October 22, 2025 • 11 mins
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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Molly McPherson (00:00):
Let's start with a familiar lie.
No one will know about it.
It's in a private chat.
That sentence has buried morereputations than any headline.
Last week it buried an entirewing of the Republican Party's
youth movement.
Politico dropped nearly 3,000pages of leaked Telegram
messages from the YoungRepublican National Federation,
(00:22):
the group that's supposed torepresent the next generation of
GOP leadership.
Inside that chat, racist jokes,anti-Semitic banter, praise for
Hitler, references to rape as apunchline.
It was like a dark corner ofthe internet, except they
weren't anonymous trolls.
These were people in office onpayrolls and sitting on national
(00:45):
committees.
And when the story broke, thecountry's reaction split into.
Some Republican leaders, manyin the Democratic Party,
condemned it.
Some Republican leaderscondemned it as well.
But others, including VicePresident J.D.
JD Vance (00:58):
Vance, shrugged and said that kids do stupid things,
especially young boys.
They tell edgy, offensivejokes.
Like that's what kids do.
Molly McPherson (01:08):
But here's the problem
These weren't kids.
They were adults.
And they were supposed to bethe future of the Republican
Party.
So in today's episode of the PRBreakdown, let's talk about why
anonymous chats are neveranonymous, why private is a
myth, and how a crisis like thisbecomes a case study in failed
accountability.
Let's go back to where itbegins.
(01:30):
The Telegram chat was calledRestore YR War Room.
That would be the YoungRepublicans.
It ran for seven months,January through August, and
involved at least 12 members ofstate-level young Republican
groups.
Let's go down the list.
Do I have any shame namingthese names?
No, I do not.
They are not minors.
They are people who areinvolved in a public chat.
(01:51):
And it was in the politicalarticle.
Here we go.
Peter Gwinta, New York's youngRepublican chair and chief of
staff to Assembly member MikeRiley.
He joked about loving Hitlerand sending political opponents
to the gas chamber.
He was fired from his assemblyjob and resigned from his chair
role.
Bobby Walker, vice chair in NewYork, described rape as epic.
(02:14):
He resigned soon afterPolitical published the chat.
Joe Meligno, general counselfor the same group, again,
remember J.D.
Vance called them kids, jokedabout the Hitler aesthetic and
fixing the showers.
He was removed from theorganization.
Annie K.
Caddy, a national committeemember and Gwynta's reported
partner, said she was, quote,ready to watch people burn.
(02:36):
She now faces removal from hernational post.
Alex Dwyer, chair of the KansasYoung Republicans, reacted with
a smiley emoji to the Hitlermessages.
The entire Kansas chapter wasdissolved.
William Hendricks, Kansas vicechair, repeatedly used
anti-black slurs.
He was banned from future GOPyouth roles in the state.
(02:57):
Luke Mosaman, Arizona eventschair, called for sexual
violence against a politicalopponent.
He lost his campaign job.
Samuel Douglas, a Vermont statesenator and head of the state's
young Republicans, mockedIndian Americans.
Vermont Governor Phil Scottdemanded his resignation, and
the state GOP suspended him.
Brianna Douglas, his wife andcommunications chair, shared
(03:21):
anti-Semitic stereotypes.
She resigned amid the backlash.
Michael Bartels, a senioradvisor at the U.S.
Small Business Administration,didn't post slurs but failed to
intervene.
He is now under internal reviewby the SBA.
And Rachel Hope, an Arizonaevents director, shared white
supremacist slogans.
She was removed by state GOPleadership.
(03:44):
Again, do any of them soundlike kids?
This was not a rogue internproblem.
It was a network of people withpower and a culture that told
them hate was just another jokethread.
When Politico broke the story,the Young Republican National
Federation condemned the chat asvile and inexcusable, demanding
resignations across the board.
(04:05):
And as I said earlier, Kansasdecided to shut its entire young
Republican chapter downcompletely.
That's not a slap on the wrist.
That is a full organizationalobituary.
But then came the politicalresponse and it split down the
middle.
