Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) provoked a bipartisan backlash after posting an anti-Muslim message on the X social media site.
“If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” Fine posted Sunday on X.
Fine wrote a follow-up post about 10 minutes later to provide “context.” His second post included a screenshot of a post by Palestinian-American activist Nerdeen Kiswani.
“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’re not clean,” Kiswani posted last Thursday.
Although the Koran does not call dogs “unclean,” many Muslims avoid them based on teachings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad that consider dog saliva to be ritually impure and require washing after contact.
Kiswani later posted a reply amid a response to her message: “Obviously it’s a joke I don’t care if you have a dog, I care if your dog is everywhere and you’re not cleaning.”
Fine’s post about Muslims sparked an outcry, with liberals and conservatives calling for his resignation.
California Governor Gavin Newsom called on Fine to give up his seat in the House.
“Resign now, racist slob,” Newsom posted on X.
Conservative podcaster and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly expressed her disbelief with a three-word post on X: “wtf is this.”
The Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) called on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to “rebuke” Fine immediately.
“If someone said something so vile in any workplace, he would be fired,” Ansari posted on X. “Randy Fine has repeatedly dehumanized Muslims without consequence. It is unacceptable and should not be normalized by Congress.
“And if Fine cannot meet the most basic standard of human dignity, he should resign.”
Representative Brendan Boyle condemned Fine’s anti-Muslim rhetoric.
“Randy Fine is an ugly bigot,” Boyle wrote on X. “He should not be in Congress.”
Far-right political commentator and former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos called Fine “a man of low moral character.”
The fine is “unfit to hold public office,” Yiannopoulos wrote on X.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest civil rights and Muslim advocacy organization, called on Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to “condemn and call for the resignation” of Fine over his “racist remarks about Muslims and Palestinians.”
Fine has previously faced calls to resign over past remarks describing Muslims as violent, urging their deportation and saying “mainstream Muslims” should be “exterminated.”
During a congressional hearing in December, Fine said he was “not afraid” of being called an Islamophobe.
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