Politico leaked thousands of private messages from a group of young Republican members of Congress, and the reaction from the Republican National Committee is interesting to say the least. We talk to College Republican expert Gabe Guidorini about the leaked messages and how the party reacts to them.
00:05:19.000There were like, what, 12 or 13 people in that chat.
00:05:22.040Not everybody in that chat had, you know, really, really scathing texts attributed to them.
00:05:28.560But everyone in that chat felt the same fire from the GOP establishment.
00:05:33.460They felt the same wrath from the establishment elements of the Republican Party and of the political system.
00:05:41.320And it just goes to show that no matter who you are, no matter what association you have, no matter what you've actually said,
00:05:49.400people will throw you under the bus at a moment's turn if they believe that they are at risk from the left.
00:05:54.880And, you know, the thing that I really, you know, like to communicate, and J.D. Vance talked about this yesterday, is it doesn't matter what you say.
00:06:03.900It doesn't matter what, you know, who you associate with or what you do or who you talk to.
00:06:10.460The left will call you these things regardless.
00:06:13.640The left will do these things to you regardless.
00:06:15.700It doesn't matter what you are or what you say.
00:06:18.660The left, to them, to the left, you are a Nazi.
00:06:22.560If you are a Republican, if you are a Trump supporter.
00:06:25.980So that's the double standard that really comes into play here, especially when you consider how the left treats their own radical elements,
00:06:33.760treats their own people who say way worse things.
00:06:37.460Jay Jones said something miles worse than what was said in this chat,
00:06:42.780which is he was fantasizing about murdering a Republican lawmaker and his children because he believed that he was intrinsically evil.
00:06:50.280And those text messages were released.
00:06:53.740Not a single Democrat has come out and defended and revoked their endorsement of Jay Jones for what he said in those text messages.
00:07:03.640So, you know, it's a major contrast from what you see from the Republican establishment condemning, instantly condemning and throwing under the bus all the people who were in that group chat for edgy jokes at best, poor taste content at worst.
00:07:21.000But it's a really stark contrast between how the GOP treats their elements that are perceived as radical and how the Democrats treat their radical elements.
00:07:35.140Because we saw the last three primaries now where this sort of cancel culture sort of mentality loses at the ballot box every single time.
00:07:43.380Donald Trump himself is a repudiation of cancel culture, of this finger wagging, of punching right, because he understands the moment we're in.
00:07:52.460And he understands that the left has these radical elements that ultimately want to kill us, as the AG candidate in Virginia has clearly demonstrated.
00:08:00.180What does that say about some of these, I guess you would call them stragglers, but there's obviously entrenched power that is outflanking the vice president of the United States to the left?
00:08:11.160Well, I think it just goes to show that the Republican Party isn't on the same page.
00:08:15.900We do not know, you know, the motivations behind all the people who are pushing this out.
00:08:22.000But it's very clear that there was coordinated activity behind the scenes before this article came out to instantly throw these people under the bus.
00:08:31.000People were fired even before this article came out.
00:08:34.040And I think that really goes to show how eager and desperate a lot of establishment elements in the Republican Party are to clean house with anyone who isn't in the establishment wing.
00:08:45.580And this gave them, this unfortunately gave them a basis by which to do so.
00:08:51.960But it just goes to show, you know, J.D. Vance and Stephen Miller and a lot of these really, really good elements within the Republican Party, they know the correct way to do this.
00:09:02.300They know the correct way to respond to this, which is to not give the left any oxygen whatsoever because they deserve none.
00:09:08.380And you may recall in 2016, during the Access Hollywood taste, when that was released about Donald Trump, when he was first running for president, when those came out, everyone in the Republican Party who meant anything threw him under the bus at a moment's notice.
00:09:39.380He stood firm and defended himself, defended his reputation, defended his legitimacy as a candidate.
00:09:46.860And he won, much to the shock of all those establishment Republicans who many of them have since joined forces with Trump and have gone in line, and rightfully so.