Some Republicans, likeRepresentative Michael Lawler
and Vermont's Governor PhilScott, no surprise he was in the
(04:26):
chat, called for immediateresignations.
Others just tried to poo itaway.
In an interview on the CharlieKirk show, Vice President J.D.
JD Vance (04:35):
Vance said this That kids do stupid things,
especially young boys.
They tell edgy, offensivejokes.
Like that's what kids do.
Molly McPherson (04:45):
All right, maybe kids tell offensive jokes,
but those weren't justoffensive jokes, and those
weren't kids.
But then he warned his ownchildren to assume some scumbag
might leak your message one day.
Now notice what's missing fromthat sentence.
Any mention of not sayinganything racist or anti-Semitic
or violent things.
(05:05):
This is again just trying todeflect and diminish what the
chat said and did and what theimplications from that chat
were.
That's not moral leadership.
Right now, that's theadministration's leadership.
But if you were in thatsituation, and let's say you
were a spokesperson at a companyand you were dismissing it as
kids, that's crisis managementwhen it goes off the rails.
(05:28):
Because those ages of the chatmembers between 24 and 35.
The typical age of a collegegraduate, 21, 22.
They weren't boys, they weren'tkids, they were grown adults
with salaries, staff, andinfluence.
Calling them kids is PR codefor please don't hold anyone
(05:49):
accountable.
But here's the rule incommunication: 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 wereconsidered young Republicans,
many people might assume it's abunch of college students.
No, this is just Republicanswho happen to be on the young
side of adulthood.
But let's talk about what thisstory really exposes, and that's
(06:12):
the illusion of privacy.
Every private chat is onescreenshot away from public.
And every person who laughsalong at a slur is already
building their own scandal inslow motion.
I can tell you, recently Iworked with a client who went
through this issue.
They hired me because there wasa potential that their name
(06:33):
could be leaked in a privatechat that was on a website that
I never even heard of.
And in the call, other websiteswere mentioned, some that I
definitely knew about, but manyI had never heard of them.
These types of websites, youthink if most people in the
mainstream don't even hear aboutthem and everyone is anonymous,
well, it's never going to getout.
But yes, there are sometimesleaks or breaches, but also
(06:56):
people can triangulate, andthat's what happened to the
person who I was talking to.
Their name wasn't leakedbecause of some cyber hack or
cyber breach.
It was leaked because someonetriangulated who they were by
looking at past chats and pastcomments.
And the issue is this personthought that their name and
(07:16):
business and everything thatthey're affiliated would fall
apart simply because of thisleak.
And the person who I wastalking to was a very reasonable
person.
And it was someone who alsoadmitted, I wouldn't normally
say these things, which is thewhole point.
These young Republicans didn'tget caught because they slipped
up once.
They got caught because theybelieved privacy meant
(07:37):
protection.
When people get into a grouplike this, it forms a community.
And if that community has anassumption of animidity, people
can say things they wouldn'tnormally say out in the light.
Assumed privacy does not meanprotection, it means delayed
exposure.
When people think no one isreally watching, that's when you
find out who they really are.
(07:58):
In PR terms, this is called avalues gap.
The difference between what anorganization 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'tjust expose what you say, it
reveals what you allow.
(08:18):
Those seven months of chatlogs, 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, itwas approval.
And then came the apologies.
If you've ever wanted a crashcourse and what not to say after
(08:39):
a scandal or PR crisis, lastweek was it.
Let's break down some of them.
Peter Gwinta, he was the name Imentioned at the beginning.
He was the New York youngRepublican chair and chief of
staff to Assembly member MikeRiley.
He's the one who joked aboutloving Hitler.
He said, quote, I'm sorry tothose offended by the
(09:00):
inexcusable language found inour private chat, end quote.
Translation.
Oh my gosh, I'm sorry to thoseoffended.
And he talked about Hitler.
That is such a bad apology.
Bobby Walker, vice chair in NewYork, he's the one who
described rape as, quote, epic.
He had to resign.
