Speaker 1: Hey there, folks, it is Wednesday, October the fifteenth. Black
Speaker 1: people are actually watermelon people. That's just one of the
Speaker 1: little gems we got from thousands and thousands of pages
Speaker 1: of leaked text exchanges among young Republican leaders. And with that,
Speaker 1: welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 2: Rope.
Speaker 1: This story is everybody's just buzzing about like crazy because
Speaker 1: some of these details, it's almost look these are private
Speaker 1: messages that got out.
Speaker 2: It's hard to believe.
Speaker 1: Still in a private message that you would say some
Speaker 1: of this stuff in a group of four or five,
Speaker 1: six plus people.
Speaker 3: It's jaw dropping, and it's interesting to have read through
Speaker 3: most of what political reported. They are the ones who
Speaker 3: got hold of these text messages. And again these are
Speaker 3: seven months of messages, twenty nine thousand pages. And for
Speaker 3: me it was jaw dropping, not just the tone and
Speaker 3: the words and the language used, but how often they're used,
Speaker 3: how cavalleterly they're used, how disgustingly they're referred to.
Speaker 4: Joked about it. I was appalled.
Speaker 3: You and I had very different reactions, though it was
Speaker 3: interesting if you look at it from the perspective of
Speaker 3: each one of our lives. How I viewed all of this,
Speaker 3: and how you viewed all of this that's coming to light.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm sure a lot of people out there
Speaker 1: are having some of those same conversations and experiences about this.
Speaker 1: When what we're talking about, if you're not familiar, we're
Speaker 1: seeing these are young Republicans. We're not just talking about
Speaker 1: people who are Republicans who happen to be young. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: this is official group. This is an official group, an
Speaker 1: organization that is officially affiliated with the National Republican Party. Yes,
Speaker 1: they're called the Young Republicans. They're focused on, yes, young conservatives.
Speaker 1: But they have chapters in just about every state in
Speaker 1: the country, hundreds of chapters, fifteen thousand members they say
Speaker 1: they have. So what we're talking about here are young
Speaker 1: Republicans part of this group, part of chapters in the US,
Speaker 1: and these were leaders sin they had various leadership positions
Speaker 1: within Young Republicans. Now this year Telegram, I don't use telegram,
Speaker 1: but there's another messaging app they're all on and over
Speaker 1: the course of all of these months, they're having conversations
Speaker 1: in which, as Political put it in their exclusive reporting,
Speaker 1: this was their headline, I Love Hitler leaked messages expose
Speaker 1: young Republicans racist chat. The sub headline thousands of private
Speaker 1: messages reveal young geopute leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery,
Speaker 1: and rape. That's the headline everybody is buzzing about. Now
Speaker 1: we start to break this thing down, Robes. Yes, there's
Speaker 1: been condemnation on both sides, but then there's measured and
Speaker 1: almost no condemnation coming from one particular part. We will
Speaker 1: get into that. But the shock and the outrage of it,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm not The language doesn't shock me.
Speaker 2: I'm a little.
Speaker 1: Surprised that they would put it in a message in
Speaker 1: a group chat. This big to be quite frank, But
Speaker 1: the tone things they said, how they say them, how
Speaker 1: casually they talk about racist things, no surprise, And to
Speaker 1: be honest with you, is not even creative watermelon people.
Speaker 2: They go in the same.
Speaker 1: Tired, stupid, lazy ass tropes that white folks like this
Speaker 1: I often see.
Speaker 2: Do nothing surprising about.
Speaker 3: This, and my experience was very different in that I
Speaker 3: couldn't believe that not only people would be willing and
Speaker 3: emboldened enough to put this yes in a text, but
Speaker 3: just to even say it, think it, believe it, share it,
Speaker 3: laugh about it. I just I've not seen or heard
Speaker 3: people talk like this, and so I and I know
Speaker 3: you're laughing because but I'm just saying I call me naive.
Speaker 3: I just I actually feel sickened by the fact that
Speaker 3: I look at it from the This is the younger generation, right,
Speaker 3: We're supposed to be more aware of how important and
Speaker 3: how how words matter, and how easily things get leaked,
Speaker 3: and just being tech savvy and knowing not to go
Speaker 3: there do that say that, especially in a forum that
Speaker 3: could clearly be.
Speaker 4: Screen grabbed and sent.
Speaker 3: And it's amazing the brazenness with which these folks say
Speaker 3: what they've said.