00:09:56.800So it just goes to show when you give people oxygen in this way, in a double standard environment where the left is able to get away with just about everything that they do wrong, and the right are constantly monitored with a microphone, with a magnifying glass.
00:10:17.920Because when that double standard exists, when that double standard exists, the last thing you want to do is cave in and give that double standard any more legitimacy.
00:10:26.020It's time for Republicans to start playing hardball.
00:10:28.320And until, you know, I tweeted this out, like until, and a few people have actually talked about this too.
00:10:37.480Brandon Gill, a congressman from Texas, who I think has been really great, texted this out, look, these text messages are horrible.
00:11:23.220Cause J.D. Vance has been, um, he, he kind of has a finger on the pole specifically with what young Americans are feeling, young Patriots are feeling.
00:11:30.720Could you maybe speak a little bit to J.D. Vance's reaction, what that says about the future of the GOP?
00:11:36.600Um, you know, J.D. Vance's reaction, I think just kind of paints him more as the future of the GOP, because, you know, the reason I think it goes both ways, he is the future of the GOP.
00:11:50.280And that's also part of the reason why he is ascended as far as he has, you know, I, I, I remember getting my start in Ohio politics, actually interning on his campaign back in 2022, when he was running for U.S. Senate.
00:12:03.360And one of the things that got me and a lot of other young people in Ohio so motivated about his campaign was that he was young, that he understood the issues that actually appeal to young people, and that he was ready to play hardball against the left.
00:12:19.120And J.D. Vance and Stephen Miller do this better than just about anyone in the upper echelons of the, echelons of the Republican Party.
00:12:27.440And that's why I think they've ascended so far, is because young people see that, and they are recognizing, they are remembering that there are people in the Republican Party who are willing to stand by them, who are willing to support them, and who are willing to fight for them against the left, for fight for their interests, fight for the future of this country against a left that has abandoned all sense of morality, that has abandoned all sense of pride and country.
00:12:56.360And J.D. Vance and J.D. Vance and J.D. Vance and Stephen Miller are setting the blueprint for how Republicans should be playing hardball against the left.
00:13:03.640And that's, I think, why J.D. Vance has become, in many ways, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination in 2028.
00:13:10.780And that's why I think he'll continue to have a large influence in conservative circles going forward, because he consistently proves his expertise and good talking points and good messaging on issues like this, messaging that we sorely need right now.
00:13:28.260Totally. I mean, well, J.D. Vance just, I mean, he gets this one principle, which so many in the GOP don't, is if you're in a dogfight, don't punch right, don't punish people who are ultimately on your team.
00:13:39.720That's just like politics 101. I mean, I saw this tweet, this was earlier today, Will Chamberlain actually, you know, he quote tweeted it.
00:13:46.080This is from an attorney out of Chicago, an immigration attorney, Eric Lee, and he said, quote,
00:13:52.060If your visa was denied or revoked due to Charlie Kirk related speech, the Consular Accountability Project is interested in representing you pro bono.
00:13:59.540So he's obviously responding to the Department of State's, you know, policy where they're not going to distribute visas to people who are dancing on the grave of Charlie Kirk.
00:14:09.240The left has zero appetite to police their radicals whatsoever, because they understand that they're in a war with us.
00:14:17.560And why would they attack people on their team? But there's a degree to it, because they're defending people that want to kill people.
00:14:26.200They're defending political violence, people that celebrate political violence, versus the right, we're already just throwing people under the bus for edgy jokes.
00:14:33.720I mean, maybe you could elaborate more on the types of actors that the left is going to bat for and sort of their reaction to their radicals.
00:14:45.120Yeah, well, I mean, the left only has so much political capital in this environment that they can afford to spend.
00:14:51.940I think that the young Americans, especially, and polling shows us too, are kind of turning against the political left.
00:14:59.680And I think that older Americans are too.
00:15:03.220I think one of the things that really sparked this off originally was September 10th, and the murder, the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
00:15:11.900Democratic leaders, right, this was a very transparent moment.
00:15:16.280Democratic leaders were coming out and condemning it and condemning all political violence.
