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The New York State Young Republicans chapter is being put in an indefinite timeout after many of its members were exposed partaking in a group chat in which GOP operatives from several states spoke fondly of rape, slavery, Hitler and gas chambers for their political opponents.
The Associated Press reports:
In a statement, New York’s Republican committee said its leaders had voted unanimously to suspend the authorization of the New York State Young Republicans to operate at a statewide level. The statewide Republican committee said the Young Republican group could be reconstituted at a later date. “The Young Republicans 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,” said NYGOP Chair Ed Cox.
The announcement follows Vice President JD Vance’s dismissal of outrage over the vile texts as “pearl clutching,” saying the comments are just indicative of “kids” making “stupid jokes.”
That's just "what kids do," the vice president said of adults peddling rape fantasies, hyping up Hitler and promoting Nazi torture methods. To be clear, there were literally no children involved in this story.
Some of the most widely circulated messages unearthed in Politico’s report, in fact, came from Peter Giunta, the now-former leader of the NYSYR who reportedly spoke of putting his opponents in a gas chamber and referred to Black folks as “watermelon people." Fellow NYSYR member Annie Kaykaty is quoted as responding in the group chat to talk of putting political opponents in gas chambers by saying, "I'm ready to watch people burn now." (Giunta later apologized, saying, "I am so sorry to those offended” by the messages, which he claimed were “sourced by way of extortion” by his rivals in a “highly-coordinated year-long character assassination.”)
Politico reports the fallout from the leaked group chat has continued throughout the week, as more members associated with the chat have lost job opportunities. The NYSYR suspension appears to be one of the more severe responses thus far — certainly compared to other chapters, like the Arizona Young Republicans, who’ve resisted calls for members of their group who were involved in the group chat to resign.