By Charlie Jones

(February 16, 2026 / Irish Star) California Governor Gavin Newsom has slammed a Republican lawmaker as a “racist slob,” after online comments about Muslims.

Writing on X, Congressman Randy Fine, a close Trump ally, had said: “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”

He had been commenting on a joke made by a pro-Palestine activist calling for dogs to be banned as pets in New York City, claiming they aren’t Islamic.

Nerdeen Kiswani had written on X that dogs shouldn’t be indoor pets: ‘Like we’ve said all along, they are unclean.” Responding to Fine’s comments about Muslims, Newsom wrote: “Resign now, you racist slob.”

Fine, who represents a district in the state of Florida, was met with wide condemnation online after his comments. One X user simply branded him a “Bigot,” while another wrote: “When a Congressman compares humans to dogs, he doesn’t insult Muslims he advertises his own moral poverty.”

Kiswani’s comments about dogs were met with a backlash to which she responded: “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**t in the unmelted snow.”

It isn’t the first time that Fine has been open about his views on Muslim people. In December last year, he suggested that “mainstream Muslims” should be destroyed adding that he is not afraid to be called Islamophobic.

During a congressional hearing Fine claimed with out proof that Israelis are banned from going to some areas in the occupied West Bank due to “apartheid” imposed by Palestinians.

“When you are dealing with a group of people who continually call for the destruction of the State of Israel, who are OK with signs that say, ‘Jews may not enter these areas’, we want to be free of Jews, how do you make peace with that?” Fine asked Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, during the hearing.

Klein said that Islam needs to undergo a “reformation” and accept “Israel as a Jewish state”.

“Nobody wants to talk about it. They’re afraid of being called Islamophobic,” Klein said.

Fine interrupted, saying, “I’m not afraid of that.”

“I don’t know how you make peace with those who seek your destruction. I think you destroy them first,” he said.

Abed Ayoub, executive director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), slammed Fine, calling him “the Temu version of Benjamin Netanyahu.”

This article was originally published in the Irish Star and can be viewed here.