WHITE POWER!
Thom Hartmann
October 17, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Trump supporters raise MAGA hats in Butler, Pennsylvania. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Just this week, Politico exposed private Telegram chats among Young Republican leaders where they didn’t just flirt with Nazi-style extremism, they reveled in it.
In thousands of leaked messages from across the nation, rising GOP stars praised Adolf Hitler, joked about sending political rivals into gas chambers, and mocked the very idea of human dignity.
One message read, “Everyone who votes no is going to the gas chamber … Great, I love Hitler.”
Another sneered, “Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic.”
These weren’t anonymous trolls lurking on the margins of the internet. They included elected officers of Republican youth organizations, embedded in party structures, cultivating power now.
If this is how the next generation of GOP leaders talks when they think nobody is listening, then the “jokes” about gas chambers today are warnings about the police state tomorrow.
And if you think that’s alarmist, look around. Nearly 60,000 human beings are currently locked away in ICE detention centers across the United States. Seven out of 10 have never been convicted of a crime.
Many were here legally, waiting for hearings, their status still pending. But under Trump, they are rounded up by masked agents, hustled into vans, and shipped off to secretive detention centers where families and lawyers can lose track of them for weeks, months, or altogether.
This year, hundreds of Venezuelans were quietly disappeared from ICE custody into El Salvador’s massive CECOT prison, a facility known internationally for torture and incommunicado confinement. No charges. No courts. No transparency. That is the textbook definition of enforced disappearance.
And Americans, by and large, are looking away.
History has seen this before. In 1933, long before Hitler launched the extermination camps, the Nazis established hundreds of smaller detention camps scattered across Germany. They called it “protective custody.” It sounded bureaucratic, even benign.
But what it meant was the creation of a parallel system where anyone could be taken, indefinitely, outside the reach of the courts.
At first it was communists and social democrats, then Jews and “asocials,” and eventually anyone who got in the regime’s way. People disappeared into those camps, and good Germans told themselves it wasn’t their business, that “the state must have its reasons.”
By the time they realized what they had normalized, it was too late.
That is the exact pattern we see unfolding here today. Trump’s enforcers don’t call it Schutzhaft. They call it “civil detention.”
And ICE has a $45 billion budget to build hundreds of these “ detention centers” all across America. Do you really think they’re just gonna stop at Brown people?
They pretend tearing people from their lives without trial is just part of the immigration process.
They pretend spiriting away hundreds of desperate migrants to a foreign dictatorship’s prison is ordinary enforcement.
They pretend masked men grabbing people off American streets are “just following orders.”
But what this really is — and what we must call it without hesitation — is the birth of an unaccountable neofascist American secret police.
This isn’t about whether we want immigration laws enforced; there’s virtually no debate about that. It’s about whether the president can create an authorized, masked secret police force that answers to him rather than the law.
When police are anonymous, when courts are bypassed, when disappearances are tolerated, freedom itself is on the line.
If it can happen to a farmworker in Texas, it can happen to a protester in Portland, a journalist in New York, or a political opponent anywhere in America. It can happen to me, and it can happen to you.
History irrefutably shows us that unaccountable power always expands.
We like to tell ourselves “it can’t happen here.” But it already is. People are being taken without judicial warrants. Families are left without answers. Courts are being circumvented. Transfers and detentions happen in the dark.
Meanwhile, Americans are being trained to look the other way, just as the “good Germans” did. That is how democracy has died in a nation after nation, from Russia to Egypt to Turkey to Hungary, not with a single dramatic blow, but with the slow normalization of injustice until the unthinkable becomes everyday routine.
And this is why shrugging, shaking our heads, or tweeting our dismay is not enough. History demands more.
The people who stood by in 1930s Germany told themselves it was temporary, or they stayed quiet, or they made excuses. Their silence made tyranny possible.
We must not make the same mistake.
JD Vance brushed off the scandal, telling Americans to “grow up” about the leaked Hitler-loving group chat, calling it “kids doing stupid things.”
