Florida GOP Rep. Randy Fine has branded conservative media icon Tucker Carlson “the most dangerous antisemite in America” in response to him hosting white supremacist Nick Fuentes on his eponymous show.
Speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas Saturday, Fine, who revels in the nickname “the Hebrew Hammer,” called out the former Fox News host in an impassioned address.
“It’s easy to talk about antisemitism on the left,” Fine said. “I want to talk about the dark force rising on our side. Multiple speakers have talked about the rise of antisemitism on the right. But it is not enough to speak in platitudes or generalities about the fight. We must call evil by its name.”
After introducing Carlson by saying he was his own father’s favorite anchor, the congressman declared, “Make no mistake. Today, Tucker Carlson is the most dangerous antisemite in America. He has chosen to take on the mantle of leader of a modern-day Hitler Youth.”
He went on to list Carlson’s offenses, as he saw them: “To broadcast and feature those who celebrate the Nazis, those who call for the extermination of Israel, to defend Hamas, to even criticize President [Donald] Trump for stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Friends, make no mistake: Tucker is not MAGA.”
To illustrate his point, Fine – and several members of his audience gathered in the front row – held up red campaign-style signs that read: “Tucker is not MAGA.”
The Independent has reached out to Tucker Carlson for comment.
Fine’s attack on Carlson was the latest example of the backlash his two-hour interview with Fuentes has attracted. Their conversation, broadcast last week, featured Carlson’s guest praising Joseph Stalin, bemoaning “organized Jewry in America,” and stressing the importance of being “pro-white.” At the same time, the host himself drew flak for rebuking “Christian Zionists” on the American right.
Amid the fallout, the conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation was accused of attempting to distance itself from Carlson by removing his name from an online donation page it sponsors.
Kevin Roberts, the foundation’s president, responded to the accusation in a video statement Thursday in which he said: “Christians can critique the state of Israel without being antisemitic. And, of course, antisemitism should be condemned.”
He added: “Conservatives should feel no obligation to reflexively support any foreign government, no matter how loud the pressure becomes from the globalist class or from their mouthpieces in Washington.”
Roberts further warned against the instinct to “cancel” voices one might disagree with, insisted Carlson remains “a close friend” of his organization, and denounced the “venomous coalition” seeking to bring him down.
Picking up on that last phrase in his Saturday speech, Fine said: “If those who support Tucker Carlson want to see a venomous coalition, all they need to do is go look in the mirror.”
The congressman added that he would be canceling a planned upcoming appearance at a Heritage Foundation event. He stated that he would no longer welcome the organization’s personnel to his Capitol Hill office, advising his GOP colleagues to do the same.
Elsewhere in his address, Fine denounced his fellow Republicans, Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene, for questioning U.S. support for Israel by saying, “Sometimes I marvel at their stupidity. Other days, they are evil. It makes my stomach crawl that I have to sit in the same room as them.”
Less surprisingly, he also attacked progressive Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar and New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, whom he has called to have deported despite his being an American citizen.
Fine was much less strident about Vice President JD Vance, however, who dismissed a scandal about antisemitic comments made in a Young Republicans group chat last month by saying simply, “Kids do stupid things,” overlooking the fact that many of the offenders were in their 30s.
Asked by an interviewer about Vance’s casual dismissal of the affair at a recent University of Mississippi question-and-answer session, Fine took a leaf out of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s playbook and said: “I haven’t seen it, so I couldn’t comment about it. I think that was a pretty long event, so I haven’t watched it.”
