Today, Explained — The "I Love Hitler" Group Chat

Podcast: Today, Explained by Vox
Episode Date: October 21, 2025
Host: Noel King
Guests: Andrew Prokop (Vox Senior Political Correspondent), Jamie Cohen (Associate Professor of Media Studies, CUNY Queens College)

Episode Overview

This episode confronts the uproar around a leaked group chat of prominent Young Republicans, which included texted jokes and comments lauding Hitler and using racist, antisemitic, and bigoted slurs. Vox’s Andrew Prokop and meme culture scholar Jamie Cohen join host Noel King to break down what happened, why it matters, and what it signals about the normalization of extremism in conservative circles and online culture at large.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Unpacking the Group Chat Scandal

• Who Was Involved:

  • The group chat included Republican staffers and influencers aged 22–40 ("not that young" — [02:29]), described as up-and-comers rather than current household names.

• Contents of the Chat:

  • The chat contained offensively “edgy humor” about Hitler, gas chambers, racist remarks (such as calling Black people “watermelon people” and comparing NBA players to "monkeys"), and slurs (“fat stinky Jew”).
    • [Andrew Prokop, 02:47]: "A lot of this was kind of edgy humor in which they were joking about all sorts of taboo topics. There Was a lot of talk about Hitler, about gas chambers...a lot of nasty stuff here."

2. Republican Responses: Split & Defensive

• Condemnation vs. Deflection:
  • Some in the party called for firings, while others, including Vice President J.D. Vance, dismissed the chat as youthful indiscretion:
    • [J.D. Vance, 03:45]: "Focus on the real issues. Don't focus on what kids say in group chats."
    • [J.D. Vance, 04:31]: “Focusing on what kids are saying in a group chat. Grow up.”
    • [J.D. Vance, 04:45]: "I really don't want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke, telling a very offensive stupid joke is cause to ruin their lives."
• Emergent Right-Wing Debate:
  • The right debated if this was an isolated incident, or a sign of deeper norms emerging:
    • [Andrew Prokop, 04:53]: "Should there be a line somewhere, is enough enough? And is this a sign of a worrying trend that blatant antisemitism and bigotry are being normalized among the young right in a way that is worsening and that will have very bad consequences for our society and perhaps for the Republican Party as well?"

3. Is It New? The Roots of Extremism in Young Conservative Circles

• Not a Shock, but a Trend:
  • Prokop traces similar strains back to alt-right message boards (4chan, the 2017 Charlottesville rally: “You will not replace us” — [Jamie Cohen, 06:11]).
  • Recently, prominent voices on the right (Christopher Rufo, Richard Hanania) have warned about the normalization of racialism and antisemitism among young conservatives.
    • [Andrew Prokop, 06:56]: "Racialism, anti Semitism and conspiracism were entering some corners of mainstream conservatism...have, quote, gained a foothold among their Gen Z colleagues in Washington."
• “Based Ritual” & Edgy Competition:
  • Hanania describes a “based ritual" of young MAGA operatives vying to say the most outrageous or offensive things, nominally as irony, but increasingly pushing boundaries.

4. The Influence of Right-Wing Internet Ecosystem

• Mixing with Mainstream Influence:
  • Figures like Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens spread conspiratorial or openly antisemitic ideas on large platforms.
  • The Charlie Kirk conspiracy:
    • Following the murder of activist Charlie Kirk, right-wing influencers took to social media and podcasts, some floating baseless theories implicating Jews or Israelis ([09:13]-[12:49]).
    • [Andrew Prokop, 11:08]: "He was always in touch about where the trends were among the young rights rank and file. He recognized they were increasingly divided over Israel."
• Pushback & Mainstream Right’s Reluctance:
  • Even as some call out this rhetoric, many Republicans are wary of “censorship,” leading to a hands-off approach to policing bigotry in their ranks.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On the Freedom and Danger of Private Speech:
  • [Jamie Cohen, 22:23]: “We do need an ability to express ourselves freer with our group chats...community should have the ability to have a flexibility of language that is acceptable among friends. That is how it is...But when you normalize any type of slow violence, meaning, like, these are just jokes at this point...the borders of your group chat spill out into real life.”
• On Testing Boundaries with Extreme Speech:
  • [Jamie Cohen, 19:32]: "Each person who holds their ideologies...tests people by using language that are pretty specific to their space and ideology...if nobody pushes back, you know that's an acceptable form of speech inside those communities."
• On Responsibility and Consequence:
  • [Jamie Cohen, 20:57]: "When you're running for attorney general, you really are the person who's kind of responsible for that type of justice. And so that type of speech...being inconsequential about that in that speech is irresponsible....it falls under what would be considered threat. And that isn't protected by our First Amendment rights."
• On Minimizing the Importance of Staffers:
  • [Noel King, 24:04]: "These are not particularly charismatic people....maybe. And you, you know, we've heard conservatives make this argument. They are people at the lower echelon who weren't really heading anywhere. And therefore it's not so much to worry about."
  • [Jamie Cohen, 24:33]: "I would ask where J.D. Vance was in the echelon 10 years ago....there's a likely trajectory of the moving up to potentially the vice presidency or the presidency itself."
• On J.D. Vance’s Influence:
  • [Jamie Cohen, 26:31]: "So I was fascinated by that level of aggressive mockery of somebody just saying something on Twitter on X and how much that type of speech has become normalized not just by politics, but by culture and media as well…I do believe that Vance is speaking...towards the future of the party that he is likely to or imagines himself to inherit."
  • [Jamie Cohen, 27:28]: "People still see the Internet as another place, but J.D. vance and this chat group shows that like the Internet is everywhere and Internet culture is running our politics and our culture at this point.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:29] — Details of the group chat and the people involved
• [02:47] — Outline of the racist and antisemitic content
• [03:35–04:53] — Split reactions in the Republican Party; J.D. Vance’s defense
• [05:34] — Historical patterns of hate and antisemitism on the right
• [06:56] — Mainstream right voices warn about rising extremism among young conservatives
• [08:58] — How right-wing influencers and internet culture popularize bigotry
• [11:08] — The Charlie Kirk case and right-wing antisemitic conspiracy theories
• [18:28] — Jamie Cohen explains meme culture and normalization of hate speech
• [19:32] — On the "Overton window" in online group dynamics
• [22:23] — Jamie Cohen discusses the freedom of private speech and dangers when “slow violence” is normalized
• [24:33] — Why dismissing “low-level” staffers misses how quickly people can rise in influence
• [25:13] — The normalization of digital aggression and political contempt, exemplified by J.D. Vance
• [27:28] — The fusion of internet culture and mainstream politics

Conclusion: What Does It All Mean?

This episode highlights how private digital spaces, once dismissed as harmless, now influence public discourse and political trajectories. "Edgy" extremist speech among young conservatives isn’t just an online ritual—it conditions social and ideological norms. The reluctance of high-profile leaders like J.D. Vance to condemn or take action suggests these attitudes are more mainstream—and potentially more enduring—than previously thought.

Final thought from Jamie Cohen:
"Internet culture is running our politics and our culture at this point. We have to really pay very close attention to how J.D. vance speaks because he may be speaking to his echo chamber, but he is expecting that chamber to get much larger and encompass everything around us." — [27:28]

For more: Visit Vox.com or listen to the full episode.