00:15:21.580But their interns, the people underneath them, their supporters, the most vocal people in the young left and the Democratic Socialist organizations were coming out.
00:15:35.480They chose to either ignore it or worse, they chose to actively joke about it, mock Charlie Kirk.
00:15:43.920And what it says, I think, about the left is that in many ways, the left is not only worse than the Republican Party.
00:15:53.400They are about as bad as you can get in terms of systemic ignorance regarding the extremism of their own circles, of the actual people working underneath them.
00:16:04.040Look, you look at Capitol Hill, most of these Democratic politicians are, you know, they're old white guys.
00:16:12.380They would, in olden days, they'd probably be more blue dog types.
00:16:16.080But their interns who pull their strings are about as far left as you can go.
00:16:21.840These are people who truly, you know, 50 years ago, they'd be in the weather underground.
00:16:26.740These people truly have a disdain, not only for America in general, but also for Republicans as people because they disagree,
00:16:37.380because they believe that Republicans are morally reprehensible and that they are morally unable to assimilate to their vision,
00:16:45.580their progressive idea of what this country should be.
00:16:49.560And that just continues to show itself more and more every single day.
00:16:54.360The amount of people, you know, it was the fact that there were 100,000 people in this country, at least,
00:17:01.840those are only the people that we know of that were put on that database for laughing or supporting Charlie Kirk's assassination.
00:17:10.480It just goes to show the systemic rot in this country has gotten really deep.
00:17:16.340And people are taking note of that, not only on the political right, but in the political center as well.
00:17:22.140So the Democrats are now, I believe, in a panic frenzy to try and shove all this stuff under the radar.
00:17:30.220And I think that's where a lot of this comes in, too.
00:17:32.680They believe that by painting the Republicans as actually being Nazis or actually being fascists,
00:17:38.720that they can shove the attention away from them and put it on the right and label all young Republicans,
00:17:47.320label the young generation of conservatives as far-right Nazis, morally reprehensible.
00:17:56.080What people may not be expecting and people may not have expected is the unlikely ally or perhaps likely ally
00:18:05.960that they have received from the moderate right, from the establishment elements of the Republican Party,
00:18:11.700who seem completely ready and willing to go to bat for the left and to work with the left to paint the extremists,
00:18:21.080you know, paint these people as extremists, to try to push aside every element of a more conservative right wing away
00:18:30.260by labeling everyone as Nazis, by trying to make examples of people, by ruining their lives.
00:18:39.140So it just goes to show that, you know, when the left plays hardball, they are able to get away with it.
00:18:46.980They are able to try and push it aside.
00:18:49.400But the right can't play hardball if we have half the party desperately trying to work with the left to put the attention back on the right.
00:19:00.480The attention needs to be on the left because they're the people that, you know,
00:19:03.720the left is where the violent energy is coming from.
00:19:07.700Not all leftists, obviously, but when there is political violence going on in this country over the past several months,
00:19:15.640whether it's with Charlie Kirk or whether it's violence directed at ICE agents in Chicago and Portland,
00:19:55.800Well, I think to most young Republicans, the actual, you know, in the broad scheme of things,
00:20:01.620it's an environment where Charlie Kirk was killed and where Jay Jones hasn't lost a single endorsement
00:20:07.900for his horrible statements that he made over text messages that were released.
00:20:13.020I think young Republicans have really exhausted all their energy to care about this particular situation.
00:20:20.960What infuriates us more is the response from establishment Republican elements.
00:20:27.420And it just goes to show, look, if somebody is placed in a difficult situation, if somebody has somebody go after them or allege something about them,
00:20:37.320that the people that they work for, the people who they are supposed to rely on, who they believe that they should be able to rely on,
00:20:45.300will just throw them under the bus at a moment's notice to protect their own name, to protect their reputation among donor groups.
00:20:52.200And it just goes to show that these people are just not in line with the young elements of the GOP whatsoever.
00:21:01.020And I think it's a lot more systemically induced than that.
