Sen. Randy Fine is running for Congress to help Donald Trump save the world, he says.
“God saved his life so that he could save the world,” Fine said, referring to the president-elect on the Dec. 13 edition of WNZF’s Free For All Fridays, “and since he says he needs my help to make that happen, then that’s what I’m going to do.” Fine did not say from what the world needs saving.
Fine is among the nine candidates running in the special election to replace U.S. Rep Mike Waltz in the sixth Congressional district, which includes all of Flagler and portions of St. Johns, Lake, Volusia, Marion and Putnam counties. Trump named Waltz national security adviser, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.
The Jan. 28 special-election primary has drawn three Republicans other than Fine, who : Aaron Baker of Sorrento, west of Sanford, Donald Browning of Weirsdale, north of The Villages, and Ehsan Joarder of Brooksville. Three Democrats are running in the heavily Republican district: Purvi Bangdiwala of Daytona Beach, George A. “Ges” Selmont of Elkton, and Josh Weil of Orlando. The race has also drawn independent Terry Randall of Arlington, Tenn., and Libertarian Party of Florida candidate Andrew Parrott of Ocala. A write-in, Chuck Sheridan of Merritt Island, is also running. The general election is on April 1.
Trump endorsed Fine, giving him a potentially insurmountable advantage when combined with Fine’s current platform in the state Senate, a position he is allowed by law to hold until the April 1 election, half-way through the state legislative session. Fine has been taking advantage of the platform, filing a fusillade of ideologically incendiary bills in attempts to bait headlines.
Bangdiwala’s relative proximity aside, none of the candidates has so much as a remote political connection to Flagler County. Several, including Fine, have none to the district. Fine blithely justified his out-of-district candidacy even as Free For All host David Ayres repeatedly questioned him on the matter: “I always tell people, you have an issue with that, take it up with him,” Fine said of Trump. “I mean, he knew that.”
Fine added: “Under state law, actually, under the Constitution, you only have to be a resident of the state. So it is that our founding fathers didn’t think about being a resident of the state was good enough, and so that’s where we are,” he said.
“I think he also knew that the issues that matter to District Six aren’t dissimilar to the issues that matter to Americans. I have yet to speak to one Republican voter who tells me their number one issue isn’t sealing the border and illegal immigration.”
Illegal immigration has not been a subject of discussion in any local government meetings where elected officials have discussed needs from the federal government for at least the past couple of years. The discussions have included Flagler County’s and Flagler Beach’s colossal needs with beach management grants, which were the only concern raised with Waltz in his last visit to the county at the end of August. (See: “Flagler’s Officials Hope Congressman Mike Waltz Will Be Their Sandman as They Dredge for More Beach Dollars.”)
Palm Coast officials have discussed needs with water protection and water-treatment grants, among other priorities. Flagler Beach’s continuing efforts to build a water-treatment and recycling plant to be in compliance with environmental rules are integral to ongoing development strategies. The school district’s exhaustion, with no replacement, of what had been millions in Covid-era federal aid, and on a more granular level, efforts in health and human service agencies to hold on to–or hope to renew–federal grants for mental health and substance abuse services as well as extensions of subsidies lowering the cost of the Affordable Care Act to those at the lower end of the income scale.
Fine touched on those issues only generally. “I’ve spent eight years working on water issues, on infrastructure issues, on development issues, these are issues I think that matter,” he acknowledged. “Whether you’re in Flagler County or Brevard County, the issues that are unique to the county I will get to know, and I commit to get to know every town and every community and every organization over my time in the office, just like I have during my time in the legislature.”
Fine was first elected to the Florida House in 2016, serving until he was term-limited at the end of the last session this year. He won his Florida Senate race handily. His legislative history was marked by leading the legislative battle, on behalf of Gov. Ron DeSantis, against the Reedy Creek Improvement District associated with Disney. Fine’s bill led to the dissolution of the district and others like it. Fine was also a zealous opponent of LGBTQ rights and a zealous advocate for Israel, while often ridiculing, demeaning and insulting Israel’s critics, using a bullying style that he appears to take pride in–and that may have played a role in bringing him to Trump’s attention.
Today–Dec. 16–Fine introduced Senate Bill 100, one of the most censoring bills in recent memory that would also authorize the use of force “to prevent” the “desecration” or removal of an American flag. The bill would forbid the display of “a flag that represents a political viewpoint, including, but not
limited to, a politically partisan, racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint.” The American flag, which represents all those categories, would be exempt.
