Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images

As Republicans are finding ways to push the Trump agenda through Congress during the government shutdown, they are finding themselves sidetracked by an annoying and difficult image problem. Some of their young staffers seem to be obsessed with Nazis — and not in a “Nazis are bad” way.

The latest issue comes from the office of Representative Dave Taylor of Ohio. On Wednesday, Politico reported that the U.S. Capitol Police were called to his office because an “American flag altered to include a swastika” was displayed on a cubicle wall behind the seat of legislative aide Angelo Elia, who graduated from college two years ago.

Capitol Police called to investigate swastika in GOP congressional office https://t.co/Hi55XAoBzY

— POLITICO (@politico) October 15, 2025

“The content of that image does not reflect the values or standards of this office, my staff, or myself, and I condemn it in the strongest terms,” Taylor said in a statement before calling for an investigation into the flag. Elia did not respond to Politico’s request for comment, and it remains unclear who pinned the swastika to the cubicle board.

The swastika hidden in the Republican’s office comes just a day after Politico reported on a foul Telegram chat by young GOP operatives, and at least one state legislator, who frequently used racial slurs and texted each other statements like “I love Hitler.”

Already, the fallout from that message has Republicans scrambling to condemn chat members, which include the vice-chair of the Kansas Young Republicans, several people in the New York State Young Republicans organization, and Samuel Douglass, a state senator in Vermont. The state’s Republican governor, Phil Scot, has called for Douglass’s resignation. In New York, Representative Elsie Stefanik — who may challenge Governor Kathy Hochul next year — called the story a “hit piece” on social media, while a senior adviser for her campaign called on those in the chat to resign.

Even Vice-President J.D. Vance weighed in, downplaying the racist and anti-semitic language as “a college group chat,” although its members named by Politico are well past college-aged. He added that anybody who was concerned by its many racial slurs and love for Nazis was just “pearl clutching.”

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