As Robert Hubble points out in his excellent Substack newsletter:
The leaders were in their twenties and thirties and held political jobs, including:
— Chief of Staff to New York State Assembly member Mike Reilly;
— Staffer for New York State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt
— Communications Assistant for Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach
— Employee at New York State Unified Court System
— Employee at Center for Arizona Policy
— Senior Adviser in the Office of General Counsel, U.S. Small Business Administration (in the Trump administration)
In short, these were not “kids,” nor were they “college students.” They were adults with responsible jobs.
To excuse that as youthful mischief isn’t just a simple lie, it’s an endorsement of literally early Hitler-style fascism. When elected officials defend calls for racially based mass slaughter as harmless immaturity, they tell the country that hate is acceptable, cruelty is normal, and history no longer matters.
Every act of unaccountable state violence must be called out. Every attempt to sideline the courts must be resisted. Every agency twisted into a political weapon must be exposed and reformed.
The Constitution does not protect itself. Democracy does not run on autopilot. Freedom only survives when citizens refuse to accept the unacceptable.
That means showing up at protests, speaking out at meetings, demanding accountability from lawmakers, and refusing to let media normalize secret police tactics in the United States of America.
There was a time in America when Republicans like my father were the ones warning of the dangers of America becoming an oppressive police state. We must reach out to our Republican elected officials and remind them that Ronald Reagan, John McCain, and Barry Goldwater would not tolerate this sort of thing.
America is at a turning point. We can let this slide and hope the system rights itself. Or we can recognize that once the precedent of unaccountable detention and disappearance is accepted, it will never stop at immigrants or refugees. It will spread, as it always does, to silence dissent and crush opposition.
Already Trump is publicly going through a new list of people he wants to prosecute. Even Victor Orban hasn’t gone that far; this is pure Putin stuff.
The masked men who today drag away the undocumented will tomorrow drag away the protester, the critic, the rival. That’s how it worked then. That’s how it works now in Russia, the country is Trump is praising and using it as his model.
So I’m asking you, as forcefully as I know how: stand up. Speak out. Call your elected officials, both federal, state, and local, particularly the Republicans.
Show up this Saturday for No Kings Day and every day after that. Refuse to live in a country where the president commands his own secret police. Refuse to look away when your government disappears human beings into the shadows. Refuse to be a “good German.”
This is still our republic, but only if we defend it. That time is now.
Trump supporters raise MAGA hats in Butler, Pennsylvania. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Just this week, Politico exposed private Telegram chats among Young Republican leaders where they didn’t just flirt with Nazi-style extremism, they reveled in it.
In thousands of leaked messages from across the nation, rising GOP stars praised Adolf Hitler, joked about sending political rivals into gas chambers, and mocked the very idea of human dignity.
One message read, “Everyone who votes no is going to the gas chamber … Great, I love Hitler.”
Another sneered, “Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic.”
These weren’t anonymous trolls lurking on the margins of the internet. They included elected officers of Republican youth organizations, embedded in party structures, cultivating power now.
If this is how the next generation of GOP leaders talks when they think nobody is listening, then the “jokes” about gas chambers today are warnings about the police state tomorrow.
And if you think that’s alarmist, look around. Nearly 60,000 human beings are currently locked away in ICE detention centers across the United States. Seven out of 10 have never been convicted of a crime.
Many were here legally, waiting for hearings, their status still pending. But under Trump, they are rounded up by masked agents, hustled into vans, and shipped off to secretive detention centers where families and lawyers can lose track of them for weeks, months, or altogether.
This year, hundreds of Venezuelans were quietly disappeared from ICE custody into El Salvador’s massive CECOT prison, a facility known internationally for torture and incommunicado confinement. No charges. No courts. No transparency. That is the textbook definition of enforced disappearance.
And Americans, by and large, are looking away.
History has seen this before. In 1933, long before Hitler launched the extermination camps, the Nazis established hundreds of smaller detention camps scattered across Germany. They called it “protective custody.” It sounded bureaucratic, even benign.