00:21:06.260You know, the Republican Party, in many cases, actively seeks to shove young people away from the table.
00:21:13.120And when they do have young people that they try to bring in, usually these young people are more focused on, you know,
00:21:21.440they're people who they believe that they can control, they can control their rhetoric, they can, you know,
00:21:27.840they can make sure that these people are parroting the right talking points.
00:21:32.220Look at who makes up the RNC Youth Advisory Council, for instance.
00:21:36.000So these, the Republican Party will bring those people in.
00:21:41.440And then you have people like Dan Crenshaw, who go out and say, if you're under 25, you should not be running for office.
00:24:26.020Meanwhile, they just have a bunch of right wing young people coming in and just totally torching them
00:24:31.640because they're throwing people under the bus and putting no attention on the left whatsoever.
00:24:36.780And then the left still calls them Nazis.
00:24:39.600So it doesn't they gain nothing out of doing that.
00:24:42.740And, you know, making an example out of them in that way is really important for being able to build a Republican Party that knows how to fight and knows how to win.
00:24:52.580Yeah, well, I want to drill down a little bit on the sort of the the the overall vibe among young people, because, look, we saw the group chat.
00:25:14.240These these group chats are typically quite edgy.
00:25:16.600You know, there's a lot of dark humor, these sorts of things.
00:25:19.800And a friend of mine, Nathan Halberstead, he posted this graph on on Twitter that did numbers, which was showing the percentage of Americans who are homeowners and married by 30.
00:25:31.440And it was like, what, 60, 70 percent in the 1970s.
00:25:35.360And it's just completely fallen off a cliff where I think was hovering around like 10 percent today.
00:26:27.660But I think just generally speaking, the Republican base, especially young people in the Republican base, have been pushed to a point where they just don't care about how they're interpreted anymore.
00:26:40.600Because if you come out again in support of lower tax rates, they will call you a Nazi at this point.
00:26:47.220If you come out and you say, I don't want unlimited immigration or I actually just want to stop illegal immigration, they call you a Nazi.
00:26:56.780So if they call you a Nazi, even when you're being a moderate Republican, if you're saying things that probably 70 percent of Americans can agree on, then what's the point in trying to adhere to those lines?
00:27:08.760Eventually, eventually, people stop caring again.
00:27:12.120Eventually, people stop giving a hoot and, you know, they just start, you know, they start spouting off.
00:27:20.360And I think that's a point where the left has has taken a lot of people in the right, too.
00:27:25.840And the establishment GOP just doesn't recognize that because at the end of the day, they they don't have to face that they aren't in contact with the left.
00:27:35.020They don't know what it's like to be in close contact with the left.
00:27:38.560You know, college students like the ones that I represent in my role as chairman, they are on campus and face harassment from left wing people all the time.
00:27:47.320But if you are living in a multimillion dollar McMansion in northern Virginia and the only experience that you have with the opposite side of the aisle is in the halls of Capitol Hill, you're not going to get that same experience.
00:28:05.500That's sort of a contrast of experiences that's being formed.
00:28:09.060And until it is resolved, the young base will continue to be at odds with the with the older establishment element of the Republican Party.
00:29:00.880And that's the only way that we're going to be able to actually not only push the Overton window, but actually prevent the left from having political power.
00:29:09.060In this country in the way that they did during the Biden administration, because they're angling to get back into it.
00:29:16.620And the number one thing that they want when they hopefully, you know, they want to reclaim power.
00:29:22.740They want to defeat Vance or whoever it's going to be in 2028.
00:29:26.320They want that precedent to be set so that they can really restrict freedom of speech in this country to prevent another Trump or Republican or conservative or right wing presidency from ever happening again.
00:29:40.180And the number one thing that's going to help them achieve that precedent is by labeling all of their political opponents as Nazis, fascists, whatever.
00:29:49.420They want to make sure that that we can be as alienated as humanly possible.
00:29:54.140And the only way that that we're going to prevent that from happening is by getting Republicans who will stand up and and press all the fire to the left.