Nicholas Rafael, the suspended treasurer of the New York Young Republican Club, was put on leave after being linked to an X account accused of posting antisemitic messages. The account has become part of a broader Groypers controversy touching young conservatives and their clubs.
New York Magazine reported that Rafael operated the anonymous account, @basedredford. The account called Texas Senator Ted Cruz an “Israel first goy slave” and declared, “It’s literally a historic FACT that your society will thrive when you kick the Jews out of town.”
Stefano Forte and NYYRC
Rafael told New York Magazine that the photo tied to him was not real and that the account was not his. The New York Young Republican Club put him on leave, and an attorney for the club said an internal investigation is still pending.
Stefano Forte said the New York Young Republican Club has thousands of members and that its purpose is to let people “express their ideas in an honest and respectful manner.” He added that the club takes “swift corrective action” when a member has not done so.
Groypers and young conservatives
The dispute lands inside a series of recent scandals involving young conservatives. In March, a leaked group chat showed young Republican club members at Florida International University using the n-word more than 400 times, and the same chat included jokes about beheading, dissecting and crucifying black people.
In November, Vish Burra was fired as a producer at One America News for posting an AI-generated video depicting Jews as scheming cockroaches counting money in a dark room. In December, the New York Young Republican Club turned away Nick Fuentes from a gala.
The club’s response now turns on the pending internal investigation and whether its disciplinary step ends with a leave or moves further. Rafael is already off the treasurer role, and the club has tied its public standard to respectful expression while the allegations around his account remain in view.