Speaker 4: And look, when you click on Politico.
Speaker 3: They have a graphic that's really compelling that has some
Speaker 3: of these text messages.
Speaker 4: Popped up all in a row.
Speaker 3: But just I feel like we should read some of it,
Speaker 3: just because this is how outrageous it is. I don't
Speaker 3: want to give any weight to it, or even give
Speaker 3: any I don't want to glamorize any of this because
Speaker 3: it is just so appalling.
Speaker 4: But just to give you an idea of.
Speaker 3: Some of the things that were said, great, I love Hitler.
Speaker 3: I'd go to the zoo if I wanted to watch
Speaker 3: monkey play ball. Everyone that votes know is going to
Speaker 3: the gas chamber. I'm ready to watch people burn. Now,
Speaker 3: it's just they use words that I won't even repeat
Speaker 3: and you wouldn't repeat, that are just so inflammatory and
Speaker 3: defammatory that I'm appalled that people would put this and
Speaker 3: then to think that they're leading groups, that they're actually
Speaker 3: organizing people to vote.
Speaker 4: It's disturbing on a million different levels.
Speaker 1: Hey, we'll tell you some of the context in which
Speaker 1: they say some of these text messages were said, because
Speaker 1: we have heard from a couple of people who are
Speaker 1: apart acknowledging they were a part of it, but they
Speaker 1: give apologies but then not really apologies at the same time. Now,
Speaker 1: in particular, we're just talking about these folks who were
Speaker 1: from four particular states New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont.
Speaker 1: They were part of those Young Republicans organizations in particular. Now,
Speaker 1: the folks we're talking about will get their names to
Speaker 1: you here in just a second. You won't necessarily know
Speaker 1: those names, but look to get on just to make
Speaker 1: sure we're on the record with who these folks are.
Speaker 1: The messages themselves political says. They have twenty eight thousand
Speaker 1: pages right, robes of text messages, and in those pages
Speaker 1: they have, they have two hundred and fifty one they
Speaker 1: count it specific, two hundred and fifty one instances they
Speaker 1: say mentioning the N word, the F word, and the
Speaker 1: R word. Now, I think most of you know what
Speaker 1: the R and the F word are that we are
Speaker 1: talking about in particular, but they went through and count it.
Speaker 1: Now in some of the messages you mentioned one about
Speaker 1: monkey ball. Now, somebody on this particular chain was asked
Speaker 1: if he was watching an NBA playoff game and the
Speaker 1: response that's when he came up with that line you
Speaker 1: mentioned Robes quote, I'd go to the zoo if I
Speaker 1: wanted to watch monkey playball. Now that's in direct reference
Speaker 1: to an NBA game. Now, that is awful. It's terrible,
Speaker 1: it's disgusting. Can't believe you wrote it down. Not shocked
Speaker 1: this dude would say it. I'm not shocked. That is
Speaker 1: such a lazy, stupid ass joke. Like it's not even
Speaker 1: it's not funny, it's not clever, it's not cute. It's
Speaker 1: like a throwaway, like you're trying to be cool or
Speaker 1: somebody that. And to also know that he was he
Speaker 1: was in an audience in which he could say that.
Speaker 4: He felt like he was in a safe space.
Speaker 1: That is, that is as as terrible as throw the
Speaker 1: in word in there for good measure, Like that's just
Speaker 1: so stupid.
Speaker 4: It is.
Speaker 3: It's it's like lowest common denominator BS. And it's not
Speaker 3: not that you want someone to be clever and racist,
Speaker 3: but it's it's ignorance. And it's just again like it's
Speaker 3: low hanging fruit. It's it's not smart, it's not thoughtful,
Speaker 3: it's just childish.
Speaker 2: It just doesn't.
Speaker 1: Rise to the level of me being outraged at something
Speaker 1: like that, Given the number of times I've had to
Speaker 1: be exposed to some foolishness like that, it just didn't
Speaker 1: rise to the level. So as I'm we're in the
Speaker 1: house here, one of us black, one of was white,
Speaker 1: looking at this story in two totally different ways, me,
Speaker 1: I can't even believe it's being talked about. Like I
Speaker 1: understand why I'm not saying from a new standpoint, but
Speaker 1: as far as any outrage or getting worked up or
Speaker 1: being shocked or how could they or what needs to
Speaker 1: happen to them, I'm just okay, fine. Some other people
Speaker 1: are now exposed to and aware that this happens. But yeah,
Speaker 1: this is this is not a this is not a
Speaker 1: big day to hear this. Now, it's disappointing. These are
Speaker 1: young Republicans. They're the future of the party. Aren't the
Speaker 1: young one supposed to do better than we did?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean that's the point.
