Senator Sam Douglass was in a group chat of Young Republicans where some people did say some truly disgusting things. There were undeniably antisemitic and anti-black racist terms used, and comments made. This came to light in an article by the hard-left, deeply partisan site, Politico, based on leaked transcripts. The Politico article was posted at 1:15 pm on October 14th. When Governor Scott got wind of it, he immediately – within hours if not minutes of the story’s release at, issued a press release:
The hateful statements made in this group chat are disgusting and unacceptable. The vile, racist, bigoted, and antisemitic dialogue that has been reported is deeply disturbing. There is simply no excuse for it. Those involved should resign from their roles immediately and leave the Republican party – including Vermont State Senator Sam Douglass.
Senate and House Republican leadership immediately followed suit. All calling on him to resign his seat. All shredding this young man’s character and branding him with the labels of “racist, bigot, antisemite.” (A day later the Republican Party Executive Committee did as well.) So, by 6:04 pm, less than five hours after the story broke, Vermont Public was able to go to press with their own hit piece, “Republican state senator faces calls to resign after posting racist messages in group chat.”
Here’s the problem: Sam Douglass didn’t say (or type) anything racist, antisemitic, or bigoted in the leaked transcript. Sam’s single offense – in reportedly 2900 pages of back and forth between fifteen people – was to comment at some point that the former girlfriend of a colleague “just didn’t bathe often.” Insensitive? Yes. Vile? Seems a stretch. Racist, bigoted, antisemitic? Not even close. [Related: MACDONALD: Why Vermonters Can’t Have Nice Things]
In the four hours and fifty-one minutes between the Politico story breaking and the Vermont Public article, during which the Governor’s office and the Republican leadership were able to coordinate messaging and put out statements condemning Senator Douglass in the most vicious terms and calling on him to resign, none of them actually bothered to connect with Senator Douglass. There was no serious attempt to hear his side of the story, let alone give him a chance to tell it.
The next morning, less than twenty hours after the story broke, Senate Minority Leader, Scott Beck (R-Caledonia) was on WVMT’s Morning Drive program discussing the issue and publicly calling for the senator’s resignation, where he admitted that he had not spoken to Douglass nor was he aware of anyone else who had, though he said he did “reach out.” Asked if any of Douglass’ constituents had contacted Beck asking for Douglass to resign, Beck said, “No, not one.” Beck also confessed, “I have never heard this side of him [Douglass] at all.”
So to recap: Without talking to Senator Douglass, despite the allegations being made in a partisan magazine known for doing hit pieces on Republicans, despite the allegations not jibing with his personal experience knowing and serving with Senator Douglass, with no outcry from Douglass’ constituents, and without taking the time to understand the actual make-up and context of the chat (much of how Beck and the Governor described who was in the chat, what was said, and Douglass’ role in it was, upon review, distorted and/or factually incorrect), the entire Republican leadership team decided to destroy this young man’s life.
They tossed him over the side with a bucket of chum to be the subject of a hostile media feeding frenzy, while handing over his head to Democrats so they could stick it on a proverbial pike and gleefully dance around the state. This was not an act of high principle. It was weak and cowardly.
Douglass, in a private on-line conversation, remarked unfavorably upon someone’s personal hygiene practices. It wasn’t nice. Scott, Beck, and later the Republican Party’s Executive Committee, branded this young father of a new baby who worked as hard as anyone to build the Vermont Republican Party and by all accounts served his constituents well, with the most abhorrent terms one can be branded with in today’s society. They destroyed his political career, cost him his job and his ability to financially support his family, and made him a social outcast because that was politically easier than taking a little time to gather the facts and insisting upon a measure of fairness and justice. Where lies the greater moral failing?
This is not to give Sam Douglass a free pass. There were some downright awful things said by others in this group. (Some comments were blatantly taken out of context and sensationalized by Politico, et al. The headliner “I love Hitler” quote, for example, was clearly a sarcastic reference to how the left portrays conservatives, not an expression of genuine affection by the author for the Nazi leader or his policies.)
It’s fair to expect the Senator to explain why he didn’t leave the group when other members were using the N-word and questioning the honesty of Jews. It’s fair to question his judgment in not doing so, keeping in mind that Douglass was elected to represent the Vermont Young Republicans nationally, and leaving this chatroom could in some ways be considered a dereliction of that duty. It may be that some form of reprimand by his colleagues was warranted. It’s possible more information comes out in the future. But the high-tech lynching that took place — in less than five hours — was a punishment that in no way, shape or form fit the crime. It was a crime in and of itself.