Though the bill does not make that explicit, Fine’s office in a release today said the bill “would ban the use of fictional [sic] country flags like ‘Palestine,’ pro-violence ‘Black Lives Matter’ flags, woke and pro-grooming ideological flags, and the flags of any political candidates in government buildings.” The statement, of course is replete with inaccuracies and bigotry: Palestine is not a “fictional” country. It was declared in existence on Nov. 15, 1988–just as Israel self-declared its existence in 1948–and has been recognized as a sovereign state by 146 nations. Fine’s allusion to the LGBTQ flag as “pro-grooming” is a repeat of an old and vile equivalence of gay individuals with pedophiles, while the equivalence of the Black Lives Matter flag with violence recycles a prejudice that has known different versions since Richard Nixon’s “law and order” euphemisms.
On Friday’s show, Fine described how he got the call from the president-elect, prompting him to make the reference to God. He said he was ready to serve the next four years in the Florida Senate. “I was in fact excited that I wouldn’t be on the ballot in two years because it would be a four year term, and then three weeks ago tomorrow, President Trump asked me to run,” Fine said. “It wasn’t something I expected, wasn’t something that I was asking for. But God saved his life so that he could save the world, and since he says he needs my help to make that happen, then that’s what I’m going to do. And so I’m excited about getting to Washington and help them seal the border, get inflation under control, and stand up for our allies and stand up to our enemies.”
He said he had gotten what he wanted when Trump was elected. “President Trump won, and America has a chance to be saved,” he repeated. He said “they said, well, what do you want?” He didn’t specify who “they” were, but appeared to be describing the call from the president-elect’s entourage (he did not peak of an actual conversation with Trump). “It sounds like you may want me to do something,” he continued, “and we walked through a list of things, and I told them, Look: President Trump has to save America. If you need me to wash bathrooms in the White House in order to make him be successful, then that’s what I will do, and you just let me know. And we talked about a few things, and I gave them what I thought the pros and cons of each were. By the way, when we talked about Congress, I said, Look: you can pick your administration, but you can’t pick your congress. And you probably want a guy who, over eight years, has proven he’s willing to grab the sword and run up the hill.”
That guy would be Randy Fine. “You know,” he continued, “I’m the guy who stopped fake transgender surgeries on children in Florida. I’m the guy who brought school choice to everyone in Florida,” he said. (The school choice bill was primarily credited to Paul Renner, the former speaker of the house who had represented Flagler County.) “I’m the guy who took on Disney when they tried to interfere in our elections. Those were my bills. And so I might want someone like that, but it’s up to you. And then I went home, and three days later, three weeks ago tomorrow, I was taken a nap, and when I woke up from my nap, I reached over to grab my phone. I burned my hand, because it turns out, if you get 1000 text messages in a very short period of time, your phone will overheat, and I had 100 missed calls. And I wondered, first, who died, and then I and then I saw President Trump’s Truth that he called on me to run.”
Trump, with an Updikean twist, had posted on his Truth Social account on Nov. 23: “RUN, RANDY, RUN!”
“And I said, Well, I guess that’s what I’m going to do. And that’s when this started,” Fine said. He also appeared to have no doubt: “I’m going to win.”
Jonathan says
OMG he drank the Trump juice. Their going to save the world, I doubt that very much and I may be true with billionaires but not for the poor or middle class. I wish the juice drinkers would stop lying to the American people.
Bailey’s Mom says
Wow! Randy Fine has some serious issues as he appears to be coo coo crazy! Come on people, we need to find qualified candidates who represent all people and the issues that affect them.
This is soooo exhausting! The next 4 years are going to be painful for a lot of his supporters.
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
“Fine blithely justified his out-of-district candidacy even as Free For All host David Ayres repeatedly questioned him on the matter: “I always tell people, you have an issue with that, take it up with him,” Fine said of Trump.”
Fine could care less about the 6th district, he’s going to represent a convicted felon before he represents constituents, just like Waltz.
Many choices in this upcoming Special Election, choose the candidate that you believe will represent YOU.
Nancy N says
Fine, like Waltz, belongs to that ilk of Republicans who don’t believe they represent ALL their constituents but just the ones that voted for them. Progressive groups in this town have been told that repeatedly by recent GOP officials…”I don’t represent you, I represent only the voters who voted for me.” Fine, in particular, is well known online for summarily blocking anyone who disagrees with him (even politely) – a massive constitutional violation for an elected official.
Skibum says
DELUSIONAL!!! So yeah, he would undoubtably be a perfect addition that drumph would be pining for to join the other MAGA mush heads looking to destroy the federal government agencies and fawn over some of the world’s most horrendous dictators as supposed “allies” for the next 4 years.