Speaker 3: This is the Young Republican National Federation this day of
Speaker 3: fifteen thousand members. It's for Republicans between the ages of
Speaker 3: eighteen and forty. And again, we're not condemning the group
Speaker 3: with the organization. These are a few people who have
Speaker 3: been singled out who wrote and for months wrote just disgusting,
Speaker 3: despicable things. It doesn't we don't mean to imply that
Speaker 3: anyone else in the group feels or shares these thoughts.
Speaker 3: These are specific people with disgusting language, and unfortunately they
Speaker 3: were some of the few at the top that were
Speaker 3: leading organizations. These weren't just members who were spouting off.
Speaker 3: These are people who actually had positions of authority and
Speaker 3: power within the group, and that is what makes it
Speaker 3: extra disturbing.
Speaker 1: Another example here, someone was making a reference he had
Speaker 1: just landed after its flight and said, quote, if your
Speaker 1: pilot is a sheet and she looks ten shades darker
Speaker 1: than someone from sicily just end it there, scream the
Speaker 1: no word whatever. Watermelon people was used as a reference
Speaker 1: as well. Another reference again throwing in now talking about
Speaker 1: it potential Indian. Somebody talking about dating an Indian woman,
Speaker 1: and then someone chimed in that she's not Indian. And
Speaker 1: then someone else responded and I quote she just didn't
Speaker 1: bathe often, essentially saying she's not Indian, You're mistaken. She
Speaker 1: just didn't bathe often. Those are just a few of
Speaker 1: the examples. You talked about the gas chamber, They talked
Speaker 1: about sending people and executing.
Speaker 2: There are references to slavery.
Speaker 1: And being There was one group that he was mentioning
Speaker 1: another group of Republicans, and he was someone in the
Speaker 1: chat said they were in favor of that group or
Speaker 1: favor of that group because they wanted to bring back
Speaker 1: slavery like things like that are throughout now. Is there
Speaker 1: any defense for this robes in any way, shape or form,
Speaker 1: any defense for this language that you could find a
Speaker 1: way to give these dudes a break.
Speaker 4: The answer is no.
Speaker 3: And a lot of this was so grossly personally motivated.
Speaker 3: When one of the members and we'll get into the names.
Speaker 3: Was trying to become the chair of the Young Republican
Speaker 3: National Federation like.
Speaker 4: The head of the head.
Speaker 3: He wrote, everyone that votes know is going to the
Speaker 3: gas chamber. And then someone writes, when do we start bullying?
Speaker 3: Then they can say, if they vote for us, why
Speaker 3: would they be guessed? We only want true believers. Can
Speaker 3: we fix the showers? Gas chambers don't fit the Hitler aesthetic.
Speaker 3: I'm ready to watch people burn. Now we got to
Speaker 3: pretend that we like them. Hey, come on in, take
Speaker 3: a nice shower and relax. Boom, they're dead. I mean,
Speaker 3: this is discuss There isn't even a word to describe
Speaker 3: how disgusting that chat back and forth is about someone
Speaker 3: wanting to rise to power within the organization.
Speaker 1: Okay, is there I don't know. Both sides have condemned.
Speaker 1: And again there's a couple of statements here. We're going
Speaker 1: to read you from a couple of the people involved
Speaker 1: in these chats. Apologies somewhat, but again, folks, if you've
Speaker 1: seen Roges, you've probably seen this. A lot of Democrats
Speaker 1: are running to find any photos of these guys with
Speaker 1: prominent Republicans, and they're starting to post them already, So
Speaker 1: that's what this is now becoming to. They're trying to
Speaker 1: make some connection to Republicans in DC or some connection
Speaker 1: to President Trump.
Speaker 2: Where does that conversation go?
Speaker 1: You never be able to prove, right, But there has
Speaker 1: been very public racist language that has come out from
Speaker 1: pretty prominent people in this country to where it doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily Is it changing people's hearts or just making them
Speaker 1: feel emboldened to say what's already in there?
Speaker 4: I think it's the latter of the two.
Speaker 3: Sadly, I think that we are now at a place
Speaker 3: politically where it's not just okay to say things that
Speaker 3: were previously considered offensive but actually encouraged because you know,
Speaker 3: we're so unwoke now we can say whatever we want
Speaker 3: and say it however we'd like, because that's our right
Speaker 3: and we're not going.
