President Trump expresses his opinion on Jay Jones’ text message saying he was ‘shot twice in the head’
President Donald Trump joined in Sunday morning, calling Jay Jones a “radical left-wing lunatic” in a post on Truth Social.
Scripps News – WTVR Richmond
WASHINGTON – The Young Republicans National Federation has called for the immediate resignation of the organization’s leaders who were exposed in a recent Politico article as sending racist and other derogatory text messages to each other in private chats.
Text messages in the Telegram chat include people calling black people monkeys and “watermelon people.” People who call rape “epic.” The same person wrote: “I love Hitler.” A joke about putting political opponents in gas chambers for praising Republicans who “support slavery.” and the use of the words “n–ga” and “n–guh” (both variations of the n-word).
The Young Republicans’ board of directors said in an Oct. 14 statement that it was “appalled by the vile and intolerable language exposed in the Politico article published today.” “This kind of behavior is disgraceful, unbecoming of a Republican, and directly contrary to the values our movement stands for.
“The individuals involved must immediately resign from all positions within state and local Young Republican organizations. We must be held to the highest standards of integrity, respect, and professionalism,” the group said.
Some of the text messages, written over a seven-month period in a chat titled “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM,” were from Peter Giunta, former chairman of the New York State Young Republicans. I also received text messages from three other leaders of the New York chapter, as well as young Republican leaders in Kansas, Arizona and Vermont.
Giunta, who was most recently chief of staff for Republican New York state congressman Mike Riley, no longer works for him following the report, Politico reported.
“It reveals a culture where racist, anti-Semitic, and violent rhetoric circulates freely, and where the loosening of political norms in the Trump era has made such talk less taboo among those positioned as the party’s next leaders,” Politico wrote in a message.
Vice President Vance dismisses ‘clutching pearls’ comment in email
The Young Republicans National Federation, whose members range in age from 18 to 40, has chapters in states across the country.
Democrats took advantage of Politico’s reporting. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted a photo of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Mike Lawler, and also detailed some of New York’s younger Republicans in an article. Mr. Jeffries said he had been dealing with “racist, anti-Semitic, bigoted ‘young Republicans’ for years.”
Both Stefanik and Lawler condemned the chat. Lawler called the comments in the chat “disgusting” and said all junior Republican leaders who made the comments should resign.
But Vice President J.D. Vance pushed back against the Young Republicans’ protest against the chat group. He pointed to recently exposed text messages from Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones in which Jones joked that the Republican state House speaker should give him “two bullets to the head” and said he expected his two children to die.
“This is far worse than what was said in a college group chat and the person who said it could be Virginia General,” Vance said in a post on X. “When those in power call for political violence, I refuse to join in clutching my pearls.”
X Contact Joey Garrison at @joeygarrison.
