MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Slashes Trump Over Secret ‘I Love Hitler’ Chat for Not Firing Participant

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell slashed President Donald Trump over a leaked group chat that a member of his administration participated in — and who “still has his job in the Trump administration.”

Politico dropped a bomb Tuesday by releasing a Telegram chat between Young Republican leaders from New York, Arizona, and Vermont that featured stunningly racist, bigoted, anti-Semitic, and otherwise deplorable chatter.

“Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic,” read one characteristic message. Politico reported at least one member of the chat — Michael Bartels — is a member of the Trump administration:

At least one person in the Telegram chat works in the Trump administration: Michael Bartels, who, according to his LinkedIn account, serves as a senior adviser in the office of general counsel within the U.S. Small Business Administration. Bartels did not have much to say in the chat, but he didn’t offer any pushback against the offensive rhetoric in it either. He declined to comment.

VP JD Vance reacted with a post downplaying the story and deflecting to Democrat Jay Jones’s text scandal.

On Tuesday night’s edition of MSNBC’s The Last Word, O’Donnell opened the show with a blistering commentary condemning Trump for not firing Bartels:

O’DONNELL: Imagine you work for Donald Trump in his administration and you get caught by Politico in what you thought was a private online group chat with people saying things like “I love Hitler” and saying it’s a mistake to, quote, expect the Jew to be honest, end quote, along with multiple racist phrases as well as talking about wanting to see people, quote, “going to the gas chamber” and, quote, which provokes the reply, quote, “I’m ready to watch people burn now”.

Imagine what would happen to someone working in the Trump administration who’s in group chats like that. What would you do if you were that Republican guy and Politico called you before publishing their investigative report about the “I love Hitler” chat group that you’re in. What would you say to Politico? He declined to comment, and he still has his job in the Trump administration.

The Politico article came out today at 1:15 p.m. and Donald Trump has taken no action against the guy working for him who’s in the “I love Hitler” chat. Not one Republican has said one word yet objecting to a group of young Republicans in a group chat saying, “I love Hitler.” No Republican has a problem with that. Not one.

Politico published their report today under the headline, “I love Hitler.” Leaked messages expose young Republicans racist chat. Politico reports leaders of young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.

They referred to Black people as monkeys and the watermelon people and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who believe — who they believed support slavery.

The exchange is part of a trove of Telegram chats obtained by Politico and spanning more than seven months of messages among young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont. The chat offers an unfiltered look at how a new generation of GOP activists talk when they think no one is listening.

The group chat members spoke freely about the pressure to cow to Trump to avoid being called a RINO, the love of Nazis within their party’s rightwing, and the president’s alleged work to suppress documents related to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex crimes.

Trump’s too busy burning the Epstein files, Alex Dwyer, the chair of the Kansas Young Republicans, wrote in one instance, at least one person in the Telegram chat works in the Trump administration, Michael Bartels, who according to his LinkedIn account serves as a senior adviser in the office of general counsel within the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Bartels did not have much to say in the chat, but he didn’t offer any push back against the offensive rhetoric in it either. He declined to comment.

And tonight, 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.

Donald Trump is eagerly trying to fire federal workers these days, not one of whom has said, “I love Hitler.” Elon Musk and Donald Trump this year have fired thousands of federal workers, but they’re keeping the guy in the I love Hitler chat. They don’t want to lose him, Michael Bartels.

Michael Bartels declined to comment to Politico after he got caught in the “I love Hitler” chat at the same time that Donald Trump falsely claims to be trying to purify the universities of America by cleansing any trace of antisemitism in the student body of those institutions or the faculty and they have never found an “I love Hitler” group chat at any one of those universities. Donald Trump has never found anything like that. Donald Trump has never found anything like the poison that someone in his own administration is trafficking.

After Politico’s stunning expose of the virulent racism and antisemitism among the leaders of young Republicans, old Republican Donald Trump was not angry at any one of them. He wasn’t angry at the “I love Hitler” guy. He wasn’t angry at the guy who said the thing about the watermelon people. He wasn’t angry at the guy who said, “I’m ready to watch people burn now in gas chambers.”

Watch above via MSNBC’s The Last Word.