Vice President JD Vance’s response to bigoted messages in a private group chat—calling it “kids do stupid things”—has sparked debate over accountability in politics. The incident raises questions about when leaders choose to speak out and where they draw the line.

Washington

A controversy has arisen after nearly 3,000 pages of racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic messages from members of the Young Republican National Federation were made public. Vice President Vance responded by downplaying the severity, suggesting the messages were the result of youthful indiscretion, despite the fact that the authors are adults.

The article contrasts Vance's response with previous examples of political leaders, such as Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, and John McCain, who publicly condemned hate speech and took political risks to draw moral lines. The piece argues that true leadership requires the courage to denounce unacceptable rhetoric and promote tolerance.

The political courage to speak up amid controversy

Imagine a college paper published racist and anti-Semitic student messages to which the university president responded. The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys. Telling edgy, offensive and stupid jokes is what kids do. Such a response might initiate a congressional hearing. But that was Vice President Vance's response to nearly 3,000 pages of text from the young Republican National Federation. Gleefully racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs, praise for Adolf Hitler, jokes about gas chambers. Vance isn't a school president. Then again, the authors weren't kids, as the vice president claimed. They are adults, some older than the average retirement age in the NFL. What should Vance have done? Point the finger at that evil and name it without trying to point the finger at somebody else. Who says? J.D. Vance. That was the standard he cited after the racist, anti-Semitic march in Charlottesville. The Vance standard would judge Virginia's Democratic Attorney General candidate as unfit for office based on recently revealed violent texts he sent about opponents. But as Vice President Vance says, he doesn't want to live in a world where every time somebody says something dumb on a private text message, their life is ruined. These weren't just dumb. They were vile. Judgments can be made. Or leaders can at least condemn the act, if not the actor. Doing so wants to find political courage. In all quarters and at all times, we must teach tolerance and denounce racism, anti-Semitism as unacceptable evils, said Ronald Reagan, refusing the KKK endorsement in 1984. When Bob Dole accepted the Republican nomination, he said, anyone who has mistakenly attached themselves to our party in the belief that we are not open to citizens of every race and religion, then let me remind you, the exits are clearly marked. In 2008, John McCain interrupted a woman who tried to demean Barack Obama by calling him an Arab. McCain then testified to Obama's character. Each took a political risk because they believed drawing a moral line was part of leadership, not a calculation.

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