Speaker 4: To pretend anymore.
Speaker 3: And perhaps, you know, look, do we want to know
Speaker 3: who people really are? Do we want to know what
Speaker 3: they really think and say before we vote for them?
Speaker 4: I do so. On one hand, fine, I'll prefer an unvarnished, true.
Speaker 3: Account of what somebody is and what they think before
Speaker 3: I decide who I want to vote for or align
Speaker 3: politically with so transparency is better as disgusting as it is.
Speaker 3: My God, if this is what's in their hearts and
Speaker 3: in their heads, I'd prefer to know.
Speaker 1: That's the thing that bothers me. And the debate, the
Speaker 1: conversation about what should happen to these folks who are
Speaker 1: in this chat, and there have been consequences, several of
Speaker 1: them have lost positions that they had or expected to
Speaker 1: be going to the national head of the groups, that
Speaker 1: all of them need to immediately resign one hundred everybody
Speaker 1: in this chat needs to resign from the organization. Not
Speaker 1: sure at least of this recording where all of that lies.
Speaker 1: But but really, Rose, I'm so much of the conversation
Speaker 1: has gone towards how their privacy was violated, has gone
Speaker 1: to immediately not even condemning what they're doing, but immediately saying, well,
Speaker 1: something this democrat did was worse. So I don't know
Speaker 1: if this day and time, if you see this and
Speaker 1: we can't all agree that this is bad and the
Speaker 1: first thing out of all of our mouths should be
Speaker 1: no language like this should ever come out of somebody
Speaker 1: who's mouth or in a text, And then the next
Speaker 1: thing has got to be nothing like this should be
Speaker 1: in your hearts. Where do I don't know where we
Speaker 1: go with that, because I don't want people to keep
Speaker 1: this stuff in. I want to hear about it, but
Speaker 1: I don't want to be there in the first place.
Speaker 1: And I don't know we.
Speaker 2: Say stuff privately, all of us do.
Speaker 1: Everybody's got one, right, one person you text that if
Speaker 1: your text messages got out, you'd be in trouble. Everybody's
Speaker 1: got one this. The lessons shouldn't be be careful what
Speaker 1: you text.
Speaker 4: It should be examine why you feel the way you do.
Speaker 2: Period.
Speaker 1: And so now, as always on race conversations, they're all
Speaker 1: gone sideways and look what this person did, and look
Speaker 1: what this democrat did, and this is worse than that.
Speaker 1: And I know there's a violence element to this, but
Speaker 1: this is pretty much racism all around these text messages.
Speaker 2: What we're talking about here, I just it's hatred.
Speaker 1: And if we're gonna do this, everybody gonna try to
Speaker 1: get their political points and then we'll go back to
Speaker 1: our respective corners.
Speaker 4: And we have had some official response from several people,
Speaker 4: and yeah, a lot of.
Speaker 1: Them trying to distance themselves, saying, well, you know I, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's from that group. I ain't have anything that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff to be expected. That's fine, But the one
Speaker 1: that stands out is the one you need to hear from.
Speaker 2: Vice President J. D.
Speaker 1: Vance have to say, was a little surprised by this one.
Speaker 1: Stay here, we'll share it in a moment. Also, we'll
Speaker 1: tell you exactly who these folks are who are on
Speaker 1: this text chain, and we want to let you hear
Speaker 1: the apologies we've gotten from at least two people involved
Speaker 1: in these text messages.
Speaker 3: We continue our conversation here on Amy and TJ about
Speaker 3: these atrocious text messages. Seven months of messages, twenty nine
Speaker 3: thousand pages of messages filled with racism, misogyny, calls for violence,
Speaker 3: you name it, anything as disgusting as you could think of.
Speaker 3: Pretty much was included in these text messages that have
Speaker 3: all been released now Political wrote Politico wrote a story
Speaker 3: on these text messages, and there has been quite a
Speaker 3: bit of response, but some surprising and I think you
Speaker 3: mentioned this before we went to break JD. Vansa Vice President.
Speaker 3: Vance's response was, I would just say disappointing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is well.
Speaker 1: Look and saying out loud, this is a guy, look
Speaker 1: at this is a really sharp guy I think is
Speaker 1: a really sharp politician. And look, a lot of people
Speaker 1: they just look, you have your pilicolings an opinion about him.
