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(from left) Attorney and political commentator Paul Ingrassia; U.S. President Donald Trump
Republicans keep being exposed for harboring extreme hatred in their communications.
The Trump administration is again engulfed in controversy over extremist rhetoric, this time involving a nominee who privately boasted about having “a Nazi streak.” The revelation follows a string of similar scandals exposing a culture of racist, fascist, and homophobic language within Republican ranks, from young party operatives to senior officials.
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Paul Ingrassia, a 30-year-old attorney and White House liaison at the Department of Homeland Security, is President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a federal agency responsible for protecting government workers from discrimination and retaliation. But private messages obtained by Politico show Ingrassia and several Republican operatives trading Nazi-referencing jokes and racist comments.
In one exchange, Ingrassia wrote that he has “a Nazi streak in me from time to time.” In others, he mocked Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday that should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell,” used slurs against Asian and Indigenous people, and called for holidays tied to Black history, including Juneteenth, to be “eviscerated.”
Ingrassia’s lawyer claims the remarks were “satirical” or “manipulated,” Politico reports, but lawmakers from both parties say the messages are disqualifying for a nominee to a position meant to uphold equal treatment under federal law.
The scandal fits into a troubling pattern of extremist rhetoric inside the GOP’s next generation. Earlier this month, Politico reported on thousands of leaked Telegram group-chat messages from the Young Republicans’ “Restore YR War Room,” where participants praised Adolf Hitler, joked about gas chambers, and made racist and homophobic remarks.
Related: MSNBC guests rip JD Vance's excuse for racist Nazi texts
The chats included state Young Republican chairs and congressional aides, not anonymous fringe activists.
Vice President JD Vance, who is a popular figure among the far right, deepened the uproar when he dismissed the Nazi-themed chats as “kids doing stupid things.” On MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes, former Homeland Security official Miles Taylor called Vance’s remarks evidence of “the moral rot” within the party.
That normalization of extremism, through dismissal, deflection, or silence, now extends to the Trump White House, which has yet to withdraw Ingrassia’s nomination.
Related: Racist & fascist Young Republicans unmasked by Politico
The controversy coincides with another Nazi-linked uproar in Republican politics. In Virginia, lieutenant-governor nominee John Reid faces calls to resign after American Journal News reported that a Tumblr account connected to him posted Nazi imagery, white-power slogans, and violent sexual content. Reid, who is gay and dating a Black man, denies that the account is his.
According to NBC News, Key Senate Republicans, including Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and James Lankford of Oklahoma, have said they will not support Ingrassia. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters the nomination “is not going to pass.” Yet the administration continues to defend its choice.
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