Vance Defends Young Republicans Over Group Chat Leak

Vice President JD Vance shrugged off the outrage on Wednesday about a leaked group chat from young conservatives, arguing this pales in comparison to the exposed texts from Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones.

Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump separately slammed Democrats who continue to back Virginia attorney general candidate Jones as his campaign unravels over texts envisioning the murder of a former top Republican lawmaker and his young children.

Jones — who sent messages claiming he would gladly shoot former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert — will face off with incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares at the University of Richmond on Thursday in their sole debate.

Vance also tweeted and spoke about the outrage over a leaked group chat, first reported by Politico, in which young Republican activists — many from New York, sent texts that included mentions of Adolf Hitler, racial slurs, and other offensive statements, many of which may have been jokes typical of Generation Z’s offensive and absurdist sense of shock-value-based humor.

Vance shared a screenshot of Jones' texts hoping a Republican colleague’s children would die and wrote, "This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia. I refuse to join the pearl-clutching when powerful people call for political violence."

Vance responded to the incident further on the late Charlie Kirk’s podcast, noting "a person who is very politically powerful, who is about to become one of the most powerful law enforcement officers in the country, that person seriously wishing for political violence and political assassination is 1,000 times worse than what a bunch of young people, a bunch of kids say in a group chat, however offensive it might be. That's just the reality."

He added further, "And if you allow yourself to be distracted by this person's incredible endorsement, disgusting endorsement of political assassination by focusing on what kids are saying in a group chat, grow up."

Vance noted that today’s world is very different from the one where he grew up, one where one must be extremely careful about being scrutinized for offensive jokes, "but the reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys, they tell edgy, offensive jokes… I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where where a kid telling a stupid joke — telling a very offensive, stupid joke is cause to ruin their lives."

He alluded to the phenomenon of cancel culture that has been ubiquitous in America for years, arguing it is time to reject such tactics for good.

"And at some point, we're all going to have to say, 'Enough of this BS. We're not going to allow the worst moment in a 21-year-old's group chat to ruin a kid's life for the rest of time,'" he said.