After weeks ducking the murderous text messages sent by Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones, the legacy media appear to have finally found a text scandal they like. The Young Republicans’ text scandal as broken by Politico has given the legacy news the cover it needs.
Watch the full report as aired on NBC Nightly News, the first legacy evening newscast to report on either text scandal, as aired on Wednesday, October 15th, 2025:
TOM LLAMAS: New fallout over racist text messages reportedly exchanged among a group of young Republican leaders and the Democrat now under fire for incendiary messages he sent. Here’s Hallie Jackson.
HALLIE JACKSON: New fallout tonight from a racist and violent group chat involving leaders of some Young Republican groups as reported by Politico. The outlet obtaining more than seven months of Telegram messages in which they say members muse about using gas chambers against political opponents. “I'm ready to watch people burn now,” one person responds. Another describing rape as “epic.” The chat includes anti-semitic comments and racial slurs against black, Latino, Asian people and other epithets used more than 250 times, according to Politico. The outlet says one person, after being told backers would support the most right wing candidate for a leadership role responded, “Great. I love Hitler.” At another point someone writes, “if we ever had a leak of this chat, we would be cooked.” NBC News has not independently verified the messages, which reportedly involved advisors and strategists in New York, Arizona, Kansas and Vermont, including a state senator there.
CHUCK SCHUMER: It's revolting. It's disgusting. It's obnoxious. It's the kind of garbage the worst kinds of people say when they think no one is watching.
JACKSON: Now at least three people involved in the chat are reportedly out of a job. The Kansas Young Republicans deactivated. And many condemning the hateful rhetoric.
NICK LA LOTA: Disgusting. If they have government jobs, they should be fired. It’s reprehensible.
JACKSON: Vice President JD Vance today downplaying the messages.
JD VANCE: I really don't want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke, telling a very offensive stupid joke, is cause to ruin their lives. We're not cancelling kids, because they do something stupid in a group chat.
JACKSON: In an earlier post, Vance refuses to, in his words, “join the pearl clutching,” saying what's far worse are the violent text messages that have upended Virginia politics. The Democratic candidate for attorney general there in 2022 suggesting one of the state's top Republicans should get, quote, “two bullets to the head.” Jay Jones days ago apologizing.
JAY JONES: I'm deeply, deeply sorry. I should have never done it. It's very embarrassing to me and, certainly, I regret it.
JACKSON: As for the Young Republicans chat, the national board says anyone involved should resign, and the governor of Vermont is calling on a state senator there to do just that. That lawmaker has publicly apologized, but stopped short of stepping down. Tom.
LLAMAS: Hallie Jackson for us.
Once Politico broke the chat, you just knew that this was the story that would provide the legacies with the permission structure needed in order to provide de minimis coverage of the Jones scandal. And so they did, with Hallie Jackson making sure the report leaned the right way.
The entire report lasted 2 minutes and 33 seconds, 27 of which was dedicated to Jay Jones- roughly 16 percent of the total coverage. A lot of that was chewed up with mentions of Vice President JD Vance saying that Jones’ texts were far worse than the YR chats, and with Jones’ apology. Viewers depending on NBC for news coverage learned very little about what Jones actually said beyond the “two bullets to the head.” There is no mention of Jones’ expressed desire that the Virginia House Speaker’s wife and kids also be shot, no mention of Jones’ alleged fantasies about shooting police and no mention of the fact that Democrats have circled the wagons around Jones.
Contrast that with the full, expository coverage granted the YRs, with multiple texts and full graphics. Additionally, there is an ample bipartisan denunciation presented to viewers.
This story compels several questions. Had the YR chat scandal not broken, would they have still covered Jones? Why was there no mention of the Jones text scandal within the context of the current climate of political violence? There is much to consider. But, for now, we can conclude that NBC used the YR scandal as little more than a convenient vehicle through which to “wash” the Jones texts.
