Politico obtained 2,900 pages of chats between a dozen leaders of Young Republicans groups, and the contents were disgusting. As the report explained, “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.”
Politico added that members of the group chat “spoke freely” about “the love of Nazis” within the GOP’s right wing, among other things.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered remarks on the chamber floor a day later, urging Republicans to condemn the leaked messages. Some GOP leaders did exactly that.
JD Vance apparently had a different idea.
On Tuesday night, just hours after the Politico report was first published, the vice president wrote via social media that this was merely “a college group chat,” adding that he refused to “join the pearl clutching.”
A day later, the Ohio Republican elaborated on his perspective while again downplaying the significance of the story. Vance said on a conservative podcast:
The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys. They tell edgy, offensive jokes. That’s what kids do. And I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke — telling a very offensive, stupid joke — is cause to ruin their lives.
While continuing to refer to the group chat’s participants as “kids,” the vice president added that, as far as he’s concerned, this isn’t a “real” issue.
So, a few things.
First, the idea that those responsible for racist, antisemitic and homophobic content, including comments about gas chambers, slavery and rape, were “young boys” and “kids” is factually wrong. The Republicans in question were adults. Some are in their 30s.
Consider this pertinent detail: One of the participants in the group chat is 35. When Vance launched his U.S. Senate campaign in Ohio, he was 36. If the vice president wants to argue that he was a “young boy” and a “kid” when he kicked off a bid for statewide office, fine. But I have a hunch that’s not how we would characterize himself at the time.
Second, if Vance believes comments about rape and gas chambers are “edgy,” he probably ought to reassess his cultural standards.
Third, we’re not just talking about a group of teens who fired off a dumb text on the quad between classes. Some of these Republican adults are currently working for elected officials, ostensibly serving the public. One, Samuel Douglass of Vermont, is even a sitting state senator.
Fourth, Vance might not see systemic Republican bigotry as a “real” issue, but that says more about the vice president than it does about those taking the controversy seriously.
Stepping back, it would’ve been incredibly easy for Vance to simply say, “Bigotry has no place in this party.” But for reasons he hasn’t explained, the vice president, almost exactly a year after peddling a racist conspiracy theory, refused this incredibly obvious course.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
