Carville rips Vance for response to Young Republican group chat

Democratic strategist James Carville slammed Vice President Vance's reaction to a leaked Young Republicans group chat with racist and xenophobic messages

"JD f‑‑‑ing Vance, the vice president of the United States, thought it was funny, and thought people were just overreacting to it," Carville told co-host Al Hunt on the Wednesday episode of his podcast "Politics War Room" about the messages, which Politico reported on. "The kids are not the issue, the issue is JD Vance."

Carville said people are "worried about some 20-year-old snot-nose in Kansas, who's an insignificant little s‑‑‑ if one ever lived, and we're not focusing on the main target, which is JD Vance."

He clarified that "not all [President] Trump supporters are racist, but, I will say this, all racists are Trump supporters ... but JD Vance is fine with it."

Hunt later added "there are a number of neo-Nazis buried in the boughs of this administration."

"We're naming military bases for racists and traitors," Carville replied.

Vance, in response to the Politico report on Tuesday, said he refuses "to join the pearl clutching when people call for political violence." He then shared leaked text messages sent by Virginia Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones.

“This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia,” Vance said about Jones.

Vance shared a screenshot of a text conversation in which Jones openly talked about violence toward the former Republican Virginia House Speaker and acknowledged he hoped her children would die.

The White House, in response to a request for comment, referred The Hill to Vance's appearance on "The Charlie Kirk Show" Wednesday. He said Jones' texts were "1,000 times worse than what a bunch of young people, a bunch of kids, say in a group chat. And that's just reality." He told people to "grow up" and "focus on the real issues."

"I grew up in a different world where most of the stupid things I said as a teenager and a young adult are not on the internet," Vance said. "I'm going to tell my kids, especially my boys, 'Don't put things on the internet, be careful with what you post. If you put something in a group chat, expect that some scumbag is going to leak it and cause you harm or cause your family harm."

"We're not canceling kids because they said something stupid in a group chat," Vance continued."

Politico revealed 2,900 pages of messages between a dozen Young Republican National Federation leaders in its Tuesday report. The messages referred to Black people as “monkeys” and “the watermelon people,” while other messages suggested putting political rivals in gas chambers.

One exchange with one Young Republican leader promised that the group "will vote for the most right wing person” to lead the organization's national board.

"I love Hitler," the leader texted back in reply.

The group's board of directors called for immediate resignations from the leaders and members in connection with the messages.

“We are appalled by the vile and inexcusable language revealed in the Politico article published today," the Young Republican National Federation’s board of directors said Tuesday in a post on Instagram. "Such behavior is disgraceful, unbecoming of any Republican, and stands in direct opposition to the values our movement represents."

Updated at 2:50 p.m. EDT