In a world spiraling into war, with AI rising and jobs falling, it’s easy to miss the little things — like a spate of young Republicans praising Hitler. Not so long ago, hugging Hitler was one of those lines you just didn’t cross in a decent democracy, and for good reason: fascism, the Second World War and genocide. Murdering millions of humans should never inspire admiration. But that’s what’s been happening with increasing regularity, revealed by a recent string of unhinged text chains revealed among young Republican leaders. This isn’t an outlier or a one-off. It’s a pattern and a problem. Last week, the Miami Herald revealed the contents of an extensive group chat started by the secretary of Miami-Dade County’s Republican Party, for conservative students at Florida International University. The chat quickly degenerated into a cesspool of racism, violent fantasies, and Hitler-admiration. The n-word was used over 400 times, including in ruminations on the best ways to murder African Americans (curb-stomping and crucifixion were mentioned by one allegedly pro-life member of the chat). The chat also included extensive references to women as “whores,” fantasies about all-white immigration laws, and free-flowing hatred toward Jewish Americans. The chat group was named “Gooning in Agartha” — which is a strange combo platter suggesting ornate masturbation rituals in “Nazi heaven.” Now, an isolated bout of hate-flu perhaps could be dismissed, but it directly echoed another group chat of national young Republican leaders uncovered by reporters at Politico less than six months ago. In this Telegram chat, leaders from New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont let their bile casually flow. [...] This didn’t come out of nowhere. There was evidence of an ugly permission structure in Trump’s refusal to denounce David Duke in 2016, the both-siderism after the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally in which khaki’d men with torches shouted “Jews will not replace us,” and the presence of at least give self-described Nazis at the January 6 attack on the Capitol, as I reported in a CNN “Reality Check” segment. The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols — himself a former Republican — recently catalogued the Trump’s administration’s increasing use of Nazi iconography in an article concisely titled, “The Republican Party Has a Nazi Problem.” We cannot allow this depraved new low to be normalized in America. The autocratic impulse that leads weak people to fall under the sway of a self-styled strong man leads to lethal places. This problem is erupting from the base, particularly from younger members, who should be the most idealistic participants in our politics. It cannot be contained, it must be confronted consistently — particularly from Republicans. Each party has an obligation to police its own extremes and there is nothing more extreme — and evil — than Adolph Hitler and his genocidal goosestepping thugs. If you can’t clearly and confidently call out Nazi admirers in your own party, then you’ve put party over country, conscience, and common sense.
John Avlon for Rolling Stone on the GOP's increasing Nazi problems, especially in Young Republicans and College Republicans spaces (03.13.2026).
Excellent commentary from John Avlon in Rolling Stone on the GOP’s increasing Nazi problems, especially in Young Republicans and College Republicans spaces.
