If you think Trump is vile wait until you see what the young Republicans just did at their gala
This is the future of the GOP!
The news cycle since Saturday has been all consuming--from the shooting at Brown University, to the anti-Semitic terrorist attack in Australia to Rob Reiner and his wife Michele’s murder. Then came Donald Trump’s despicable smear of the Rob Reiner that rightfully resulted in a backlash.
But something occurred Saturday night that demands far more coverage because it confirms that Trump’s vileness does not end when he goes away. Rather, the up-and-coming young Republican leaders are just as dangerous and despicable.
The event at issue was the New York Young Republican Club’s annual gala held Saturday in Manhattan at an upscale venue. What took place? Well, this Politico headline summed it up well, “New York Young Republican Club gala draws white nationalist, far-right Germans as elected officials skip out.”
So who were at the event? White nationalist leaders like Jared Taylor, an influencer who went viral recently for wearing blackface on Halloween, a former George Santos’ staffer who had posted a video depicting Jews as cockroaches, a streamer who posts antisemitic content and has said “people are sick of hearing about the Holocaust.”
And not content to simply showcase the right wing of America, they even featured as an honored guest, Markus Frohnmaier, a German politician whose political party, AfD, has been designated by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency as a right-wing extremist organization. And Frohnmaier’s party recently came under fire for publishing a statement calling for a “new civic order” in Germany and declaring “AfD über alles,” an adaptation of a phrase associated with the Nazi party.
At the dinner, Frohnmaier gave a speech where he urged the young MAGA attendees to join with his far right party. He told them, “Let us reclaim our culture, let us reclaim our nations, and let us make the West whole again.” Yes, he is trying to build a new international alliance where the U.S. joins with the far right—as opposed to fighting against it.
The New York young Republicans leader, Stefano Forte, even mocked the idea of denouncing the Nazi adjacent organization, telling the audience: “You want us to denounce the AfD? You want us to denounce our allies? You want us to denounce those that stand with us?” Stefano instead then ridiculed the “fake news” media.
Others at the event included Jared Taylor, who has been described by organizations that monitor extremism as the head of “a self-styled think tank that publishes an online white supremacist journal American Renaissance.” As the Southern Poverty Law Center documented, Taylor’s past comments include declaring that, “Blacks and whites are different. When blacks are left entirely to their own devices, Western civilization — any kind of civilization — disappears.”
The young Republican leaders knew the press would be attending—even setting up a table for them. So when you see the guests invited and celebrated, please understand these young Republican leaders are intentionally sending a message about what they stand for.
This sold out, swanky event conjured up the rise of right-wing parties in 1930’s Europe headed by aspiring fascist leaders. Adding to that sense was when the young Republican leader Stefano Forte endorsed Trump for a third term during the event despite that being a violation of the US Constitution. But to these anti-democratic movements, the constitution and laws don’t matter—only power.
Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman-- whose district includes lower Manhattan where the gala was held--slammed the event as “rolling out the red carpet for leaders of Germany’s Nazi-cosplaying AfD party.” Other Democrats also protested outside the event including New York Assemblymember Jordan Wright who told Politico, “The people that are in that room, they were calling folks like me watermelon people.” He added, these people were the ones who were “being racist, they were being homophobic, they were idolizing Hitler.”
Wright was referring to the bombshell reporting two months ago that young GOP leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont were exchanging bigoted and hate-filled messages on Telegram they thought were secret. As Politico noted, these messages revealed “a culture where racist, antisemitic and violent rhetoric circulate freely.”
In fact, the head of the New York State Young Republican party Peter Giunta at the time told others in the chat, “I love Hitler.” That was met by a smiley face from another GOP leader.
Other vile comments from these future heads of the GOP in the uncovered text messages included referring to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people.” They “joked” about raping people. Others smeared Jews as being dishonest and untrustworthy because of their faith. Overall, as Politico noted, comments like “fa--ot,” “retarded” and “n--ga” appeared more than 251 times combined.
It was in the shadow of this scandal that the New York young Republicans held this gala, welcoming people known for white supremacy, anti-Jewish hate and more. In fact, the line up was so toxic that New York City far fight GOP Council Member Inna Verniko-a person charged with illegally carrying a gun in 2023 to intimidate pro-Palestinian protesters—decided at the last minute not to attend.
But hundreds of others dressed up to mingle with the far right. And they did so in New York City. That begs the question: If we are seeing this in the very liberal New York, what is happening in the deep red states when it comes to the future GOP leaders?!
But the NY young Republicans embrace of the far right didn’t end with this party. After news broke of the horrific shooting in Australia, the organization posted on social media their embrace of another white supremacist dream, namely deporting non-white people even if they are in the United States legally. They wrote, “The horrific terror attack in Australia last night is more evidence that Remigration is the only path forward for Western countries.” They added, “America, Germany, Australia, and the rest of Europe must implement Remigration or more shootings like this will be inevitable.”
“Remigration” –which has been championed by Germany’s AfD-- is in essence ethnic cleansing of non-white people. Trump has recently embraced this concept as well—which experts note is an “unabashedly white nationalist idea.” And now we see the young Republican leaders seek to weaponize a tragedy to build support to deport those who are not white Europeans.
What we have seen from today’s GOP is that it will not moderate. Instead, it will move further and further to the right. The young Republicans at Saturday’s event simply confirm that very reality. And they warn us of what we must be prepared to defeat.
For many years I've been saying that conservatism is a deep-seated mental illness. This article is simply further proof of the veracity of that premise. Voting for republicans today is like voting for demons. We had better wake up, America, or we will find ourselves in thrall to a pack of young republican vipers who will destroy anything and anyone that they dislike.
I hate it, Dean, but thanks for reporting it!