But what it meant was the creation of a parallel system where anyone could be taken, indefinitely, outside the reach of the courts.
At first it was communists and social democrats, then Jews and “asocials,” and eventually anyone who got in the regime’s way. People disappeared into those camps, and good Germans told themselves it wasn’t their business, that “the state must have its reasons.”
By the time they realized what they had normalized, it was too late.
That is the exact pattern we see unfolding here today. Trump’s enforcers don’t call it Schutzhaft. They call it “civil detention.”
And ICE has a $45 billion budget to build hundreds of these “ detention centers” all across America. Do you really think they’re just gonna stop at Brown people?
They pretend tearing people from their lives without trial is just part of the immigration process.
They pretend spiriting away hundreds of desperate migrants to a foreign dictatorship’s prison is ordinary enforcement.
They pretend masked men grabbing people off American streets are “just following orders.”
But what this really is — and what we must call it without hesitation — is the birth of an unaccountable neofascist American secret police.
This isn’t about whether we want immigration laws enforced; there’s virtually no debate about that. It’s about whether the president can create an authorized, masked secret police force that answers to him rather than the law.
When police are anonymous, when courts are bypassed, when disappearances are tolerated, freedom itself is on the line.
If it can happen to a farmworker in Texas, it can happen to a protester in Portland, a journalist in New York, or a political opponent anywhere in America. It can happen to me, and it can happen to you.
History irrefutably shows us that unaccountable power always expands.
We like to tell ourselves “it can’t happen here.” But it already is. People are being taken without judicial warrants. Families are left without answers. Courts are being circumvented. Transfers and detentions happen in the dark.
Meanwhile, Americans are being trained to look the other way, just as the “good Germans” did. That is how democracy has died in a nation after nation, from Russia to Egypt to Turkey to Hungary, not with a single dramatic blow, but with the slow normalization of injustice until the unthinkable becomes everyday routine.
And this is why shrugging, shaking our heads, or tweeting our dismay is not enough. History demands more.
The people who stood by in 1930s Germany told themselves it was temporary, or they stayed quiet, or they made excuses. Their silence made tyranny possible.
We must not make the same mistake.
JD Vance brushed off the scandal, telling Americans to “grow up” about the leaked Hitler-loving group chat, calling it “kids doing stupid things.”
As Robert Hubble points out in his excellent Substack newsletter:
The leaders were in their twenties and thirties and held political jobs, including:
— Chief of Staff to New York State Assembly member Mike Reilly;
— Staffer for New York State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt
— Communications Assistant for Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach
— Employee at New York State Unified Court System
— Employee at Center for Arizona Policy
— Senior Adviser in the Office of General Counsel, U.S. Small Business Administration (in the Trump administration)
In short, these were not “kids,” nor were they “college students.” They were adults with responsible jobs.
To excuse that as youthful mischief isn’t just a simple lie, it’s an endorsement of literally early Hitler-style fascism. When elected officials defend calls for racially based mass slaughter as harmless immaturity, they tell the country that hate is acceptable, cruelty is normal, and history no longer matters.
Every act of unaccountable state violence must be called out. Every attempt to sideline the courts must be resisted. Every agency twisted into a political weapon must be exposed and reformed.
The Constitution does not protect itself. Democracy does not run on autopilot. Freedom only survives when citizens refuse to accept the unacceptable.
That means showing up at protests, speaking out at meetings, demanding accountability from lawmakers, and refusing to let media normalize secret police tactics in the United States of America.
There was a time in America when Republicans like my father were the ones warning of the dangers of America becoming an oppressive police state. We must reach out to our Republican elected officials and remind them that Ronald Reagan, John McCain, and Barry Goldwater would not tolerate this sort of thing.
America is at a turning point. We can let this slide and hope the system rights itself. Or we can recognize that once the precedent of unaccountable detention and disappearance is accepted, it will never stop at immigrants or refugees. It will spread, as it always does, to silence dissent and crush opposition.
