‘I love Hitler’ – Young Republicans under fire for antisemitism, racism-laced chats

Rep. Elise Stefanik blasts racist, antisemitic rhetoric revealed in leaked group chats from leaders of the Young Republicans organization.

By World Israel News Staff

A group of young Republican activists are under fire after leaked records from private online chats revealed a litany of racist, antisemitic, and misogynistic comments.

On Tuesday, Politico published a report that drew upon over 28,000 messages made by members of the Young Republican National Federation in a private Telegram group chat from January to August of this year.

The group chat features roughly a dozen pro-Trump activists who use the group to discuss their efforts to take control over the YRNF and impose a hardline platform, pushing the conservative group in a populist, right-wing direction.

Politico found a litany of hateful comments targeting Jews, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, homosexuals, women, and even rural whites.

Brianna Douglass, a national committee member of Vermont’s YRNF delegation, wrote she was mistaken to be “expecting the Jew to be honest” after her husband – Vermont State Senator Samuel Douglass, also a member of the group chat – said a Jewish delegate made a procedural error at the YRNF national convention.

Peter Giunta, who at the time served as chief of staff for New York State Assembly member Mike Reilly, called a Young Republican National Federation delegate from Maryland a “fat, stinky Jew.”

In the same comment, Giunta called the entire Arkansas delegation “inbred cow f**kers, and Rhode Island’s delegation “traitorous c*nts who I will eradicate from the face of this planet.”

Giunta called African Americans “the watermelon people” and monkeys, while others referred to 19th-century Chinese laborers as “chinks” and to Hispanics with the terms “beaner” and “spic.”

In another discussion, Giunta proclaimed his affection for Hitler.

“Great. I love Hitler,” Giunta wrote, after YRNF’s Michigan delegation vowed to vote for the “most right-wing person.”

Other group members also made light of the Holocaust.

“Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic,” wrote Joe Maligno, who in the past identified himself as general counsel for the YRNF’s New York branch.

White supremacist themes and humor were also found in the group chat.

One person wrote, “GUESS WHAT ROOM WE’RE IN,” prompting Alex Dwyer, the chair of the YNRF’s Kansas branch, to respond with “1488.”

The number 1488 is used in reference to the “Fourteen Words” – a pair of 14-word-long white supremacist declarations – and the “88 Precepts,” a neo-Nazi manifesto whose title alludes to the phrase “Heil Hitler,” with each “8” representing an “H,” the eighth letter of the alphabet.

Shortly after the report was published, multiple members of the group chat were either fired or forced to resign from their jobs.

New York State Assemblymember Mike Reilly announced Tuesday that Giunta was no longer employed by his office, while Joseph Maligno was fired by the New York State Unified Court System.

Others, including Sam Douglass, are under pressure to resign.

AntisemitismElise StefanikRacismRepublicans