House leaders Johnson and Jeffries issue rare bipartisan rebuke over Fla. candidates vile antisemitism

WASHINGTON — GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson and Dem Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have teamed up for a rare bipartisan rebuke of a Florida Republican pol who spewed vile antisemitic rhetoric against his primary foe.Wannabe House member Daniel Bilzerian rolled out a disturbing ad last week attacking fellow Republican and incumbent Rep Randy Fine as a “fat Jew,” “Shylock” and “satanic whore” and suggesting whether it was worth revisiting Adolf Hitler’s “opinions.”“The vile attack ads against Congressman Randy Fine in Florida’s 6th District are disgusting and should be condemned by all political leaders on the Right and Left,” Johnson said in a statement late Sunday.“Antisemitism and outward hatred of Jewish communities have no place in our politics or in America.”Jeffries echoed the speaker about an hour afterward, calling Bilzerian out by name.“The hateful campaign being run by Daniel Bilzerian in Florida is blatantly antisemitic and shocks the conscience,” Jeffries said.“People of goodwill regardless of political affiliation must reject his vile attacks on the Jewish community.

This cannot and will not stand.”Bilzerian’s ad was only the latest sickening salvo in both sides’ scorched-earth attacks involving Israel and the Gaza war.Fine for his part has spouted egregious Islamophobic rhetoric and seemingly implied that the Gaza Strip, home to about 2 million Palestinians, should be nuked.Bilzerian’s ad was filled with depictions of the Israeli flag, used artificial intelligence to add some physical girth to the Sunshine State Republican and showed him hugging a bag full of cash.It also called him a “Jewish supremacist” and “Satan’s creepy little minion.“Should we revisit that Austrian painter’s opinions?” a singer in the ad asked in footage of Hitler.The ad meanwhile boasted that Bilzerian doesn’t take money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.On social media, Bilzerian has railed against �...