Insider told me the TRUTH about the racist text scandal: MARK HALPERIN reveals who in the White House may pay the price
They thought it was private. They thought no one would ever see it.
But the group chats of the Young Republican National Federation—once just a digital hangout for ambitious conservative twentysomethings—have exploded into one of the most embarrassing scandals to hit the American right in years.
Thousands of texts and memes have now leaked from the 15,000-member organization's private channels—messages laced with racist jokes, anti-Semitic slurs, and ugly boasts about women.
The screenshots, first revealed by Politico, show young men competing to be the crudest, the cruelest, and the most 'based.' What began as swaggering banter has turned into a political firestorm.
Some of the messages are too vile to print. Others are merely chilling. In one, a member jokes about 'erasing' political enemies' children. In another, a user swaps Nazi imagery. Others mock rape survivors and trade memes about slavery. The young men behind them weren't anonymous trolls. They were up-and-comers—campaign staffers, aides, and college activists who once saw themselves as the next generation of Republican leaders. Now, they're symbols of something else entirely: a toxic undercurrent in American politics that even party elders are struggling to explain away.
Local Republican chapters are severing ties or disbanding the group. But amid the outrage, one voice urged calm—Vice President JD Vance
Within hours of the leak, calls for expulsions and resignations poured in from across the political spectrum. Several employers have already suspended or fired the young men identified in the texts. Local Republican chapters are severing ties or disbanding the group. But amid the outrage, one voice urged calm—Vice President JD Vance.
Trump's second in command, the most influential, assertive, and self-confident Veep this side of Dick Cheney, has been building up his own distinctive brand: a curious hybrid of Yale egghead, Millennial Dad, MAGA paragon, Trump disciple, faithful Christian, and teen bully, with a little slice of as-yet-unspecified leadership chops, which he is holding in reserve for his inevitable, if TBD, presidential run
The former Hillbilly Elegy author, known for his pugnacious defense of ordinary guys under attack, mocked the uproar online as pearl-clutching. He likened the chat to a college dorm conversation gone wrong. That tone—half dismissive, half defiant—set off another wave of fury. Even some of Vance's usual allies were appalled. NewsNation commentator Batya Ungar-Sargon, normally a Vance sympathizer, called it 'disgusting' and 'bad politics.'
Among the loudest voices demanding accountability were not journalists or Democrats, but young Vance supporters themselves. 'Why not say clearly that this stuff doesn't fly?' asked Sam, a Black voter from Texas, speaking on 2WAY. 'We should take the soil that this kind of conversation can happen and salt it. JD Vance, who I really, really like, and really hope is the next president of the United States. …just to see the type of response that he gave. Why not be aggressive and say, 'This s*** should not fly in the Republican Party.'
The Young Republicans have long served as a feeder network for the conservative elite—a place where future campaign managers and press secretaries cut their teeth. Now, the leaks have turned that pipeline into a liability. Party elders fear the affair could stain efforts to portray the GOP as a broad, inclusive movement.
The Young Republicans have long served as a feeder network for the conservative elite—a place where future campaign managers and press secretaries cut their teeth
Still, loyalists insist the controversy will fade. 'We're not going to obsess over a few idiots in a group chat,' said a senior MAGA operative. 'No one's vote in 2028 will turn on this.' Maybe so. But the episode has exposed a deeper divide—between conservatives trying to modernize the party's image and those doubling down on online shock tactics.
For Vance, the affair is both a test and a warning. His brand—swaggering, brainy, unbothered—thrives on confrontation. He sticks with what he, and his boss, know best and know works best: show no weakness, give no quarter, and counterattack the other side into submission.
But with ambitions clearly stretching beyond the vice-presidency, his instinct to sneer rather than soothe could haunt him later.
Whether or not the scandal fades, the screenshots will live forever—digital graffiti from a generation that wanted to be taken seriously and instead became a cautionary tale. The self-styled 'Young Guns' of the right thought they were building a movement. Instead, they built a group chat that blew up their careers.