(09:20):
His apology, he said the logs,quote, might have been taken out
of context, but added that he'scommitted to moving forward
with greater care, end quote.
Translation, I'd like toapologize without admitting
guilt.
And one of the most commonphrases, this was obtained to
inflict harm.
In other words, thetranslation, the real victim is
(09:43):
me.
Every one of the statementsaffiliated with this chat, and
there could be more that comeout, fail the crisis test.
Because a real apology requiresnaming the behavior.
I made racist and anti-Semiticremarks, naming the harm.
I hurt specific communities andbetrayed public trust,
accepting the consequence.
(10:04):
I resigned from my role,committing to change.
Here's how I'll repair thedamage within there, the
indestructible PR framework.
Own it, explain it, promise it.
If it doesn't include it, it'snot an apology.
It's a press release.
Now let's get practical.
Here are five PR truths thatshould be in the Bible of every
organization in America.
(10:25):
One, privacy is temporary.
Every group chat is onescreenshot away from daylight.
Right like it will leak becauseit will.
Two, silence is consent.
If you read, if you sit in aroom or a thread where racism or
hate is the norm, you are apart of it.
Three, cancel culture isn'treal.
Accountability is.
(10:45):
Losing a job for praisingHitler isn't cancellation.
That's consequence.
Four, culture beats strategy.
You can have the best messagingplan in the world, but if your
internal culture is rotten, thepublic will find out.
And five, screenshots outlivecareers.
You can delete a post, but youcan't delete a screenshot,
(11:06):
especially when someone else hasit in their phone.
And that's not paranoia, it'spermanence.
So the lesson here isn't justfor the GOP, it's for anyone
leading in the digital age.
Already lost it.
If your defense is, we werejust joking, you're not leading,
you're deflecting.
Leadership isn't what you poston social media, it's what you
tolerate when no one's watching.
(11:28):
So here's your breakdownAnonymous chats are never
anonymous, accountability is notoptional, and private is not a
place, it's a delay.
And when that delay ends, thetruth always shows up.
That's all for this week on thepodcast.
Thanks so much for listening.
Bye for now.
Let's start with a familiar lie.
No one will know about it.
It's in a private chat.
That sentence has buried morereputations than any headline.
Last week it buried an entirewing of the Republican Party's
youth movement.
Politico dropped nearly 3,000pages of leaked Telegram
messages from the YoungRepublican National Federation,
(00:22):
the group that's supposed torepresent the next generation of
GOP leadership.
Inside that chat, racist jokes,anti-Semitic banter, praise for
Hitler, references to rape as apunchline.
It was like a dark corner ofthe internet, except they
weren't anonymous trolls.
These were people in office onpayrolls and sitting on national
(00:45):
committees.
And when the story broke, thecountry's reaction split into.
Some Republican leaders, manyin the Democratic Party,
condemned it.
Some Republican leaderscondemned it as well.
But others, including VicePresident J.D.
JD Vance (00:58):
Vance, shrugged and said that kids do stupid things,
especially young boys.
They tell edgy, offensivejokes.
Like that's what kids do.
Molly McPherson (01:08):
But here's the problem
These weren't kids.
They were adults.
And they were supposed to bethe future of the Republican
Party.
So in today's episode of the PRBreakdown, let's talk about why
anonymous chats are neveranonymous, why private is a
myth, and how a crisis like thisbecomes a case study in failed
accountability.
Let's go back to where itbegins.
(01:30):
The Telegram chat was calledRestore YR War Room.
That would be the YoungRepublicans.
It ran for seven months,January through August, and
involved at least 12 members ofstate-level young Republican
groups.
Let's go down the list.
Do I have any shame namingthese names?
No, I do not.
They are not minors.
They are people who areinvolved in a public chat.
(01:51):
And it was in the politicalarticle.
Here we go.
Peter Gwinta, New York's youngRepublican chair and chief of
staff to Assembly member MikeRiley.
He joked about loving Hitlerand sending political opponents
to the gas chamber.
He was fired from his assemblyjob and resigned from his chair
role.