Already Trump is publicly going through a new list of people he wants to prosecute. Even Victor Orban hasn’t gone that far; this is pure Putin stuff.
The masked men who today drag away the undocumented will tomorrow drag away the protester, the critic, the rival. That’s how it worked then. That’s how it works now in Russia, the country is Trump is praising and using it as his model.
So I’m asking you, as forcefully as I know how: stand up. Speak out. Call your elected officials, both federal, state, and local, particularly the Republicans.
Show up this Saturday for No Kings Day and every day after that. Refuse to live in a country where the president commands his own secret police. Refuse to look away when your government disappears human beings into the shadows. Refuse to be a “good German.”
This is still our republic, but only if we defend it. That time is now.
'Meanest people': Outrage over leaked chats continue to rock the Young Republican world
An image from Senate President Ty Masterson’s announcement of his campaign for Kansas governor includes Kansas Young Republicans chair Alex Dwyer, far left, and vice chair William Hendrix, second from right. Politico reports Dwyer and Hendrix took part in a private Telegram chat with other state GOP leaders touting racist, violent and antisemitic ideas such as “I love Hitler” and “They love the watermelon people.” (Submitted)
Reactions from state chapters have been mixed.
Padgett’s allies — representing 23 states — swiftly denounced the messages and reaffirmed their support for his leadership.
Missouri, Alaska, and Wisconsin leaders pointedly tied their condemnation to their opposition to Giunta’s failed August leadership challenge.
In contrast, several Giunta-aligned chapters remained silent or deleted public endorsements of his campaign.
The Arizona Young Republican Federation, led by Mosiman, acknowledged the offensive language but questioned the chat’s “authenticity and context,” accusing national leaders of exploiting the scandal for political gain.
“Mob-style condemnation driven by political opportunism or personal agendas,” their statement read.
Padgett, dismissing claims of disunity, said, “The YRNF unequivocally condemned the leaked messages in the Politico article—full stop,” adding, “Outside of those in the sticks, every state and local Young Republican chapter stands united.”
Still, some insiders worry the scandal and ongoing division could weaken the group’s influence ahead of the 2026 midterms.
“We spend a lot of time fighting amongst ourselves,” said one anonymous state chair, per the report.
“These are the meanest people I have ever met in my life.”
An image from Senate President Ty Masterson’s announcement of his campaign for Kansas governor includes Kansas Young Republicans chair Alex Dwyer, far left, and vice chair William Hendrix, second from right. Politico reports Dwyer and Hendrix took part in a private Telegram chat with other state GOP leaders touting racist, violent and antisemitic ideas such as “I love Hitler” and “They love the watermelon people.” (Submitted)
October 19, 2025
ALTERNET
The Young Republican National Federation (YRNF) is facing a widening internal crisis after the leak of a private group chat containing racist, antisemitic, and homophobic slurs by several of its members, including former leadership contender Peter Giunta, Politico reported Sunday.
According to the report, the revelations have intensified a long-standing rift within the organization, which has struggled with infighting and factionalism for years.
The controversial messages, first reported by Politico last week, included Giunta declaring “I love Hitler” and making inflammatory remarks about race and gender.
Arizona Young Republicans Chair Luke Mosiman also used an apparent rape threat against current YRNF chair Hayden Padgett.
The report noted that Giunta has since apologized, but has not publicly commented further
The Young Republican National Federation (YRNF) is facing a widening internal crisis after the leak of a private group chat containing racist, antisemitic, and homophobic slurs by several of its members, including former leadership contender Peter Giunta, Politico reported Sunday.
According to the report, the revelations have intensified a long-standing rift within the organization, which has struggled with infighting and factionalism for years.
The controversial messages, first reported by Politico last week, included Giunta declaring “I love Hitler” and making inflammatory remarks about race and gender.
Arizona Young Republicans Chair Luke Mosiman also used an apparent rape threat against current YRNF chair Hayden Padgett.