Speaker 2: But I.
Speaker 1: Generally think this dude gets it right, and this dude
Speaker 1: presents himself really well, and I look at him with
Speaker 1: a certain level of admiration for all that he has
Speaker 1: done and how he handles the public.
Speaker 2: But his response on.
Speaker 1: X was to refer to something that's going on in
Speaker 1: Virginia where a Democratic candidate for attorney general there had
Speaker 1: a few years ago. It's just gotten exposed in the race.
Speaker 1: But a few years ago he made a reference to
Speaker 1: another politician possibly being shot. Right, he's apologized for it,
Speaker 1: but it's in the middle of the race now. So
Speaker 1: jd Vance in his response, made a reference to that
Speaker 1: by putting up a screenshot essentially of some of those
Speaker 1: threats and said that this quote this is far worse
Speaker 1: than any thing said in a college group chat. And
Speaker 1: the guy who said it could become the age of Virginia.
Speaker 1: I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people
Speaker 1: call for political violence.
Speaker 4: Pearl clutching, Oh man, just you know what.
Speaker 3: Instead of recognizing what happened acknowledging it and saying there's
Speaker 3: no place for it. Instead, he deferred and deflected and compared.
Speaker 3: And this isn't something This isn't a story where we
Speaker 3: need to say, well, they did this, and let's just
Speaker 3: deal with the facts on hand and the issue at
Speaker 3: play now in the conversation we're having, and I just
Speaker 3: it's just it's a classic thing that politicians do, and
Speaker 3: it's just disappointing.
Speaker 4: I think that's how I feel.
Speaker 3: There was an opportunity for him to actually say something
Speaker 3: powerful and something that could actually inspire the people who
Speaker 3: look up to him, who do appreciate some of his
Speaker 3: frankness and his political directness and straightforwardness. He always often
Speaker 3: touts his Catholic upbringing, his Catholic faith, his moral stand.
Speaker 3: So I just it was an opportunity that he not
Speaker 3: only missed, but just I just feel like sadly destroyed and.
Speaker 1: To get I don't know why, or if this would
Speaker 1: have come from a different politician, I might have seen
Speaker 1: it differently.
Speaker 2: I don't know why. It's too bad.
Speaker 1: It's the vice print of the United States on this issue,
Speaker 1: and this is yes to be expected maybe from politician
Speaker 1: we've seen it with the back and forth on political violence.
Speaker 1: When something happens to one side, the other side comes
Speaker 1: back and says, well, yeah, but you all did this
Speaker 1: to our person, and this was worse than what happened
Speaker 1: to this person. I just hate we get into that.
Speaker 1: The only thing that needs to be said, this is awful, this.
Speaker 2: Is viile, this is disgusting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not up to us to say what should
Speaker 1: happen to them, but we can say this shouldn't be said,
Speaker 1: This shouldn't be he felt. What can we do to
Speaker 1: move forward? We just have this mentality that we have
Speaker 1: to absolutely go after these guys and go after anybody
Speaker 1: affiliated and destroy and destroy and destroy. And that didn't Yeah,
Speaker 1: he didn't make a reference at all. If I missed it,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but I didn't see him making an affle
Speaker 1: to criticize the comments in the.
Speaker 2: Group chatter all.
Speaker 4: I didn't see it either. And in terms of who
Speaker 4: was in that group chat, we can go over who
Speaker 4: they were.
Speaker 3: We mentioned they were leaders, and then we can get
Speaker 3: to the apologies from two of them.
Speaker 1: You won't nobody will know the names, but one, you know,
Speaker 1: the one that really really stood out is somebody who
Speaker 1: was a current member, where is it. I don't have
Speaker 1: them listened there saying I'll look it up.
Speaker 3: You go through the names here we need to grab
Speaker 3: and the names are less important versus their titles, the
Speaker 3: roles they played. I think that to me is what
Speaker 3: stood out more than anything that we had. William Hendrick's
Speaker 3: vice chair of Kansas Young Republicans, Bobby Walker, who was
Speaker 3: the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans,
Speaker 3: Peter Judah, then chair of New York's State Young Republicuplicans,
Speaker 3: and he is we just saw him as recently as
Speaker 3: a few weeks ago making the rounds on political talk
Speaker 3: shows as a Republican strategist. Joe Maligno, General counsel of
Speaker 3: New York State Young Republicans, Alex Dwyer, chair of Kansas
Speaker 3: Young Republicans, Annie Kkatie, New York Committee member, and then
Speaker 3: Michael Bartel's an advisor in the legal office of US
Speaker 3: Small Business Association. He didn't say much, but he also
Speaker 3: didn't push back, so that I just wanted to point
Speaker 3: that out. Politico did make that distinction, But in terms
Speaker 3: of the apologies, as you referenced earlier, Babe, they apologized,
Speaker 3: but then they were upset that their private conversations. They
Speaker 3: had to add that, and like, if you make an apology,
Speaker 3: a genuine apology, don't make an excuse, don't defend, just
Speaker 3: say you're sorry.
