New York Times: It’s Never Just a Joke, JD Vance

Roberta Kaplan and Michael Bloch who sued the organizers of the Unite the Right rally in the Sines v. Kessler case have written an op-ed about the mainstreaming of White Nationalism.

New York Times:

“Text 1: “I love Hitler.”

Text 2: “I wish Hitler had won.”

Text 1 is from a 2025 Telegram conversation featuring members of New York State’s Young Republican group. Text 2 comes from a Discord server created by white nationalists planning for violence in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017.

Can you tell the difference? As two of the lawyers who sued the organizers of the Charlottesville rally, neither can we. And that’s not the only similarity. The tactic being used to make excuses for the ugly language in the Young Republicans’ Telegram chats is the same as the one used by the defendants in our case: Calm down; it’s only a joke.

Last week, Vice President JD Vance went on Charlie Kirk’s podcast and tried to explain away this behavior by contending: “The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys. They tell edgy, offensive jokes. That’s what kids do.”

Here are my thoughts on this:

1. First, I agree there is no difference between the Unite the Right Discord chat and the Young Republicans group chat. There was never any conspiracy to engage in violence in Charlottesville. In both cases, it was just people shit posting, venting, sharing jokes and memes. This is just the culture of the younger Right which Kaplan and Bloch took out of context and twisted into a conspiracy theory.

2. Second, the younger Right is far more racist and antisemitic than their parents and the people who are staffing the Trump administration are far more radical than MAGA.

3. Third, all the lawfare, censorship and deplatforming of Trump’s first term didn’t work. The demise of the Alt-Right didn’t stem the tide. The breakup of organizations didn’t change anything. Doxxing people and firing them from their jobs didn’t work. Punishing individuals hasn’t worked. None of this will ultimately change the culture of the younger Right which is driven by their own life experiences.

4. Fourth, the reason why JD Vance is waving it away as nothing to be concerned about is because he can read the room and understands where this is going. Boomers are a fading force in American politics. Generational change is inevitable and will accelerate over the next decade.

5. Finally, the primary difference between 2017 and 2025 is everyone is a little older, which has had the effect of making the views of the younger Right much more mainstream and visible in American politics, as anyone with an X account can see on a daily basis. At the same time, the older Reaganite crowd, which was so prominent in 2016 has retreated across the board in Congress and in discourse. The Right is being gradually reshaped by one tide that is going out and another that is coming in.

Five years from now, this process will be much more advanced. Consider all the milestones we have already passed in just the first 10 months of Trump’s second term. The Jewish Question went mainstream and ceased to be taboo. Shiloh Hendrix raised nearly $800K for dropping a n-bomb in a public park. Race realist takes on black-on-White crime went mainstream after Iryna Zarutska’s murder. Antifascism was defined as domestic terrorism. The FBI quit working with the ADL and SPLC.

Even a year ago, I never imagined that our culture and politics could change so radically in such a short period of time. The Biden administration already feels like a bygone age. George W. Bush’s presidency feels like a lifetime ago.

Note: I personally don’t even talk this way in private. We are already at the point where people who are more radical than I am are going through Senate confirmation hearings. You’re cooked!