Inside the GOP’s Leaked “I Love Hitler” Chat

A leaked trove of racist, antisemitic, and violent messages shows rising GOP leaders joking about genocide, slavery, and rape while calling it politics.

You know how Republicans love to say “the left has gone too far”? Well, turns out, they might want to check their own group chats.

Telegram logs obtained by POLITICO show top officers in state Young Republican groups trading racist slurs, antisemitic jokes, and violent fantasies like it’s just another Tuesday. The messages, which spanned seven months and nearly 2,900 pages, offer an unfiltered look at what the GOP sounds like when they think no one’s listening. Spoiler: it’s not great.

These weren’t random trolls. The chat included leaders from New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont, people already working in politics, some even in government. Their goal was to seize control of the national Young Republican Federation. Their method? Bigotry disguised as bonding.

Peter Giunta, then chair of the New York State Young Republicans, wrote that “everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.” He bragged about inventing “the greatest physiological torture methods known to man.” Joe Maligno, another officer, replied, “Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic.” Annie Kaykaty chimed in, “I’m ready to watch people burn now.”

Let that sink in. These are actual quotes.

The group tossed around slurs like “f----t,” “r-----d,” and “n--ga” more than 250 times. One leader, William Hendrix of Kansas, used the n-word more than a dozen times. Another, Bobby Walker from New York, called rape “epic.” Luke Mosiman of Arizona joked about spreading “pro Nazi” propaganda to win votes. And when someone mentioned Missouri backing the far right, Giunta replied, “Great. I love Hitler.”

This wasn’t parody. This was politics.

When POLITICO started asking questions, a few careers imploded. Jobs were lost, offers withdrawn, and suddenly everyone discovered the word “apology.” Rep. Elise Stefanik, who had praised Giunta months earlier, called the comments “heinous.”

In August, Stefanik proudly accepted an award from the same group now exposed in this Telegram chat. She hasn’t returned it, of course. And why would she? Keeping that award fits right in with the tradition of grifters like Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson, who happily pocketed hundreds of thousands in Russian propaganda money from Tenet Media.

Defenses ranged from claims that the logs were “deceptively doctored” to accusations of extortion. Walker claimed parts of the chat “may have been altered” while still apologizing for the language attributed to him while Giunta called the release “a highly-coordinated year-long character assassination” and accused rivals of conspiring against him.

Because naturally, when Republicans get caught saying the quiet part out loud, it’s never their fault. It’s always the deep state, the media, or some secret cabal out to destroy them.

The chats read like a toxic mix of frat house cruelty and fascist fan fiction. They joked about slavery being “mega based.” They mocked women, Jews, Asians, and Black people. They even used white supremacist codes like “1488.” One Kansas Republican answered that number when asked his hotel room, 14 for “We must secure the existence of our people,” 88 for “Heil Hitler.” Totally normal stuff for people planning your next campaign fundraiser.

Some of them even seemed to realize how bad it was. “If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr fr,” Walker wrote. Congratulations, buddy. Dinner’s ready.

The more you read, the clearer it becomes: this isn’t just a handful of bad apples. It’s the culture. The Trump era didn’t invent their racism, it just made them comfortable enough to say it out loud. What was once whispered at the bar is now sent in group texts with laughing emojis.

Experts quoted by POLITICO warned that repeating this kind of hate normalizes it, and normalizing it turns it into action. Say it once, it’s a bad joke. Say it over 250 times, it becomes a mindset.

The Young Republicans are supposed to be the “future leaders” of the GOP. Instead, they’re a mirror reflecting exactly what the party has become, a place where cruelty is a bonding exercise and Hitler jokes pass for humor.

It’s not about one chat or one group. It’s about a pattern. Every time bigotry leaks out of the GOP, they call it a misunderstanding. At some point, you have to admit it’s the brand.