Speaker 4: That isn't what happened.
Speaker 1: And another name was actually at this It was important
Speaker 1: to mention Sam Douglas, who is a current sitting member
Speaker 1: of the Vermonts Legislature, my actual lallmaker there who has
Speaker 1: been as to resign again as of this recording. No
Speaker 1: worry that that's happened. But two of the folks say
Speaker 1: the last name again, Peter Juntah Junta.
Speaker 2: He was the one.
Speaker 1: I think his name is popping up more than any
Speaker 1: other as far as probably saying the most vile stuff.
Speaker 2: In these messages.
Speaker 3: Agreed, he had some really horrific and he was the
Speaker 3: one who was running for the chairman's office, so he
Speaker 3: was the one who was really inciting like or at
Speaker 3: least jokingly inciting some sort of violence in order to
Speaker 3: bully people to vote for him. I mean, this was
Speaker 3: it was very egregious. But Peter Junta here was his apology.
Speaker 3: I am so sorry to those offended by the insensitive
Speaker 3: and inexcusable language found within the more than twenty eight
Speaker 3: thousand messages of a private group chat that I created
Speaker 3: during my campaign to lead the Young Republicans. Those logs
Speaker 3: were sourced by way of extortion and provided to Politico
Speaker 3: by the very same people conspiring against me in what
Speaker 3: appeared there is to be a highly coordinated, year long
Speaker 3: character assassination. He names and blames the New York Republican
Speaker 3: Group led by Gavin Wax and the New York City
Speaker 3: Young Republican Club. So again he's just pointing the finger,
Speaker 3: saying kind of like, you made me do it, you
Speaker 3: made me say it. I don't even understand what that
Speaker 3: what that even does to what his He can't defend
Speaker 3: what he said.
Speaker 1: The other line, which gives him an out in defending
Speaker 1: himself Robes, is that he says, quote, I have had
Speaker 1: no way of verifying their accuracy, and I'm deeply concerned
Speaker 1: that the message logs in question may have been deceptively doctored. Okay,
Speaker 1: step one always you have to first of all take responsibility,
Speaker 1: and it's he didn't. But I know, folks, you lose
Speaker 1: people on your apology when you start with I am
Speaker 1: sorry to those who were offended. Stop sorry for those
Speaker 1: if you were offended. I'm sorry, not sorry for what
Speaker 1: I said. If I upset you, I'm sorry if I
Speaker 1: upset That's that brings me very very very very hollow.
Speaker 1: And he is set up by saying I can't verify.
Speaker 1: He knows good in hell well if he said this
Speaker 1: stuff to say I can't verify, which could be true,
Speaker 1: which means I didn't get a chance to go to
Speaker 1: Verizon and making sure that nobody doctored with the call
Speaker 1: logs and nothing. But yeah, okay, fine, he can say that.
Speaker 1: But by doing this, he's not taking responsibility for any word.
Speaker 1: He's suggesting that any word attributed to him might not
Speaker 1: be right because I can't verify the accuracy.
Speaker 2: Of the logs.
Speaker 3: And obviously, if he had issue with anything specifically that
Speaker 3: was released, he would have said I never wrote that.
Speaker 4: I never said that. He clearly never says that in
Speaker 4: his statements.
Speaker 2: See that we understand.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, fine, yes, to defend himself, that's all right.
Speaker 4: And this next one is the next apology. I guess.
Speaker 3: The only other apology that we could find was from
Speaker 3: Bobby Walker. This is the vice chair of New York
Speaker 3: State Young Republicans. Bobby Walker says this in his apology,
Speaker 3: there is no excuse for the language and tone in
Speaker 3: messages attributed to me. The language is wrong and hurtful,
Speaker 3: and I sincerely apologize. It's troubling that private exchanges were
Speaker 3: obtained and released in a way clearly intended to inflict harm,
Speaker 3: and the circumstances raised real questions about accuracy and motive,
Speaker 3: But none of that excuses the language. This has been
Speaker 3: a painful lesson about judgment and trust.