The report noted that Giunta has since apologized, but has not publicly commented further
Reactions from state chapters have been mixed.
Padgett’s allies — representing 23 states — swiftly denounced the messages and reaffirmed their support for his leadership.
Missouri, Alaska, and Wisconsin leaders pointedly tied their condemnation to their opposition to Giunta’s failed August leadership challenge.
In contrast, several Giunta-aligned chapters remained silent or deleted public endorsements of his campaign.
The Arizona Young Republican Federation, led by Mosiman, acknowledged the offensive language but questioned the chat’s “authenticity and context,” accusing national leaders of exploiting the scandal for political gain.
“Mob-style condemnation driven by political opportunism or personal agendas,” their statement read.
Padgett, dismissing claims of disunity, said, “The YRNF unequivocally condemned the leaked messages in the Politico article—full stop,” adding, “Outside of those in the sticks, every state and local Young Republican chapter stands united.”
Still, some insiders worry the scandal and ongoing division could weaken the group’s influence ahead of the 2026 midterms.
“We spend a lot of time fighting amongst ourselves,” said one anonymous state chair, per the report.
“These are the meanest people I have ever met in my life.”
Vance Downplays Young Republicans’ Hateful Texts as “Kids” Doing Stupid Things
LOCKER ROOM BANTER AND TOWEL SNAPPING
The text messages contained jokes about gas chambers, slavery, and rape.
By Chris Walker ,
In an interview on Wednesday, Vance told critics of the Young Republicans to “grow up” and “focus on the real issues.” He went on:
Don’t focus on what kids say in group chats. The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys. They tell edgy, offensive jokes. Like, 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. And at some point, we’re all going to have to say, enough of this BS.
In social media posts, Vance said he would “refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence,” citing reports that the private messages of a Democratic candidate in Virginia also contained disturbing language.
That candidate’s actions were “one thousand times worse than what a bunch of young people, a bunch of kids, say in a group chat,” Vance said.
Although Vance claimed the messages were from “kids” participating in playful banter, the people in the chat were adults. Indeed, the Young Republicans organization requires a person to have reached adulthood in order to participate, and the group allows members as old as 40.
Vance himself is 41 years old, meaning that he would have been allowed to be a Young Republicans member up until this past year.
“Suffice it to say, these are not kids,” Alejandra Caraballo, a cyberlaw clinical instructor at Harvard Law School, wrote in a Bluesky post. “These are full grown ass adults, many of them in their late 20’s and early 30’s. At least one was an elected state senator in Vermont.”
“And even if they were [kids], it’s never ok to make antisemitic and racist jokes like that,” Caraballo added.
Explicitly racist language and symbolism is becoming increasingly common in Republican spaces.
Just this week, an image of an American flag with a Nazi swastika embedded in the stripes was spotted during a Zoom call behind Angelo Elia, the legislative correspondent to Rep. Dave Taylor (R-Ohio). Congressman Taylor claims he asked Capitol Police to investigate how the flag was placed in his office, but given the placement of the symbol, it’s unlikely that Taylor or his staffers wouldn’t have noticed it before the Zoom call.
Notably, President Donald Trump’s own rhetoric has frequently included racist dog whistles and explicit bigotry. Trump has also borrowed rhetoric from Nazi officials, including publicly claiming that immigrants are “poisoning” the blood of the country, and calling his political opponents “vermin.”
LOCKER ROOM BANTER AND TOWEL SNAPPING
The text messages contained jokes about gas chambers, slavery, and rape.
By Chris Walker ,
October 16, 2025
Vice President J.D. Vance delivers remarks on September 17, 2025 in Howell, Michigan.
Bill Pugliano / Getty Images
Vice President JD Vance has sought to downplay reports that leaders of an organization called the Young Republicans sent thousands of virulently racist and sexist text messages— despite his recent calls for Democrats to tone down their rhetoric.
