked Politico’s story in no uncertain terms, saying it was an initial “hit piece.” She argued that the piece politically targeted her party amid a real and ongoing, corrosive political atmosphere.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul similarly added her two cents to the affair. In front of local media at a recent press conference, she criticized the xenophobic, sexist and racist comments revealed in those chats. Some bad apples? These are the future of the Republican party,” she continued. So disgusting that pecksniffian barely begins to capture it. These people are inside one of the two major political parties in the United States and they support gas chambers, rape and skin color-based discrimination.
There are troubling implications of these leaked chats. These actions undermine the integrity and respect for a public servant that citizens should expect from their political leaders. More information is coming to light on this growing scandal. This should initiate a much broader discussion around racism and white supremacist extremism within political entities.