Republican Randy Fine branded ‘racist slob’ over ‘disgustingly bigoted’ Muslim comments | indy100

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Florida representative Randy Fine is facing widespread condemnation online, after apparently taking to X/Twitter on Sunday to claim that “if they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one”.

While it’s not clear who “they” are in that sentence, Fine seems to have issued a follow-up tweet in which he shared a post from “the leader of one of the key mainstream Muslim groups that supported [New York mayor Zohran] Mamdani”.

The screenshotted post from Nerdeen Kiswani, the founder of the pro-Palestine activist group in New York City known as Within Our Lifetime, was shared on Thursday and reads: “Finally, NYC is coming to Islam. Dogs definitely have a place in society, just not as indoor pets. Like we’ve said all along, they are unclean.”

A few hours later, she said of the tweet: “It’s obviously a joke I don’t care if you have a dog, I do care if your dog is s***ting everywhere and you’re not cleaning it.

“Also clearly trying to weigh in on an issue unaware of the current nyc discourse where we’re collectively (jokingly) hating on dogs given all the visible dog s*** in the unmelted snow lmao.”

Kiswani has since accused Fine of posting a “genocidal statement” about her, and added “no one is forcing you to choose”:

Others also called out Fine for his comments, with journalist Mehdi Hasan branding it “full-on genocidal Rwandan rhetoric”:

Human rights fellow Alonso Gurmendi writing: “This is the kind of tweet that should lead to forced resignation”:

Writer and advocate Thomas Kennedy tweeted: “The fact that this guy is accepted and allowed to retain his seat in Congress is an indictment of the institution”:

Fellow congressman Brendan Boyle called Fine an “ugly bigot” who “should not be in Congress”:

Former Ohio state senator Nina Turner called on House speaker Mike Johnson to intervene:

And California governor Gavin Newsom simply responded by saying: “Resign now, you racist slob”:

While Fine has not responded publicly to the wider criticism, the Republican did reply to Newsom, writing: “Islam is not a race, moron. It is a religion.

“One where some of its New York leadership is calling for the abolition of dogs.

“Good luck bringing that to California.”

Fine’s office has been approached by indy100 for comment.

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