Black leaders say racist texts from Young Republican group is a reflection of Trump’s MAGA party

“Unfortunately, this kind of racist, hateful rhetoric has become all too common under Donald Trump,” DNC senior spokesperson Marcus W. Robinson told theGrio after a bombshell report published by Politico.

The Republican Party is being called out after leaked text messages from leaders of several young Republican groups revealed several racist remarks and jokes about things like slavery and rape.

“It’s extremely disturbing to know how the next generation of Republican leaders behaves when they believe no one is watching,” U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in a statement to theGrio.

“The climate that has been unleashed since Donald Trump first came onto the scene has fostered such vile, hate-fueled, and racist rhetoric, and unfortunately, it has infected his party’s future.”

The bombshell investigative report came from Politico, which exposed the private text messages exchanged among several young Republicans, some of whom worked for Republican lawmakers and received party endorsements from prominent MAGA figures, including Roger Stone, longtime advisor to President Donald Trump.

The scrutinized texts included conversations between Peter Giunta, former chair of the New York State Young Republicans; William Hendrix, the vice chair of the Kansas Young Republicans; Alex Dwyer, the chair of the Kansas Young Republicans; Bobby Walker, the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans; Luke Mosiman, the chair of the Arizona Young Republicans; Joe Maligno, the general counsel for the New York State Young Republicans; and Rachel Hope, events chair of the Arizona Young Republicans.

Many of the texts targeted Black Americans, Latinos, Jews and Asians.

“I’d go to the zoo if I wanted to watch monkey play ball,” wrote Giunta when discussing an NBA playoff game. He also referred to Black people as “the watermelon people,” Politico reports.

Hendrix also made similar references to racist tropes about Black people and food, writing in July, “Bro is at a chicken restaurant ordering his food. Would he like some watermelon and kool aid with that?”

Hendrix lost his job as communications assistant for Republican Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach as a result of the leaked text messages.

Giunta, the former chair of the New York State Young Republicans, wrote approvingly about slavery in a text celebrating the ideology of a young Republican group in Orange County, New York.

“They support slavery and all that sh—t. Mega based,” he said, referring to the term “based,” which is known in internet culture to mean something is good or to embrace one’s belief.

When discussing the skin color of a pilot, Giunta used similar language to that used by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot on Sept. 10.

“If your pilot is a she and she looks ten shades darker than someone from Sicily, just end it there. Scream the no no word,” Giunta wrote.

While arguing against DEI hiring practices, Kirk infamouly said, “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.”

In one text exchange, Walker, the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans at the time, referred to rape as “epic.”

In response to the leaked text messages, a White House spokesperson slammed Politico for “desperately” trying to tie President Trump to a “random” group chat he has “no affiliation” with, and said the outlet failed to mention “the dangerous smears coming from Democrat politicians who have fantasized about murdering their opponent and called Republicans Nazis and Fascists.”

The spokesperson said, “No one has been subjected to more vicious rhetoric and violence than President Trump and his supporters.”

In a statement provided to theGrio, NAACP President Derrick Johnson challenged President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson to condemn the racist texts from young Republican leaders.

“If [they] legitimately want us to believe that this country is for all, then I dare them to publicly condemn these words and behavior. We’re all waiting,” said Johnson.

The civil rights leader continued, “This is yet another indication of the deeper rot in our civic culture. The way these young leaders are casually texting about committing heinous acts is disgusting.”

Johnson added, “But this isn’t about one chatroom. It’s about the culture that these leaders represent. One where racism, antisemitism, sexual abuse, and violence are a punchline. Anyone who tries to excuse this behavior is complicit in normalizing cruelty.”

“Unfortunately, this kind of racist, hateful rhetoric has become all too common under Donald Trump. This is not about policy differences — it’s about mainstreaming a reprehensible politics that seeks to drag our nation backward,” Marcus W. Robinson, a senior spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), told theGrio.

“The truth is, the rot starts at the top. Frankly, every Republican who has empowered these individuals should be ashamed. We deserve better,” Robinson added.

Congresswoman Clarke refused to let Trump and Republican leaders off the hook, telling theGrio that they created a “permissive environment for hatred, bigotry, racism and xenophobia.”

The CBC chairwoman said this “legacy of hatred” is not being “implemented into policy” by the Trump administration.

“Everything from Trump’s unconstitutional executive orders targeting Black and brown people, State redistricting, the erasure of our history to benefit theirs, and the attack on federal workers and DEI is all rooted in the fabric of racism,” noted Clarke, who also called on Republican leaders to condemn the messages.

Clarke called out other incidents of racism that Trump and others dismissed.

“At this point, I don’t want to hear, ‘oh, they are very fine people,’ or gaslight individuals who point out that this vile thinking is resonating within the Republican Party,” the New York lawmaker said.

She added, “Today’s news isn’t news — now, we just have what we already knew in writing.”