On October 15, reporting by Politico revealed that several Young Republicans had made thousands of bigoted comments in a leaked private group text. One member of the chat was revealed to be Republican State Senator Sam Douglass, who represents Orleans County. The leaks show that Douglass made a racist and fatphobic comment and his wife, who was also a member of the group text, made an overtly anti-semitic comment. While Vermont’s top Republican lawmakers called on Douglass to resign, it demonstrates a recent pattern in who Governor Phil Scott, Lieutenant Governor John Rodgers, and the Vermont GOP choose to condemn or not. Their party has openly courted bigots, white supremacists, and Christian nationalists in recent years.
In the immediate aftermath of Politico’s reporting, Vermont Republican Party officials attempted to run cover for Douglass. Vermont Republican Party Chair Paul Dame downplayed Douglass’ bigotry, saying that while the language was shocking and grotesque to all Republicans, the comments were not bigoted or racist, undermining his own statement. Later the same day, the Vermont Republican Executive Committee retracted Dane’s statement, condemning the language used as “hateful, racist, and antisemitic.”
Douglass pledged to officially resign on Monday at noon, but did not do so until Wednesday evening. One thing he did manage to complete on Monday was a crowdfunding campaign. The fundraiser was set up on white Christian nationalist site GiveSendGo, which hosts fundraisers for “whites only communities,” Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defense, a white woman who called a Black child the N-word, literal neo-Nazis, and for the family of Charlie Kirk after his assassination. On his fundraiser page, Douglass claims he and his wife were “targeted by a coordinated media and political barrage that purposely took my works out of context and colluded to remove me from all my positions, fire both of us from our jobs, and slander our reputations.”
Governor Scott, who had previously endorsed Douglass for state senate in 2022, also lambasted the “vile, racist, bigoted, and antisemitic dialogue” of the group text in a press release. Lt. Governor Rodgers called the language used in the group text disturbing and said that it “would lead any decent person to either call them out or at least leave the chat.” He also claimed that “it’s not OK – coming from either party.”
A Very Different Tone for Charlie Kirk
These statements about Douglass provide an interesting contrast to how both the Governor and Lt. Governor responded to the death of Charlie Kirk, the hugely influential podcaster and Trump associate who openly parroted similar sentiments as those found in the leaked group text.
After Kirk’s assassination, Scott lamented a “fractured, more violent, and more partisan” country, implying that Kirk had no role in fomenting state violence, bigotry, and partisan white supremacy, while reinforcing incorrect ideas that Kirk engaged in the “free exchange of conflicting ideas and open debate.” Rodgers blamed “both sides” in Kirk’s assassination and growing political violence, claiming that, “One of the big problems are the extremes on the left and the right…And that’s where problems start, when we ‘other’ people.” Data shows that the far-right overwhelmingly commits more violent acts than liberals or the left, even when excluding the tens of thousands of far-right police, prison guards, immigrant police, and border patrol who abuse their families, assault residents, and imprison millions in horrific conditions.
On September 10th, the Governor’s office ordered all state flags to be at half mast to honor Kirk. His history of vile, racist, bigoted, and antisemitic dialogue was perfectly acceptable to Scott.
What these two contrasting reactions signify is that for Scott and Rodgers, Douglass’ use of crude slurs is upsetting and unacceptable, but bigoted dog whistles and the vile statements from right-wing media figures on a national level, which have directly influenced right-wing Vermonters and local elected officials, are a different story. To act as though homophobia, racism, white supremacy, xenophobia, and nationalism aren’t coming almost entirely from Scott and Rodgers’ political and ideological base, and that their condemnation of Douglass is enough to demonstrate they are different from the Republican base they represent while making “both sides” arguments after the death of Kirk, highlights their own hypocrisy and a failure to contend with their party being the home for racists, homophobes, transphobes, and white Christian nationalists. Vermont exceptionalism does not apply, and never has.
A History of Catering to Vermont’s Far Right
As previously reported by the Rake Vermont, Rodgers courted the likes of local white Christian nationalists like John Klar and Andrea Murray to ascend to the Lieutenant Governor’s office. He has also published several op-eds on openly bigoted and right-wing Vermont media outlets, and prominently displayed an endorsement from Klar on his campaign website. Despite being questioned on why someone would associate with a known political figure and candidate in Klar, who regularly published in the same far-right blogs Rodgers did, the Lieutenant Governor claimed he had no idea of Klar’s openly hateful rhetoric. For someone whose advice to Douglass was to have “at least left the chat” upon seeing vile racist, bigoted, homophobic, and anti-semitic messages from others, Rodgers said he would continue to treat Klar like “any other person,” meaning he’s willing to “stay in the chat” with local bigots who provide him with a political base.
With Phil Scott, John Rodgers, and the Vermont Republican Party having a difficult time identifying groypers and white supremacists in their ranks, or universally condemning the hateful rhetoric of their party both nationally and locally, they might want to re-educate themselves. Lucky for them and for you, the Rake Vermont has put together a quiz. See if you can pick the right person who said these bigoted quotes and comments, and take the quiz below.
Just remember – this is your Vermont Republican Party!