Vance dismissed the conversations, which were published by Politico earlier this week, as an example of “kids” doing “stupid things,” arguing that no one involved in the chat should face professional repercussions. According to reporting from Mother Jones journalist Julianne McShane, the people who participated in the Telegram chat group ranged from ages 24 to 35.
The 2,900 pages of leaked chats from Young Republican leaders across the country featured a plethora of disturbing content, including:
Referring to Black people as monkeys and “watermelon people”;
Repeated use of racist and homophobic slurs, including the n-word;
Describing the mass rape of Native Americans as “epic”;
Expressing “love” for Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler;
Calling for people they disagreed with to be murdered in gas chambers; and
Jokes about driving individuals to suicide, including members of their own group that they viewed as rivals.
One message from a Young Republicans member noted that if the group chat messages were ever leaked, “we would be cooked.”
Following the publication of the text messages, a small number of Young Republican members lost their jobs.
Vice President JD Vance has sought to downplay reports that leaders of an organization called the Young Republicans sent thousands of virulently racist and sexist text messages— despite his recent calls for Democrats to tone down their rhetoric.
Vance dismissed the conversations, which were published by Politico earlier this week, as an example of “kids” doing “stupid things,” arguing that no one involved in the chat should face professional repercussions. According to reporting from Mother Jones journalist Julianne McShane, the people who participated in the Telegram chat group ranged from ages 24 to 35.
The 2,900 pages of leaked chats from Young Republican leaders across the country featured a plethora of disturbing content, including:
Referring to Black people as monkeys and “watermelon people”;
Repeated use of racist and homophobic slurs, including the n-word;
Describing the mass rape of Native Americans as “epic”;
Expressing “love” for Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler;
Calling for people they disagreed with to be murdered in gas chambers; and
Jokes about driving individuals to suicide, including members of their own group that they viewed as rivals.
One message from a Young Republicans member noted that if the group chat messages were ever leaked, “we would be cooked.”
Following the publication of the text messages, a small number of Young Republican members lost their jobs.
In an interview on Wednesday, Vance told critics of the Young Republicans to “grow up” and “focus on the real issues.” He went on:
Don’t focus on what kids say in group chats. The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys. They tell edgy, offensive jokes. Like, 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. And at some point, we’re all going to have to say, enough of this BS.
In social media posts, Vance said he would “refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence,” citing reports that the private messages of a Democratic candidate in Virginia also contained disturbing language.
That candidate’s actions were “one thousand times worse than what a bunch of young people, a bunch of kids, say in a group chat,” Vance said.
Although Vance claimed the messages were from “kids” participating in playful banter, the people in the chat were adults. Indeed, the Young Republicans organization requires a person to have reached adulthood in order to participate, and the group allows members as old as 40.
Vance himself is 41 years old, meaning that he would have been allowed to be a Young Republicans member up until this past year.
“Suffice it to say, these are not kids,” Alejandra Caraballo, a cyberlaw clinical instructor at Harvard Law School, wrote in a Bluesky post. “These are full grown ass adults, many of them in their late 20’s and early 30’s. At least one was an elected state senator in Vermont.”
“And even if they were [kids], it’s never ok to make antisemitic and racist jokes like that,” Caraballo added.
Explicitly racist language and symbolism is becoming increasingly common in Republican spaces.
Just this week, an image of an American flag with a Nazi swastika embedded in the stripes was spotted during a Zoom call behind Angelo Elia, the legislative correspondent to Rep. Dave Taylor (R-Ohio). Congressman Taylor claims he asked Capitol Police to investigate how the flag was placed in his office, but given the placement of the symbol, it’s unlikely that Taylor or his staffers wouldn’t have noticed it before the Zoom call.
Notably, President Donald Trump’s own rhetoric has frequently included racist dog whistles and explicit bigotry. Trump has also borrowed rhetoric from Nazi officials, including publicly claiming that immigrants are “poisoning” the blood of the country, and calling his political opponents “vermin.”
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