Bobby Walker, vice chair in NewYork, described rape as epic.
(02:14):
He resigned soon afterPolitical published the chat.
Joe Meligno, general counselfor the same group, again,
remember J.D.
Vance called them kids, jokedabout the Hitler aesthetic and
fixing the showers.
He was removed from theorganization.
Annie K.
Caddy, a national committeemember and Gwynta's reported
partner, said she was, quote,ready to watch people burn.
(02:36):
She now faces removal from hernational post.
Alex Dwyer, chair of the KansasYoung Republicans, reacted with
a smiley emoji to the Hitlermessages.
The entire Kansas chapter wasdissolved.
William Hendricks, Kansas vicechair, repeatedly used
anti-black slurs.
He was banned from future GOPyouth roles in the state.
(02:57):
Luke Mosaman, Arizona eventschair, called for sexual
violence against a politicalopponent.
He lost his campaign job.
Samuel Douglas, a Vermont statesenator and head of the state's
young Republicans, mockedIndian Americans.
Vermont Governor Phil Scottdemanded his resignation, and
the state GOP suspended him.
Brianna Douglas, his wife andcommunications chair, shared
(03:21):
anti-Semitic stereotypes.
She resigned amid the backlash.
Michael Bartels, a senioradvisor at the U.S.
Small Business Administration,didn't post slurs but failed to
intervene.
He is now under internal reviewby the SBA.
And Rachel Hope, an Arizonaevents director, shared white
supremacist slogans.
She was removed by state GOPleadership.
(03:44):
Again, do any of them soundlike kids?
This was not a rogue internproblem.
It was a network of people withpower and a culture that told
them hate was just another jokethread.
When Politico broke the story,the Young Republican National
Federation condemned the chat asvile and inexcusable, demanding
resignations across the board.
(04:05):
And as I said earlier, Kansasdecided to shut its entire young
Republican chapter downcompletely.
That's not a slap on the wrist.
That is a full organizationalobituary.
But then came the politicalresponse and it split down the
middle.
Some Republicans, likeRepresentative Michael Lawler
and Vermont's Governor PhilScott, no surprise he was in the
(04:26):
chat, called for immediateresignations.
Others just tried to poo itaway.
In an interview on the CharlieKirk show, Vice President J.D.
JD Vance (04:35):
Vance said this That kids do stupid things,
especially young boys.
They tell edgy, offensivejokes.
Like that's what kids do.
Molly McPherson (04:45):
All right, maybe kids tell offensive jokes,
but those weren't justoffensive jokes, and those
weren't kids.
But then he warned his ownchildren to assume some scumbag
might leak your message one day.
Now notice what's missing fromthat sentence.
Any mention of not sayinganything racist or anti-Semitic
or violent things.
(05:05):
This is again just trying todeflect and diminish what the
chat said and did and what theimplications from that chat
were.
That's not moral leadership.
Right now, that's theadministration's leadership.
But if you were in thatsituation, and let's say you
were a spokesperson at a companyand you were dismissing it as
kids, that's crisis managementwhen it goes off the rails.
(05:28):
Because those ages of the chatmembers between 24 and 35.
The typical age of a collegegraduate, 21, 22.
They weren't boys, they weren'tkids, they were grown adults
with salaries, staff, andinfluence.
Calling them kids is PR codefor please don't hold anyone
(05:49):
accountable.
But here's the rule incommunication: 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 wereconsidered young Republicans,
many people might assume it's abunch of college students.
No, this is just Republicanswho happen to be on the young
side of adulthood.
But let's talk about what thisstory really exposes, and that's
(06:12):
the illusion of privacy.
Every private chat is onescreenshot away from public.
And every person who laughsalong at a slur is already
building their own scandal inslow motion.
I can tell you, recently Iworked with a client who went
through this issue.
They hired me because there wasa potential that their name
(06:33):
could be leaked in a privatechat that was on a website that
I never even heard of.
And in the call, other websiteswere mentioned, some that I
definitely knew about, but manyI had never heard of them.
