Three separate controversies involving leaked text messages from private online group chats have rocked American political circles this month, revealing racist, anti-Semitic and violent statements from figures across the ideological spectrum.
The messages, sent privately but now public, include racial slurs, praise for Nazis and threats of political violence, raising questions about why those involved felt comfortable expressing such views despite the risk of exposure and censorship.
Online posts have also deepened concerns among civil society groups and political language experts that violent rhetoric and racist hate speech are becoming normalized in the United States, particularly after decades of hard-fought civil rights victories that sought to dismantle such ideologies.
People have long expressed violent or racist opinions in private settings, but experts say the text message leaks are noteworthy because they brought to light the unfiltered, and many find shocking, opinions of political figures.
TO political An Oct. 14 report revealed that a group of about a dozen young Republican leaders had been sending racist and anti-Semitic messages to each other on Telegram between January and mid-August, referring to black people as monkeys and one of them declaring, “I love Hitler.”
On October 3, leaked texts published by National Review revealed that Jay Jones, the Democratic candidate to be Virginia’s top law enforcement official, sent a private text message in 2022 saying that a state Republican should be shot to death and that he would urinate on the graves of his political opponents.
And this week, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead a federal surveillance agency, Paul Ingrassia, withdrew from consideration after losing support among key Republican lawmakers following reports that he had described himself as having a “Nazi streak” in a private text message exchange.
Experts in online culture and political discourse, including a professor at the City University of New York and Alex Turvy, a sociologist who writes for publications such as Social Media and Society, say the persistence of inflammatory group chats reflects a false sense of privacy and security, even though the messages form a permanent record and can be leaked.
At the same time, members of group chats sometimes mistakenly assume they can trust their fellow participants when loyalties, ambitions and motivations can change over time, especially in politics, Turvy said.
“There is an illusion of intimacy,” Turvy said. “It feels like it’s a private speech. But you’re betting that everyone in the group chat will protect you forever.”
provocative language
Experts said an increasingly powerful presence on social media among more extreme elements of both parties, and a phenomenon – especially among younger people – that crosses rhetorical boundaries, have exacerbated private hate speech.
Reece Peck, an associate professor of media culture at the City University of New York, said Trump’s own rhetoric and his attacks on progressive causes have led many conservatives to believe that language that would have been considered unacceptable before Trump took office in 2017 is now permissible.
While campaigning last year, Trump accused people who are in the United States illegally of “poisoning the blood of the country.” As president, he has called some of them “criminals” and described illegal border crossings as an “invasion,” while his White House has posted online memes that critics say have hardened political rhetoric.
“They feel like Trump has taken over popular culture and Democrats are out of touch. The general line is anti-woke,” Peck said. “If you can be nervous, say something inappropriate, you establish membership in the group. That dynamic is fundamental to Trumpism.”
Turvy said this is known as “Edgelord culture,” an online phenomenon where people deliberately post shocking or taboo content to remain relevant within the group chat.
The Black Conservative Federation, a grassroots group seeking to court black voters for Trump’s second term, called on Republican leaders to denounce the Young Republican group’s chat texts “without hesitation or excuse.”
Hakeem Jefferson, an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University, also said Trump has helped “give some cover” to some of the speeches contained in the texts.
“That’s what the president of the United States talks about, and I think he’s opened up a space for these people to emulate his behavior,” Jefferson said.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said: “President Trump is right to denounce the heinous foreign criminals who have invaded our country and murdered innocent Americans.”
Jackson cited the case of a man in the United States illegally who allegedly killed three people while driving a truck this week while under the influence of drugs in California.
He said the White House memes were successfully communicating Trump’s agenda against people who are in the country illegally and committing crimes against Americans.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the content of the Young Republican group chat and Ingrassia’s alleged private text messages.
Trump has criticized Jones for his text messages, saying he should not be allowed to run for office.
“You would think he was totally discredited; anyone would be jailed for what he said,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on October 19.
Layoffs, resignations
The texting scandals sparked widespread condemnation from across the political spectrum, although Vice President JD Vance, while calling the Young Republican texts “really disturbing,” also accused critics of “pearl clutching” and referred to chat participants as “kids.” Most were between 20 and 30 years old.
Vance, on the other hand, drew X’s attention to Jones’ texts.
Jones, in his 2022 text, said former Republican Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert should take “two bullets to the head” and reflected on the death of his children in their mother’s arms.
Jones’ campaign referred to Reuters to a statement he issued on October 3 in which he said he was “embarrassed, ashamed and sorry” for his text messages and that he had tried to apologize to Gilbert and his family.
A Washington Post-Schar School poll of Virginia voters released Thursday showed that support for Jones has fallen since the texts were made public, and a race he had led in public opinion polls is now tied.
Since then, many of the Young Republicans involved in their group chat have lost their jobs as political aides or their positions as Young Republican leaders. One of them, a Vermont state senator, resigned.
The Republican group dissolved
In 2,900 pages of chats, black people were referred to as “the watermelon people,” one member talked about raping enemies, and there was talk of sending people to the gas chamber.
Several members of the group were from the New York Young Republican Club, which was disbanded by the state Republican executive committee last week. At least two members of the group, which also included members from states such as Kansas, Arizona and Vermont, apologized.
Hayden Padgett, president of the National Federation of Young Republicans, referred Reuters to a statement the group issued on October 3, in which its board of directors asked everyone involved to resign.
“Such behavior is disgraceful, unbecoming of any Republican, and directly opposed to the values our movement represents,” the statement said.
Ingrassia, a former right-wing podcaster, was Trump’s nominee to head the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates allegations of retaliation against government whistleblowers.
His nomination later imploded political reported Monday that Ingrassia told Republican operatives and social media influencers in a text chat last year that “I have a Nazi streak in me from time to time.” He also said the January holiday celebrating black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. “should be ended and thrown into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs.”
An attorney for Ingrassia, Edward Andrew Paltzik, said in a statement to Reuters that the messages could have been manipulated. He added that if they were authentic, “they would clearly read as satirical, self-deprecating humor.”
