It’s not every day that Democrats come out in defense of a Republican Congressman in Florida who has gained national attention for saying things like electing a Muslim mayor of New York would lead it to be “conquered” and “invaded,” that “We should be afraid of Islam,” and that “We must stop the Islamification of […]
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It’s not every day that Democrats come out in defense of a Republican Congressman in Florida who has gained national attention for saying things like electing a Muslim mayor of New York would lead it to be “conquered” and “invaded,” that “We should be afraid of Islam,” and that “We must stop the Islamification of America,” is coming under what his defenders say are “evil,” “vile,” and “disgusting,” attacks.
With calls to denaturalize and deport New York City Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Islamophobic rants, Rep. Randy Fine earned the title of “America’s Most Racist Congressman” from the left-leaning site Zeteo, as well as the adoration of MAGA’s far right and extremely online crowd.
Fine is now in the novel position of having Democrats come out and defend him after his leading opponent in the Republican primary, a widely-followed influencer named Dan Bilzerian, posted a video targeting Fine and celebrating Adolf Hitler.
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Fine is running for his first full term in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, which is east of Gainesville, after winning the seat last year following a vacancy when Mike Walz joined the Trump administration. He won that race by double digits, spent more than eight times his nearest opponent to date and has the most coveted endorsement in Republican politics: President Donald Trump’s.
Bilzerian is Fine’s best-funded and most visible opponent. He has 2.1 million followers on X, another 14 million on Facebook and nearly 29 million on Instagram. He has also openly campaigned against Jewish people in general, and against Fine in particular, for being Jewish.
On Sunday, Bilzerian posted a video on X featuring a song asking favorably, “should we revisit” Adolf Hitler’s views on Jewish people? As of Tuesday, the video has 1.6 million views on that platform alone.
The overt and highly visible attacks on Fine’s religion have drawn bipartisan rebukes from not only Republicans, but Democrats who are usually in the position of criticizing Fine’s Islamophobia.
“We don’t agree with Randy Fine on much, if anything, and have condemned his racist, islamophobic statements” wrote 11 Congress members in a joint statement posted online Sunday evening. “But the grotesque, antisemitic campaign video by [his opponent] Republican Daniel Bilzerian has no place in America.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who earlier this year called Fine’s rhetoric about Islam “disgusting,” issued a statement Sunday that denounced Bilzerian and left Fine unmentioned.
Some of Fine’s defenders, though, are inadvertently aiding his opponent by amplifying his antisemitic attacks on the congressman. Bilzerian shared the video with the song about Hitler on X, where he has 2 million followers. Later, Sen. Ted Cruz reposted Bilzerian’s original message on X — where the senator has 7 million followers — and wrote: “This evil has no place in the Republican Party.” The original post was also shared, and denounced, by people with smaller accounts, the pro-Trump Islamophobic activist Laura Loomer (1.9 million), New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler (45,000) and Ohio Democrat Rep. Greg Landsman (21,700).
“Do not repost. That’s 101,” Kyle Spencer, who has written extensively about right-wing extremism, said in an email to Straight Arrow. Spencer, who is also the CEO of the non-partisan The Pro-Democracy Information Lab, added: “If you repost hateful content, no matter your intent you become an aggregator of hate.”
Fine’s own campaign account (42,000) also shared the video, daring people to watch “every second” of it. “And if this appeals to you, I don’t want your vote.”