James says
“… God saved his life so that he could save the world. …”
Uh, oh! :-o
Can’t honestly say I’m surprised by this statement though.
James says
But then again, its been said that God works in mysterious ways, so who knows?
Right?
Just say’n.
c says
Why in the world would he think that God was the being that saved him? Much more likely to be the satanic agenda.
Laurel says
Hmmm. God didn’t save Lincoln. God didn’t save Mahatma Gandhi. So, why does God leave us with the junk?
The stupidity is stunning.
Laurel says
God didn’t save Jesus, just Trump, huh?
Maybe some other entity was involved.
James says
Well, one need not look any further than a few rows in back of Trump that day… what should one say of the fireman that was shot?
Just ask’n.
James says
Perhaps instead of asking why God “chose” Trump over the fireman and searching for some answer, we should take the opportunity to ask a question of our selves. One for which we might hope to get an answer of.
Namely, why WE value one life more than the other.
We seem to have a built-in bias here that Trump’s life is more important than the fireman’s. Would God consider either more valuable than the other?
Should you or I expect an answer? Is God required to give such an answer?
Probably not.
Just another something to consider.
Laurel says
James: The fireman was just a working guy, not a messiah.
I know, it’s nuts.
David S says
Keep on taking those bleach injections Mr MAGA man.
Deborah Coffey says
I will need to feel the wounds in Trump’s hands before I believe this obvious scumbag is going to save anything on this planet. I do believe in miracles and, it would certainly take one to turn Donald Trump into anything but an evil human being who has sold his soul to Satan.
PDE says
randy fine may be mistaken……….
Maybe it was actually the devil that saved trump’s life so he could continue to wreak havoc in the world, divide us as a nation, demonize people based on their skin color, country of origin, sexual preference, spiritual beliefs, political beliefs (especially if they’re different than his) and anything else that he can think of to turn us against one another and drive us straight to hell.
He appears to be just another reprehensible republican bully.
And if that’s the case, he IS the perfect fit to do trump’s bidding.
What our nation and the world really needs is saving us FROM trump.
Willy Boy says
Randy Fine is as full of S–t as a Christmas turkey. He couldn’t care less about the 6th Congressional District, as it is all about his power play!
What Else Is New says
God did not save The Orange Man’s life. The Orange Man turned his orange head and the bullet grazed his orange ear.
This Fine guy is not so fine. He lies, picks a fight with Mickey that he lost, offers to wash bathrooms for The Orange Man, thinks America needs saving (from what, Fine?), brags about bills he didn’t sponsor and just down right hates people. On January 20th, we’ve got a sex predator sitting at the Resolution Desk and a passel of sex predators, felons and unqualified clowns in the sex predator’s cabinet. America needs saving from the Fines and Orange Men.
Whathehck? says
Isn’t it early for April Fools?
Tom Hutson says
The only thing Big Daddy Warbucks would want pillsbury doughboy Randy Fine for in the Whitehouse washroom would be to pick up the soap when he dropped it on the floor. Voters need to vote NO on Randy Fine, I promise God will not strike you down if you do.
JimboXYZ says
After 4+ years of Biden-Harris & Democrats spinning saving Democracy with inflation, wars & border crisis. Fine doesn’t sound so far out there. we’ll settle for Trump undoing the Delaware Liar & his intern’s handiwork of DNC spin zone. Amazing, 35 days to go and eggs are now $ 4/dozen at the grocery store. Gouging & stealing right up to the last moment they’re thrown out of the White House. Here’s one nobody has heard in awhile “Let’s go Brandon.” ? #46 never was a POTUS in US History, nobody recognizes that fraud as a President & administration. As far as I’m concerned we’ve only had 45 Presidents in US History. I don’t know what anyone would call the last 4 years, maybe latch key era of America ? We certainly have had zero leadership to supervise & guide America for 4 years of Biden-Harris. That what if a babbling, stumbling & bumbling dementia patient ran America for 4 years. So far Biden & Pelosi have fallen down more times in the last 4 years than Trump hit the stage deck for being shot at from +/-100 yards. Maybe they oughta take Pelosi’s broom license away, those weren’t drones they spotted, it was just Nancy Pelosi flying out of La Guardia to Europe on her broom, she didn’t quite stick the landing, broke her boom’s landing gear ?
“God Saved His Life So He Could Save the World,’”
c says
Who you gonna blame when things get worse under Czar Donnie ?
Nancy N. says
oh the unintended irony of the person who just wrote that word salad complaining about someone “babbling”.