Speaker 1: Okay, fine, yeah, you do what you have to do,
Speaker 1: Do what you need to do. Attribute messages attributed to me,
Speaker 1: not apologizing for the things I said. Look, that might
Speaker 1: be legal leaves that might be good pr help, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't help and is not healing. I don't know
Speaker 1: how ugly this will be for the Republican Party moving forward,
Speaker 1: and frankly, I don't care that much what I'm I'll
Speaker 1: always get concerned. And we have these conversations that aren't conversations.
Speaker 1: They're just we come out to the middle of the ring,
Speaker 1: we beat the shit out of each other, and then
Speaker 1: we go back to our respective corners. Nobody learned anything,
Speaker 1: nobody picked up anything, nobody's going to do better. I
Speaker 1: just the lesson I'm sure somebody's having a meeting about
Speaker 1: be careful what you text instead of hey, guys, we
Speaker 1: need to talk and if any of you have these
Speaker 1: same thoughts in your head, we need to understand why
Speaker 1: and then work on getting it out. But this is
Speaker 1: a young I always hope they will do better than us.
Speaker 1: I always we should be doing better than our parents.
Speaker 1: They should have been doing better than the ones. But
Speaker 1: you have to get better things like this. This is
Speaker 1: old school. This is sad.
Speaker 2: This is some old school racism here.
Speaker 3: Emboldened racism with no apology and to exactly what you
Speaker 3: were saying. The official White House response, let's read it,
Speaker 3: but it is so disheartening. Oh this is what the
Speaker 3: White House said in response to all of this. Only
Speaker 3: an activist left wing reporter would desperately try to tie
Speaker 3: President Trump into a story about a random group chat
Speaker 3: he has no affiliation with, while failing to mention the
Speaker 3: dangerous smears coming from the Democrat politicians who have fantasized
Speaker 3: about murdering their opponents and called Republicans Nazis and fascists.
Speaker 3: No one has been subjected to more vicious rhetoric and
Speaker 3: violence than President Trump and his supporters.
Speaker 1: So shut up, y'all have done worse than some bad words.
Speaker 1: Your side has done worse than the bad words that
Speaker 1: some young'ins talked about in a group text. Okay, and
Speaker 1: you know what, that's the end of this conversation. That
Speaker 1: is actually the button on it. If you think we're
Speaker 1: getting anywhere, read the White House response over and over.
Speaker 2: That is the button. That is it.
Speaker 1: We're not going to learn, we're not going to do better,
Speaker 1: We're going to keep doing the same old thing.
Speaker 3: I think the only way that I mean this really
Speaker 3: is such a despicable, disheartening story. And really, I guess
Speaker 3: kind of to your point, it's not a story. This
Speaker 3: is just who we are and who we live among
Speaker 3: and the way people are thinking. We have some insight
Speaker 3: into it, and it's appalling to some of us, it's
Speaker 3: familiar to others, and it's a way of life for
Speaker 3: some people, and that is so disturbing. I think the
Speaker 3: only way out of this is through our own individual
Speaker 3: acts and our own individual choices. And I see this,
Speaker 3: and I just know that all we can do is
Speaker 3: be our best selves and influence those around us who
Speaker 3: we love to be kinder, to be more forgiving, to
Speaker 3: be more open minded and to be less judgmental.
Speaker 1: And you know, all those things you mentioned are things
Speaker 1: that I am willing to do with every single person
Speaker 1: that's on this damn text change. I don't know these people.
Speaker 1: I don't know how they came up. I don't know
Speaker 1: why they would say the things they said. I know
Speaker 1: what they said is despicable. I don't know if they're
Speaker 1: despicable people. And I have to I have to always
Speaker 1: draw that line before we completely condemn and throw people away.
Speaker 1: I don't know it. I am not sitting here defending
Speaker 1: some racists. But what I'm saying is I am also
Speaker 1: not ready to dispatch dispose of human beings who could
Speaker 1: possibly add something to this conversation, because we need those
Speaker 1: people who have those things in their minds as a
Speaker 1: part of this conversation as well to understand where did
Speaker 1: you get this, Why did you think this, Why would
Speaker 1: you say this?
Speaker 2: Why are you comfortable with that person? Does this happen
Speaker 2: all the time?
