A night out with the edgelords: Watching the Walz-Vance debate with DC’s young MAGA mob

The tiny conservative crowd was clearly hoping for fireworks on Tuesday night as they gathered at a Boston-themed bar on H Street in the heart of the nation’s capital.

Instead, the few dozen attendees at the Washington DC Young Republicans vice presidential debate watch party were treated to a nearly two-hour policy-packed wonkfest, aback-and-forth slog where few lasting political points were scored.

DC’s chapter of the Young Republicans organization is a wacky bunch, even by the standards of today’s hyper-online Gen Z and millennial conservatives.

The group has regularly hosted disgraced ex-congressman George Santos as a guest of honor at their events, as well as his sneering number two, Vish Burra. They’ve also gone nuclear on Twitter/X against Santos’s critics, including against moderate Republicans in Congress who called for Santos’s ouster. Sources involved in the broader Young Republicans organizational field tell The Independent that the takeover of the DC chapter by Groyper-adjacent, hyper MAGA partisans has led to a cratering effect on their ability to field canvassers and other volunteers for local races, especially in the battleground state of Virginia.

The crowd gathered on Tuesday to watch JD Vance and Tim Walz face off on the debate stage seemed ready for some excitement to break out at any point.

But, it never did.

There were scattered “woos” and rounds of cheers during the first half of the night wheneverVance, who came polished and ready to deliver sharp talking points, was able to land a blow on his opponent.

There were boos when Walz brought up his own upbringing in response to an unrelated question — and even a few stifled groans when Vance did the exact same.

And there were loud jeers for the