Sometimes, the Trump administration makes my job really easy.
Like yesterday, when Vice President JD Vance went on the Charlie Kirk Show and tried to downplay the abhorrent racist, sexist, and antisemitic leaked texts from young Republicans that Politico covered on Tuesday. During his appearance, Vance alleged—seven times—that participants in the chat were merely "kids," and that all the hand-wringing around it was unwarranted. "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," Vance said. (This is especially ironic when you recall that Republicans mounted a mass cancellation campaign to push for the firing and punishment of anyone who they felt insufficiently mourned assassinated MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk.)
There was a lot of reporting on Vance's comments. But surprisingly, I couldn't find any reporting that actually clarified how old participants in the chat were—and I was pretty sure they weren't, in fact, "kids."
So I went looking for that information myself. By reviewing public records and media reports, I found ages for eight of the 11 people included in the chat. And, spoiler alert: None were minors. The youngest appear to be 24, the oldest 35. (I could not find publicly available ages for three of the participants.) This information raises the question: At what age does the vice president believe people become grown adults who should be held responsible for their actions?
I asked the White House. They didn't get back to me. But I can't stay too upset because, like I said: When they lie so brazenly, they make my job really easy. Give the full piece a read.
—Julianne McShane
