If Your Group Chat Praises Hitler, You Don’t Have a PR Problem, You Have a You Problem

When Politico dropped nearly 3,000 pages of leaked Telegram messages from the Young Republican National Federation, it revealed a disturbing culture behind closed doors. In this episode, Molly McPherson unpacks why private chats are never really private, how weak apologies deepen a crisis, and what this scandal teaches every leader about accountability, ethics, and reputation in the digital age.

Key Discussion Points:

• The leaked Telegram chat that destroyed the Young Republican National Federation’s credibility
• Why “kids will be kids” is not a defense when adults hold positions of power
• The myth of online privacy and how “anonymous” messages are always traceable
• How a values gap—what an organization says publicly vs. what it allows privately—leads to crisis
• Dissecting the failed apologies that followed the leak
• Molly’s five “PR truths” for digital-age leadership:
• The difference between genuine accountability and PR spin

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Chapters

• 0:00 The Lie Of “Private” Chats
• 0:14 What The Leak Revealed
• 1:54 Naming Names And Consequences
• 4:26 Party Responses And “Kids” Defense
• 6:08 The Illusion Of Privacy Explained
• 8:10 Values Gaps And Silent Approval
• 9:45 Bad Apologies Decoded
• 11:12 Five Non‑Negotiable PR Truths

Transcript

Molly McPherson: 0:00

Let's start with a familiar lie. No one will know about it. It's in a private chat. That sentence has buried more reputations than any headline. Last week it buried an entire wing of the Republican Party's youth movement. Politico dropped nearly 3,000 pages of leaked Telegram messages from the Young Republican National Federation, the group that's supposed to represent the next generation of GOP leadership. Inside that chat, racist jokes, anti-Semitic banter, praise for Hitler, references to rape as a punchline. It was like a dark corner of the internet, except they weren't anonymous trolls. These were people in office on payrolls and sitting on national committees. And when the story broke, the country's reaction split into. Some Republican leaders, many in the Democratic Party, condemned it. Some Republican leaders condemned it as well. But others, including Vice President J.D.

JD Vance: 0:58

Vance, shrugged and said that kids do stupid things, especially young boys. They tell edgy, offensive jokes. Like that's what kids do.

Molly McPherson: 1:08

But here's the problem: the obvious problem. These weren't kids. They were adults. And they were supposed to be the future of the Republican Party. So in today's episode of the PR Breakdown, let's talk about why anonymous chats are never anonymous, why private is a myth, and how a crisis like this becomes a case study in failed accountability. Let's go back to where it begins. The Telegram chat was called Restore YR War Room. That would be the Young Republicans. It ran for seven months, January through August, and involved at least 12 members of state-level young Republican groups. Let's go down the list. Do I have any shame naming these names? No, I do not. They are not minors. They are people who are involved in a public chat. And it was in the political article. Here we go. Peter Gwinta, New York's young Republican chair and chief of staff to Assembly member Mike Riley. He joked about loving Hitler and sending political opponents to the gas chamber. He was fired from his assembly job and resigned from his chair role. Bobby Walker, vice chair in New York, described rape as epic. He resigned soon after Political published the chat. Joe Meligno, general counsel for the same group, again, remember J.D. Vance called them kids, joked about the Hitler aesthetic and fixing the showers. He was removed from the organization. Annie K. Caddy, a national committee member and Gwynta's reported partner, said she was, quote, ready to watch people burn. She now faces removal from her national post. Alex Dwyer, chair of the Kansas Young Republicans, reacted with a smiley emoji to the Hitler messages. The entire Kansas chapter was dissolved. William Hendricks, Kansas vice chair, repeatedly used anti-black slurs. He was banned from future GOP youth roles in the state. Luke Mosaman, Arizona events chair, called for sexual violence against a political opponent. He lost his campaign job. Samuel Douglas, a Vermont state senator and head of the state's young Republicans, mocked Indian Americans. Vermont Governor Phil Scott demanded his resignation, and the state GOP suspended him. Brianna Douglas, his wife and communications chair, shared anti-Semitic stereotypes. She resigned amid the backlash. Michael Bartels, a senior advisor at the U.S. Small Business Administration, didn't post slurs but failed to intervene. He is now under internal review by the SBA. And Rachel Hope, an Arizona events director, shared white supremacist slogans. She was removed by state GOP leadership. Again, do any of them sound like kids? This was not a rogue intern problem. It was a network of people with power and a culture that told them hate was just another joke thread. When Politico broke the story, the Young Republican National Federation condemned the chat as vile and inexcusable, demanding resignations across the board. And as I said earlier, Kansas decided to shut its entire young Republican chapter down completely. That's not a slap on the wrist. That is a full organizational obituary. But then came the political response and it split down the middle. Some Republicans, like Representative Michael Lawler and Vermont's Governor Phil Scott, no surprise he was in the chat, called for immediate resignations. Others just tried to poo it away. In an interview on the Charlie Kirk show, Vice President J.D.

JD Vance: 4:35

Vance said this That kids do stupid things, especially young boys. They tell edgy, offensive jokes. Like that's what kids do.