These types of websites, youthink if most people in the
mainstream don't even hear aboutthem and everyone is anonymous,
well, it's never going to getout.
But yes, there are sometimesleaks or breaches, but also
(06:56):
people can triangulate, andthat's what happened to the
person who I was talking to.
Their name wasn't leakedbecause of some cyber hack or
cyber breach.
It was leaked because someonetriangulated who they were by
looking at past chats and pastcomments.
And the issue is this personthought that their name and
(07:16):
business and everything thatthey're affiliated would fall
apart simply because of thisleak.
And the person who I wastalking to was a very reasonable
person.
And it was someone who alsoadmitted, I wouldn't normally
say these things, which is thewhole point.
These young Republicans didn'tget caught because they slipped
up once.
They got caught because theybelieved privacy meant
(07:37):
protection.
When people get into a grouplike this, it forms a community.
And if that community has anassumption of animidity, people
can say things they wouldn'tnormally say out in the light.
Assumed privacy does not meanprotection, it means delayed
exposure.
When people think no one isreally watching, that's when you
find out who they really are.
(07:58):
In PR terms, this is called avalues gap.
The difference between what anorganization 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'tjust expose what you say, it
reveals what you allow.
(08:18):
Those seven months of chatlogs, 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, itwas approval.
And then came the apologies.
If you've ever wanted a crashcourse and what not to say after
(08:39):
a scandal or PR crisis, lastweek was it.
Let's break down some of them.
Peter Gwinta, he was the name Imentioned at the beginning.
He was the New York youngRepublican chair and chief of
staff to Assembly member MikeRiley.
He's the one who joked aboutloving Hitler.
He said, quote, I'm sorry tothose offended by the
(09:00):
inexcusable language found inour private chat, end quote.
Translation.
Oh my gosh, I'm sorry to thoseoffended.
And he talked about Hitler.
That is such a bad apology.
Bobby Walker, vice chair in NewYork, he's the one who
described rape as, quote, epic.
He had to resign.
(09:20):
His apology, he said the logs,quote, might have been taken out
of context, but added that he'scommitted to moving forward
with greater care, end quote.
Translation, I'd like toapologize without admitting
guilt.
And one of the most commonphrases, this was obtained to
inflict harm.
In other words, thetranslation, the real victim is
(09:43):
me.
Every one of the statementsaffiliated with this chat, and
there could be more that comeout, fail the crisis test.
Because a real apology requiresnaming the behavior.
I made racist and anti-Semiticremarks, naming the harm.
I hurt specific communities andbetrayed public trust,
accepting the consequence.
(10:04):
I resigned from my role,committing to change.
Here's how I'll repair thedamage within there, the
indestructible PR framework.
Own it, explain it, promise it.
If it doesn't include it, it'snot an apology.
It's a press release.
Now let's get practical.
Here are five PR truths thatshould be in the Bible of every
organization in America.
(10:25):
One, privacy is temporary.
Every group chat is onescreenshot away from daylight.
Right like it will leak becauseit will.
Two, silence is consent.
If you read, if you sit in aroom or a thread where racism or
hate is the norm, you are apart of it.
Three, cancel culture isn'treal.
Accountability is.
(10:45):
Losing a job for praisingHitler isn't cancellation.
That's consequence.
Four, culture beats strategy.
You can have the best messagingplan in the world, but if your
internal culture is rotten, thepublic will find out.
And five, screenshots outlivecareers.
You can delete a post, but youcan't delete a screenshot,
(11:06):
especially when someone else hasit in their phone.
And that's not paranoia, it'spermanence.
So the lesson here isn't justfor the GOP, it's for anyone
leading in the digital age.
Already lost it.
If your defense is, we werejust joking, you're not leading,
you're deflecting.
Leadership isn't what you poston social media, it's what you
tolerate when no one's watching.
(11:28):
So here's your breakdownAnonymous chats are never
anonymous, accountability is notoptional, and private is not a
place, it's a delay.
And when that delay ends, thetruth always shows up.
That's all for this week on thepodcast.
Thanks so much for listening.
Bye for now.
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