I led young Republicans — I’m alarmed by rising hate within its ranks | Opinion

Ten years ago, I was elected to serve as the president of the Palm Beach County Young Republicans (PBCYR). In my year in the role, I saw its platform begin to stray from the conservative principles of William Buckley and Ronald Reagan, but I thought one thing was nonnegotiable: Antisemitism and racism don’t belong in the GOP.

But that was before the bombshell Politico story this week revealing vile racist, antisemitic and homophobic comments — roughly 2,900 pages of texts shared on Telegram between Young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont. Included were comments such as, “Great. I love Hitler,” and “everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.”

Assuming the information is true, and I don’t doubt it, this is stomach-turning. I don’t know anyone involved in those chats, but they aren’t from random people. They are members of Young Republican chapters, some of whom worked in party politics or in the government.

Vice President JD Vance has dismissed the remarks as “what kids do” — but that misses the point. This wasn’t a temporary lapse in judgment; the texts stretch from early January to mid-August of this year. The story revealed a culture within a portion of young Republican chapters where hate speech and cruelty have become normalized.

Politico reported Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, has denied that President Trump’s rhetoric had anything to do with the language found in the Telegram chat — maybe so. However, there is a permission structure created by Trump’s inflammatory language and actions that makes it OK to excuse the chat as just words.

I was president of the Palm Beach County chapter before Trump ran for president and into the rise of his 2016 candidacy. Factions within the GOP began to emerge — yes, there were Republicans who didn’t back Trump for president — and it was only a matter of time before the YRs splintered, too. Some young Republicans would support Trump and the GOP, while others would move further to the right.

The chat thread outlines the efforts of a faction of people working to gain power, leading up to the YRNF elections. But these conversations — in which antisemitism, racism and violent rhetoric are freely expressed among up-and-coming leaders — are unsettling.

Since the text messages became public, the national federation’s board of directors posted on X that every person involved should immediately resign from positions within their state and local organizations.

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that the chapter of the New York Young Republicans involved in the text message was suspended after a vote by the New York Republican State Committee.

According to New York’s NBC4, state party chairman Ed Cox said the group was “already grossly mismanaged, and vile language of the sort made in the group chat has no place in our party or its subsidiary organizations.”

Earlier this week, the Kansas Young Republican chapter was deactivated, also.

The national board is right to disavow this behavior. And the New York chapter of the YRs deserves to be disbanded. There is no defense for it. They weren’t joking, and they weren’t too young to know better, though I have heard those excuses.

When young conservatives effortlessly bounce from party gossip to cruel fantasies and glorifying fascism, it signals the erosion of the very conservative values they claim to defend. Respect for others isn’t political correctness; it’s a reflection of character.

The Republican Party I came up in debated ideas: taxes, national defense and limited government. The YRs I was part of never dabbled in hate or racism. Disagreements happened, but no one was dehumanized as a result. Now, the movement once rooted in principle has shifted to be driven by provocation.

Times change; I get it. But free speech is a sacred right that requires responsibility — not just in our actions but in our words.

This moment is a wake-up call to all Republicans. We must remember who we are and who we are not: The GOP is not the party of hate or bigotry.

Mary Anna Mancuso is a member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. Her email: mmancuso@miamiherald.com