Lawrence O’Donnell slammed Donald Trump for not firing Michael Bartels, one of his apparent staffers who’s been connected to a leaked group chat that included racist and antisemitic rhetoric and shows participants texting, “I love Hitler.”
“Michael Bartels still has his job working for Donald Trump and working for JD Vance because participating in an ‘I Love Hitler’ group chat is apparently not a reason for Donald Trump to fire you,” O’Donnell said during his Tuesday segment of “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell” on MSNBC.
On Tuesday, Politico revealed in a report a series of messages leaders of the Young Republican organization (Young Republican National Federation) exchanged with one another in a Telegram-based group chat. Among the conversations were racial and ethnic remarks about the Jewish and Black communities, as well as comments about raping political rivals and/or placing them in gas chambers.
Politico reports that Bartels — who declined to provide a comment to the news platform on the issue — is a senior advisor for Trump in the office of general counsel within the U.S. Small Business Administration. O’Donnell continued to condemn Trump’s decision to keep Bartels on board despite having fired thousands of government workers.
“Donald Trump is eagerly trying to fire federal workers these days, not one of whom has said, ‘I love Hitler,’” O’Donnell continued. “Elon Musk and Donald Trump this year have fired thousands of federal workers, but they’re keeping this guy?”
On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance pushed aside the incident and instead propped up and criticized Democratic Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones over an apparent text message conversation between the two.
“This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia,” Vance said in the X post. “I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence.”
