Back when the Kansas GOP was melting down over stripping minority groups from their executive committee, two Young Republicans named William Hendrix and Alex Dwyer got roasted for backing the chair's plan and decided to take over the state's Young Republican branch. Fast forward to October, when their group chat with 10 other Young Republican leaders got leaked, and it was packed with Hitler praise plus racist and antisemitic garbage that got seven people canned from their jobs.
Hendrix claims it was all edgy jokes between friends doing online-style banter, and JD Vance even jumped in to defend them as kids making offensive humor. But the chat had legit neo-Nazi code drops like 1488, and Dwyer had already been pushed out of a local chapter before for white nationalist posts on social media.
The whole thing shows how terminally online language is bleeding into actual Republican organizing with younger activists who think breaking taboos is just transgressive fun. Hendrix lost his attorney general office gig, and now he's working far from politics while still texting with the chat crew because they're bonded through the fallout.
Hendrix claims it was all edgy jokes between friends doing online-style banter, and JD Vance even jumped in to defend them as kids making offensive humor. But the chat had legit neo-Nazi code drops like 1488, and Dwyer had already been pushed out of a local chapter before for white nationalist posts on social media.
The whole thing shows how terminally online language is bleeding into actual Republican organizing with younger activists who think breaking taboos is just transgressive fun. Hendrix lost his attorney general office gig, and now he's working far from politics while still texting with the chat crew because they're bonded through the fallout.
