Vice President JD Vance is defending the indefensible and blaming the media for it. Appearing on The Charlie Kirk Show on Wednesday, the MAGA vice president exploded at what he called “scumbag” reporters who published thousands of leaked messages from Young Republican leaders that contained racist, antisemitic, and misogynistic remarks.
The cache of texts, obtained by Politico, showed prominent members of Young Republican chapters joking about Adolf Hitler, using the N-word, praising rape, and even fantasizing about gassing political opponents. The fallout has been swift, resignations, investigations, and public outrage, but Vance’s response was to go after the press.
“If you put something in a group chat, assume that some scumbag is going to leak it in an effort to try to cause you harm or cause your family harm,” Vance said. “But the reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys. They tell edgy, offensive jokes.”
Vance called the perpetrators “a bunch of kids” and compared their behavior to the reckless mistakes of youth. “The stupid things that I did when I was a teenager and a young adult, they’re not on the internet,” he said. “I’m going to tell my kids, especially my boys, don’t put things on the internet. Be careful with what you post.”
The vice president accused Politico of trying to “cancel” young conservatives. “We’re not going to allow the worst moment in a 21-year-old group chat to ruin a kid’s life for the rest of time,” he declared. “That’s just not okay. We’re all going to have to say, you know what? No, no, no. We’re not doing this. And if I have to be the person who carries that message forward, I’m fine with it.”
His remarks drew sharp backlash across social media, with critics accusing Vance of minimizing hate speech and giving cover to extremists inside the Republican youth movement. Civil-rights groups blasted the vice president for describing the senders as “kids” rather than adults in leadership positions of national political organizations.
“Calling Holocaust jokes and racist slurs ‘edgy humor’ is outrageous,” one advocacy group wrote online, while others demanded the administration condemn the language rather than shield it.
But Vance has made defending conservatives under fire his political brand and this time, he’s doubling down. He took to X, to draw attention away from the Young Republicans, sharing a screenshot and writing, “This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia. I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence.”
The White House has not yet commented on the scandal, but insiders worry that Vance’s language risks widening an already volatile culture war inside the Republican Party. For establishment conservatives, it’s another reminder of how quickly the MAGA era’s defense reflex can turn into political self-immolation.
Whether the vice president’s fiery defense rallies the base or alienates moderates remains to be seen. But by turning a story about hate-filled texts into an attack on the press, Vance ensured one thing: the outrage isn’t going away anytime soon.
