The hateful old party

To the editor:

Back in March, I took heat for pointing out the role racism plays in politics (The Chief, “Future Tense,” Letters, March 14). As proof, I noted that 1964 was the last time a Democrat won a majority of white voters in a presidential election.

This week Politico provided further proof when they published messages from a Young Republican National Federation chatroom. Classifying the messages from these future GOP “leaders” as vile, is an understatement. Most contained violent, sexist, racist and antisemitic rhetoric.  

Disturbingly, many chat members hold high-ranking Republican party positions and/or serve as advisors to GOP elected officials. One racist poster is Vermont State Senator Samuel Douglass and another, Bobby Walker, worked for New York State Senator Minority leader Rob Ortt.

To their credit, many GOP officials condemned the comments and called for expulsion of the posters. But New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik pivoted — condemning the messages, then accusing Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani of the same antisemitism displayed by the Young Republicans members. Shamefully, JD Vance refused to denounce the blatant bigotry, instead calling comments made by Democratic candidate for Virginia attorney general Jay Jones “far worse.” Sorry Mr. Vice President, hate speech isn’t measured in degrees; it should have been an easy call to denounce 28,000+ messages that (according to Politico) “praised Adolf Hitler and joked about gas chambers, slavery, and rape.”

However, I understand Vance’s hesitance in calling out Young Republican chat members — such individuals comprise a significant portion of the MAGA base. Tactics from Richard Nixon’s “Southern strategy” to Donald Trump’s false claims of a “migrant crime wave” have been an integral part of GOP recruitment efforts since 1968. It’s fair to say the GOP “big tent” that Vance spoke of in his 2024 Republican National Convention speech has ample room for bigots, racists, homophobes and misogynists.

Joseph Cannisi