The real news of Politico’s breaking story on Tuesday was not just that a handful of Young Republican leaders across the country consistently used racist language about people who are Black, Jewish and Gay over seven months on a group chat, but that such a radical, white supremist mindset is so much a part of the Republican culture that it has significantly changed the party in many parts of the country.

Vermont’s Gov. Phil Scott, however, was quick to condemn the chats as hate speech and immediately called on Sen. Sam Douglass, R-Orleans, to resign. 

“The hateful statements made in this group chat are disgusting and unacceptable,” Scott said in a statement issued Tuesday. “The vile, racist, bigoted and antisemitic dialogue that has been reported is deeply disturbing. There is simply no excuse for it. Those involved should resign from their roles immediately and leave the Republican party — including Vermont State Senator Sam Douglass.”

Kudos to Gov. Scott for taking such quick and decision action, and to Senate Minority Leader Scott Beck, R-Calendonia, and House Minority Leader Pattie McCoy, R-Poutney, who also joined Scott in calling for Douglass to resign, as did Democratic leaders in Vermont. They understand the significance of such language over such a long period of time.

The messages at issue were part of dialogue between a half dozen state leaders and others connected with the Young Republican National Federation, a 15,000-member political training ground for Republicans between 18 and 40 years old. The trove of messages, covering 2,900 pages of chats, over a seven-month period between early January and mid-August, found frequent use of racial slurs describing Black Americans, Jews and Gays, as well as causal references to violent acts. Here’s a sample of one chat exchange: 

“Everyone who votes no is going to the gas chamber…. We only want true believers.”

“Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic.”

“I’m ready to watch people burn now.”

“We gotta pretend that we like them. ‘Hey, come on in. Take a nice shower and relax.’ Boom. They’re dead.” 

Those were texts with emoji reactions by Peter Giunta, Bobby Walker, Anne KayKaty, Joe Maligno, Rachel Hope and Alex Dwyer. In other comments, rape was referred to as “epic,” Black Americans were called “watermelon people” and as “monkey” playing ball. Of the group involved in the texts, more than half a dozen participants represented Young Republican leaders from Vermont, New York, Kansas and Arizona. The chats chronicle their campaign to seize control of the national Young Republican organization “on a hardline pro-Donald Trump platform,” according to the Politico report.

“Together,” Politico’s report continued, “the messages reveal a culture where racist, antisemitic and violent rhetoric circulate freely — and where the Trump-era loosening of political norms has made such talk feel less taboo among those positioning themselves as the party’s next leaders.”

While GOP leaders in New York and Vermont swiftly condemned the texts, leadership in the Trump administration is trying to diminish its vileness by suggesting that young Republicans in the 20s and 30s do “stupid things.” That was the comment from Vice-President JD Vance, who is no stranger to suggesting vile and violent actions against those opposing Trump’s mandates or daring to exercise their right to free speech.  

Indeed, you had to be living on another planet not to see how Trump, Vance, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem and others in the Trump administration have set the stage for such hateful speech, and the sin of “othering” anyone who doesn’t accept their myopic vision of America as a white supremacist, Christian nation — a team, by the way, that’s also driving up the cost of groceries and electricity.

In Vermont, Sen. Douglass will hopefully do the right thing and resign. 

Nationally, voters must stop excusing Trump’s racist and violent comments as a quirk of his personality and recognize how dangerous and anti-America his speech is.

Angelo Lynn