Speaker 1: Possibly, But I'm just saying, I am sitting here the
Speaker 1: black man still willing to give these folks some kind
Speaker 1: of a break before I hear and I learned something,
Speaker 1: because this there's no way, you were born in nineteen
Speaker 1: These are young pie.
Speaker 3: I think in the nineteen eight eighties, like this is
Speaker 3: people forty and under.
Speaker 2: Okay, eighties, but there's probably some twenty somethings.
Speaker 4: Why people born in the nineties and the aughts.
Speaker 2: Born in the nineties and aughts.
Speaker 1: You should not be saying, hyl frickin Hitler, where is
Speaker 1: that coming from? How do you even know about watermelon?
Speaker 2: And bless so old? Why are you dropping the inward?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 2: And you were born in ninety four? What? It just
Speaker 2: shouldn't be.
Speaker 1: So where are we failing these people? Where are we
Speaker 1: failing these white folks? Where are we failing these folks?
Speaker 1: So you got enough black kids in your school to
Speaker 1: be exposed to something else out there?
Speaker 2: I just and it.
Speaker 1: It's been We've had this happened plenty of times over
Speaker 1: the years now that we have been together, and even
Speaker 1: before that, our reactions to these stories in this house,
Speaker 1: with the in word being thrown around a hundred times
Speaker 1: in these text messages.
Speaker 2: I was chilling and you were.
Speaker 1: Outraged because it was shocking to you what people say this.
Speaker 1: It didn't if this wasn't a political headline.
Speaker 2: I don't even know if we'd be doing this.
Speaker 1: It's just eh, doesn't even rise to the level.
Speaker 4: Well, I can only hope that more people can have
Speaker 4: your big heart.
Speaker 2: No, it's just experience, yes.
Speaker 4: But that is part of it.
Speaker 3: And you know what, I think you just hit a
Speaker 3: very good point about exposure. And you know, I just
Speaker 3: know so many of us and not even necessarily consciously
Speaker 3: choose to be segregated. But we are in communities oftentimes
Speaker 3: where we're surrounded by people who look like us, think
Speaker 3: like us, act like us. And the more we can
Speaker 3: just take a moment to listen to someone else's way
Speaker 3: of life, to be exposed to someone else's experiences in
Speaker 3: a meaningful way, that is how we bridge the gap.
Speaker 3: But until people are willing to do that, I don't
Speaker 3: know that. It's just it's it's disheartening and it's sad,
Speaker 3: but I just I feel more empowered to just to
Speaker 3: keep living a certain way and to keep practicing certain
Speaker 3: things to hope that eventually certain people will be willing
Speaker 3: to recognize that their way isn't the only way. I
Speaker 3: think that's where we have to That's that's the big issue.
Speaker 3: Learn love, from religion, from race to whatever. When and
Speaker 3: when people are in power. They don't want to give
Speaker 3: it up.
Speaker 1: Oh, but nobody wants to learn, learn and love.
Speaker 2: You have to learn first.
Speaker 1: You have to learn.
Speaker 4: Quote of the day, learn and love well. The point
Speaker 4: of life is to learn. That's why we're here to
Speaker 4: learn to grow again.
Speaker 1: I don't know these people there not condemning Republicans, this
Speaker 1: group or nothing. These are some knucklehets.
Speaker 2: There are plenty.
Speaker 3: Of knuckleheads with the power, unfortunately, or at least they
Speaker 3: had them, and we're.
Speaker 1: Working their way up the chain. But you don't know
Speaker 1: black people at all. If you could make a statement
Speaker 1: that some of the most successful prominent black men in
Speaker 1: this country are nothing more than zoo animals playing monkey ball,
Speaker 1: you don't know any black people like you just you
Speaker 1: don't know anything. So true, you just don't. They could
Speaker 1: never come out of your mouth. If there's a black
Speaker 1: person in your life you care about and that cares
Speaker 1: about you, you you just can't. So that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: We got to do better there. But what a story.
Speaker 1: This one's not going away. There probably be some updates
Speaker 1: on this. Will continue to keep you all post. Also,
Speaker 1: always a reminder top right corner of that screen the
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast app where you see our show as a
Speaker 1: button that says follow. Just click that you can get
Speaker 1: the updates coming to you.
Speaker 2: As they come.
Speaker 1: H So, as always on behalf of my dear Amy
Speaker 1: Robot and t J Holmes.
Speaker 2: We'll talk the outsoon.