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By Robert Birsel
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Vice President JD Vance waded into the uproar over racist, antisemitic and misogynistic chat messages from Young Republicans, drawing criticism by saying a Democratic politician’s text messages suggesting the former Virginia House speaker should be shot were “far worse.”
Why It Matters
The outcry over the messages from Young Republicans and the earlier texts from Virginia attorney general hopeful Jay Jones comes at a time of political polarization and alarm about increasingly inflammatory political discourse, particularly since the assassination of conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk at a university in Utah on September 10.
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Newsweek contacted the White House via email outside of office hours for comment.
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What To Know
Some of the Young Republicans taking part in group chats leaked to Politico referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people,” voiced support for Hitler, and spoke of putting opponents in gas chambers and raping enemies.
Jones, a Democrat, faces intensifying pressure to drop out of the Virginia election for attorney general next month after texts sent in 2022 were made public that called for violence against former State House Speaker Todd Gilbert and his family, including one saying he should receive "two bullets to the head.”
Vance posted on X an excerpt from one of messages attributed to Jones which read: “only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”
“This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia. I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence,” Vance said.
The texts written by Jones were first reported by National Review and viewed by The Washington Post. Newsweek has not independently verified the messages, but Jones has not questioned their veracity and has apologized for them.
Leaders from both parties have denounced the texts from Jones, but the Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, Abigail Spanberger, declined to say in an October 9 debate whether she endorsed him as her party's candidate. Her reticence whipped up a storm of Republican criticism.
Young Republican Furor
Politico said it obtained 2,900 pages of exchanges over seven months among a dozen Young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont, offering “an unfiltered look at how a new generation of GOP activists talk when they think no one is listening.”
Both Democrats and Republicans have denounced the Republicans' messages and called for those responsible to step down from party positions, but Vance drew objections for singling out the offending Democrat for his ire.
“Why can’t we denounce both?” Democratic U.S. Representative Ro Khanna of California said on X in response to Vance’s post.
Retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer Travis Akers responded to Vance in a similar vein.
“Both are bad. Incredibly bad. We should all be able to say that, Mr. Vice President, and in your position of power and influence, you should be among the first to do so,” Akers wrote.
What People Are Saying
Political strategist Tom Bonier, senior adviser at research firm TargetSmart, referring to a comment Vice President JD Vance made in a 2016 message, said on X: “You've gone from being the guy who called Trump ‘America's Hitler’ to the guy who rationalized Young Republicans praising Hitler.”
Self-described “Gen-X advocate” Mike Young, addressing Vance on X, said: “You are right that wishing death on a political opponent’s children is reprehensible. Jay Jones should apologize directly to the people he targeted, and if Virginians decide that disqualifies him, so be it. But let’s finish the sentence you started. If violent rhetoric is disqualifying, then it applies to everyone, including the GOP candidates and staffers caught praising Hitler, sharing lynching memes, or joking about shooting migrants at the border.”
What Happens Next
There seems to be little hope for a more civil political discourse, despite the soul-searching and appeals on both sides, especially in the run-up to next year’s midterms. The Virginia elections will take place on November 4.
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