“I Love Hitler”: Young Republican Leaders’ Private Chat Filled With Racist Remarks, Report Says
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Leaked Telegram messages have exposed racist, antisemitic, and violent comments from leaders of Young Republican groups in several states.
The 2,900 pages of chats, obtained by Politico, show the Republicans praising Adolf Hitler, supporting slavery, using derogatory terms, and joking about rape.
The group chat, called “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM,” included Republican activists between 18 and 40 years old from New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont.
Highlights
- 2,900 pages of leaked Young Republican chats reveal racist, antisemitic, and violent comments, including praise for Hitler and jokes about rape.
- Key leaders like NY chair Peter Giunta and Kansas chair Alex Dwyer participated, using racist slurs and white supremacist codes.
- Following the leak, many members lost jobs or offers; some apologized, while Republican leaders condemned the behavior.
Leaked Telegram messages of Young Republicans revealed disturbing comments, Politico reported
Image credits: Politico
The leaked messages include racial slurs used more than 250 times, jokes about gas chambers, and many even referring to Black people as “monkeys” and “the watermelon people.”
They discussed raping their opponents and driving them to suicide.
Peter Giunta, then chair of the New York State Young Republicans, played a major role in the chat.
In June, ahead of a leadership vote, he wrote, “Everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.”
Peter Giunta (pictured below) made gas chamber remarks
Image credits: Silive.com
He added, “I’m going to create some of the greatest physiological torture methods known to man. We only want true believers.”
“Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic,” Joe Maligno, previously the general counsel for the New York State Young Republicans, wrote in one message.
Others joined in. Annie Kaykaty, a New York national committee member, said she was “ready to watch people burn.” At one point, Giunta said, “Great. I love Hitler,” during a discussion about right-wing support.
One member of the group chat wrote, ‘I love Hitler’
Image credits: Politico
The chat also included leaders from Kansas. Alex Dwyer, the state chair, and William Hendrix, the vice chair, both took part. Hendrix repeatedly used the N-word and made racist jokes about Black people.
He was fired from his job as communications assistant for the Kansas Attorney General’s office shortly before the Politico report was published.
In one exchange, Dwyer used 1488, a known white supremacist code, as a hotel room joke. The number combines 14, referring to a white nationalist slogan, and 88, shorthand for “Heil Hitler.”
Image credits: Politico
Participants also mocked LGBTQ+ people, women, Jews, and Asians. Bobby Walker, then vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans, referred to rape as “epic.”
In one conversation, Walker spoke about how a mutual friend of someone in the chat “dated this very obese Indian woman for a period of time.” Giunta responded, saying the woman “was not Indian.”
“She just didn’t bathe often,” Samuel Douglass, a state senator from northern Vermont, said in response.
Samuel Douglass (pictured below) made a derogatory comment about Indian people
Image credits: GMomurder/X
In another instance, Giunta wrote, “If your pilot is a she and she looks ten shades darker than someone from Sicily, just end it there. Scream the no no word.”
The group also discussed a strategy for taking over the Young Republican National Federation, a 15,000-member organization.
They positioned themselves as supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump. Giunta even bragged about contacting the White House to seek Trump’s endorsement. While the White House considered it, it ultimately decided to remain neutral.
When Politico contacted them for a comment, some members apologized. Many have since been suspended from their jobs or lost job offers.
William Hendrix (pictured below) repeatedly used the N-word and made offensive comments about Black people
Image credits: GMomurder/X
Giunta called the language “insensitive and inexcusable” but claimed parts of the chat might have been altered. He also claimed the release of the chats is part of “a highly-coordinated year-long character assassination led by Gavin Wax and the New York City Young Republican Club.”
Walker also apologized, saying the messages were “wrong and hurtful.”
Bobby Walker (pictured below) referred to rape as ‘epic’
Image credits: New York State Young Republicans
The Kansas state party deactivated the Kansas Young Republicans organization after the revelations.
Republican leaders have since condemned the messages. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York and state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt denounced the chats.
Michael Austin, head of the Kansas Black Republican Council, called the behavior “a betrayal of the very principles upon which our party was founded.”
“Let there be no confusion. These few individuals do not represent Kansas, nor do they reflect the values of Kansas Republicans,” he said.
Alex Dwyer (left) used 1488, a known white supremacist code phrase, as a joke
Image credits: Kansas Reflector
Joe Feagin, a sociology professor at Texas A&M University, told Politico, “The more the political atmosphere is open and liberating—like it has been with the emergence of Trump and a more right wing GOP even before him—it opens up young people and older people to telling racist jokes, making racist commentaries in private and public.”
Many of those involved have been fired from their jobs
Johnson County Democrat Sen. Cindy Holscher told local news outlet Kansas Reflector that she was disgusted by the messages, saying this kind of language was encouraged by politicians who seek to divide voters.
“Let’s be clear: These aren’t kids joking around,” Holscher said. “These are 20- and 30-something adults with leadership roles in the Republican Party. The chair of the Kansas Young Republicans, who participated in these messages, is nearly 30 years old.”
Image credits: Young Republican National Federation
Giunta ultimately lost his bid to chair the national organization by six points. The Politico report revealed that the same group also joked about misusing party funds, spending them on a massage or a trip to Italy.
They also discussed what would happen if their chat leaked. Walker summed it up in one message: “If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr fr [for real].”