Molly McPherson: 4:45

All right, maybe kids tell offensive jokes, but those weren't just offensive jokes, and those weren't kids. But then he warned his own children to assume some scumbag might leak your message one day. Now notice what's missing from that sentence. Any mention of not saying anything racist or anti-Semitic or violent things. This is again just trying to deflect and diminish what the chat said and did and what the implications from that chat were. That's not moral leadership. Right now, that's the administration's leadership. But if you were in that situation, and let's say you were a spokesperson at a company and you were dismissing it as kids, that's crisis management when it goes off the rails. Because those ages of the chat members between 24 and 35. The typical age of a college graduate, 21, 22. They weren't boys, they weren't kids, they were grown adults with salaries, staff, and influence. Calling them kids is PR code for please don't hold anyone accountable. But here's the rule in communication: you don't get to claim youth when you hold power. Once you step into leadership, just joking isn't an option. Even though they were considered young Republicans, many people might assume it's a bunch of college students. No, this is just Republicans who happen to be on the young side of adulthood. But let's talk about what this story really exposes, and that's the illusion of privacy. Every private chat is one screenshot away from public. And every person who laughs along at a slur is already building their own scandal in slow motion. I can tell you, recently I worked with a client who went through this issue. They hired me because there was a potential that their name could be leaked in a private chat that was on a website that I never even heard of. And in the call, other websites were mentioned, some that I definitely knew about, but many I had never heard of them. These types of websites, you think if most people in the mainstream don't even hear about them and everyone is anonymous, well, it's never going to get out. But yes, there are sometimes leaks or breaches, but also people can triangulate, and that's what happened to the person who I was talking to. Their name wasn't leaked because of some cyber hack or cyber breach. It was leaked because someone triangulated who they were by looking at past chats and past comments. And the issue is this person thought that their name and business and everything that they're affiliated would fall apart simply because of this leak. And the person who I was talking to was a very reasonable person. And it was someone who also admitted, I wouldn't normally say these things, which is the whole point. These young Republicans didn't get caught because they slipped up once. They got caught because they believed privacy meant protection. When people get into a group like this, it forms a community. And if that community has an assumption of animidity, people can say things they wouldn't normally say out in the light. Assumed privacy does not mean protection, it means delayed exposure. When people think no one is really watching, that's when you find out who they really are. In PR terms, this is called a values gap. The difference between what an organization says publicly and what it tolerates privately. Every brand, every campaign, every company has one, or they should at least. And when the gap gets too wide, it collapses. Because the internet doesn't just expose what you say, it reveals what you allow. Those seven months of chat logs, they weren't just racist and cruel. They were normal. And that's the terrifying part. No one said stop. No one said that's wrong. They just kept typing. Silence wasn't by accident, it was approval. And then came the apologies. If you've ever wanted a crash course and what not to say after a scandal or PR crisis, last week was it. Let's break down some of them. Peter Gwinta, he was the name I mentioned at the beginning. He was the New York young Republican chair and chief of staff to Assembly member Mike Riley. He's the one who joked about loving Hitler. He said, quote, I'm sorry to those offended by the inexcusable language found in our private chat, end quote. Translation. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry to those offended. And he talked about Hitler. That is such a bad apology. Bobby Walker, vice chair in New York, he's the one who described rape as, quote, epic. He had to resign. His apology, he said the logs, quote, might have been taken out of context, but added that he's committed to moving forward with greater care, end quote. Translation, I'd like to apologize without admitting guilt. And one of the most common phrases, this was obtained to inflict harm. In other words, the translation, the real victim is me. Every one of the statements affiliated with this chat, and there could be more that come out, fail the crisis test. Because a real apology requires naming the behavior. I made racist and anti-Semitic remarks, naming the harm. I hurt specific communities and betrayed public trust, accepting the consequence. I resigned from my role, committing to change. Here's how I'll repair the damage within there, the indestructible PR framework. Own it, explain it, promise it. If it doesn't include it, it's not an apology. It's a press release. Now let's get practical. Here are five PR truths that should be in the Bible of every organization in America. One, privacy is temporary. Every group chat is one screenshot away from daylight. Right like it will leak because it will. Two, silence is consent. If you read, if you sit in a room or a thread where racism or hate is the norm, you are a part of it. Three, cancel culture isn't real. Accountability is. Losing a job for praising Hitler isn't cancellation. That's consequence. Four, culture beats strategy. You can have the best messaging plan in the world, but if your internal culture is rotten, the public will find out. And five, screenshots outlive careers. You can delete a post, but you can't delete a screenshot, especially when someone else has it in their phone. And that's not paranoia, it's permanence. So the lesson here isn't just for the GOP, it's for anyone leading in the digital age. Already lost it. If your defense is, we were just joking, you're not leading, you're deflecting. Leadership isn't what you post on social media, it's what you tolerate when no one's watching. So here's your breakdown Anonymous chats are never anonymous, accountability is not optional, and private is not a place, it's a delay. And when that delay ends, the truth always shows up. That's all for this week on the podcast. Thanks so much for listening. Bye for now.