After a wave of racist scandals and humiliating incidents, Republicans are now being forced to reckon with the same extremism they have spent years enabling. What was once brushed off as fringe behavior — the venom of hate and online trolling that fueled Donald Trump’s return to the White House — has now spilled over into reality, coming back to haunt key figures in the MAGA movement.
On Monday, FBI Director Kash Patel shared a Diwali greeting on X. Patel, the first Indian-American to head the FBI, is a practicing Hindu who took his oath earlier this year with his hand on the Bhagavad Gita. His message celebrating light and goodness quickly drew a torrent of online hate, including racist calls for him to “Go back to India.” Conservative commentator Steven Crowder reposted Patel’s message with the words “Could we not?” while right-wing pastor and podcaster Joel Webbon responded, “Go back home and worship your sand demons. Get out of my country.” Another MAGA supporter accused Patel of “betraying Charlie Kirk.”
The White House also found itself targeted by a surge of anti-Indian hate after press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared Trump’s Diwali message, wishing that “this observance brings abiding serenity, prosperity, hope, and peace.”
Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a MAGA-aligned figure, faced similar hostility from within his own ranks. On Monday, resurfaced comments from Trump’s former nominee for White House Office of the Special Counsel, Paul Ingrassia, showed him saying in January 2024, “Never trust a chinaman or Indian. NEVER.” Following the revelations, at least four Republican senators, including Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, withdrew their support. Ingrassia’s confirmation hearing had been set for Thursday, but he withdrew his nomination Tuesday night.
Go back to India
— BIPOC Doing Racism (@BIPOCracism) October 20, 2025
Good triumphed over evil when Jesus Christ died on the cross
Get your pagan nonsense out of here
The comments were part of thousands of leaked messages from a Telegram chat of over 350 Young Republican operatives, obtained by POLITICO. The texts revealed a culture filled with racist, antisemitic, and misogynistic rhetoric. In just eight months, at least 251 instances of slurs and hate speech were documented, with members often referencing Nazi ideology and fantasizing about violence against opponents.
These weren’t anonymous internet trolls — they were rising GOP figures holding official roles in campaigns, government offices, and major conservative groups. The next generation of Republican leadership is being shaped in an environment that rewards cruelty, celebrates fascist imagery, and treats bigotry as proof of loyalty. The leaked texts show how openly hateful discourse has become normalized, with silence or approval from peers. That kind of rhetoric, once hidden, is now being tolerated — even defended — by elected Republicans.
Vice President JD Vance brushed off the controversy, calling the messages “stupid jokes” made by “kids saying edgy things.” He labeled the backlash “pearl-clutching,” attempting to deflect rather than condemn the racism. Earlier this year, after a staff member in Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) called to “Normalize Indian hate,” Vance — whose wife, Usha, is Indian-American — argued that “stupid social media activity should [not] ruin a kid’s life” and pushed for the employee to be rehired.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is now under pressure to remove an elected official from office for racist online posts about Indian immigrants. In September, Palm Bay city council member Chandler Langevin declared, “Deport every Indian immediately.”
Meanwhile, Ramaswamy, who recently headlined a Turning Point USA event at Montana State University, found himself confronting the same anti-Indian prejudice face-to-face.
“Jesus Christ is God, and there is no other God,” one student told him. “How can you represent the constituents of Ohio who are 64% Christian if you are not a part of that faith?”
“If you are an Indian, a Hindu, coming from a different culture, different religion than those who founded this country, those who grew this country, built this country, made this country the beautiful thing that it is today,” the student continued. “What are you conserving? You are bringing change. I’ll be 100% honest with you — Christianity is the one truth.”
When another student asked why he “masquerade[s] as a Christian,” Ramaswamy — whose family photos online are often flooded with racist comments — defended his faith. “I’m an ethical monotheist, that’s the way I would describe my faith,” he said. “Do you think it’s inappropriate for someone who’s a Hindu to be a U.S. president?”
Another student pressed further: “But isn’t Charlie Kirk’s organization founded on Christian values as well? And isn’t America based on what Protestantism is and based on how those values are? Wouldn’t that contradict what your beliefs are?”
Right-wing commentator Dinesh D’Souza — also an Indian-American — has faced similar racism despite his long-standing conservative credentials. In response to one such attack on X, he wrote, “In a career spanning 40 years, I have never encountered this type of rhetoric. The Right never used to talk like this. So who on our side has legitimized this type of vile degradation? It’s a question worth thinking about.”
Republicans often claim that liberals are the “real racists,” but their actions and rhetoric tell a different story. The MAGA movement thrives on provoking outrage, taking pride in hypocrisy rather than being shamed by it. Years of deflection have trained supporters to reject accountability altogether.v