Since you’re so concerned about the price of eggs, maybe you’d like to look into bird flu and its effects on egg supply (and learn about why egg demand is also highest at this time of year, compounding the supply/demand issue):
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/12/why-egg-prices-may-soon-flirt-with-record-highs-supplier.html
DaleL says
Jimbo please take your meds? Biden won in 2020. Being delusional about the outcome doesn’t change facts.
Do you recall that four years ago we were in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a headline from NPR:
“Egg Prices Skyrocket During The Pandemic”. Trump lost four years ago because he and his administration were corrupt and ineffective.
Harris lost because the Democrats have also been ineffective. Both parties need to practice fiscal responsibility. Republicans need to stop with the tax cuts for the wealthy and Democrats need to stop with the excessive spending. The alternative is more inflation (more dollars chasing limited goods).
Laurel says
Jimbo has landed in Dennisville.
It’s actually quite amusing to me that Republicans say President Biden has dementia (with no medical proof) and the Democrats are covering for him, and somehow forget that President Ronald Regan actually had the diagnosed Alzheimers disease while still in office, and his administration covered for him. Do Republicans have dementia? Maybe just select dementia? They seem to have no contact with the world around them, as the economy is the envy of the world.
That reminds me, we were away for a couple days and had access to a different TV provider. Hubby, while searching to find channels, landed on Fox Entertainment. He said they were repeatedly talking about “common sense” while saying ridiculous things! So! That’s where the “common sense” parroting comes from! Got it! Then, for kicks, he turned on MSNBC, and he said they were spewing the same kind of crap!
Who knew? I mean, besides the show staffs, producers and advertisers.
May I recommend turning off politically bias channels?
Please?
NJ says
God SAVE Flagler County from this Carpetbagger Power Hungry SWINE! Just like Waltz, he will do NOTHING for the 6th District. Waltz still has NOT returned the $28,000 campaign Funds that “WINRED” stole (by using a credit card donation Scam) from a Palm Coast Disabled Veteran!! Check out how “WINRED” also used a ‘Credit Card Donation TRICK” to steal $15,000 from a North Texas man.
Joseph Barand says
One simple question, would we be better of if the Bultler shooter had succeeded?
DaleL says
NO.
No government or society is legitimized by murder (assassination). In hindsight, in early 2021 after the insurrection of January 6th., The House (Democrats) made a huge mistake. Impeachment required a 2/3rds vote in the Senate. Impeachment and conviction is intended to both REMOVE a president and prevent them from ever serving again. However, Trump was no longer President when the Senate considered the Impeachment.
Instead, by simple majorities, the House and Senate (Congress) should have passed legislation invoking Section 5 of the 14th Amendment to declare that Donald Trump was not eligible to hold any office under the United States in accordance with Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The President, Joe Biden, would have signed such legislation into law. That is how a corrupt leader should be banned from further office; not by a bullet.
Section 5 gives the power power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of Section 3 of the 14th. Amendment.
Laurel says
DaleL: I agree with you. However, Trump stated he could “shoot someone on fifth avenue and get away with it.” He will also have a Supreme Court with whom, by a politically right leaning majority, gave him their blessing. He will be our leader.
Live by the sword…
The people have spoken.
Judith G. Michaud says
Boy, we are in more trouble than I thought! How could anyone in their right mind view Mr. Trump as a savior of anything? The only thing he saved was his own butt from jail! Just look at the people he is picking for his cabinet! Clearly, he is doing this to dismantle our government, none are qualified and most are crazy! those of you who thought your grocery prices were going down if you elected the con man are in for a real lesson! He lies, lies, lies and we are all going to pay a higher price than groceries!
Pat Stote says
Elon Musk is our new president
Justbob says
Well, this one caused me to spit up my morning coffee.
Sherry says
randy fine= demented maga cult member!
Jim says
Hi, Folks! I’m Randy Fine and I’m going to be your next Congressman! I’ll be replaced Mike Waltz. Most of you have no idea who Mike is (was) as Mike didn’t have a lot of time to spend with or on his constituents! But that was fine (pardon the pun) since you guys voted him back in office in November!
Well, I just want you guys to know that I really couldn’t care less about this (your) district! I’m in it strictly so I can get to Washington DC and pucker up to Donald’s keister every chance I get. I’m there for whatever Donald wants. If any of that dovetails with something that would help you guys, well, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then!
I realize I don’t even live in this district but, hey, who cares! I’m MAGA, baby. Fight, fight, fight! And, like Mikey before me, you won’t see or hear from me until 2026 when I’ll put on some ads telling you all the great things I’ve done for ‘Merica and – maybe – even you! And you all can vote me back in because this district is made up of MAGA morons who are more into tearing this country down then making it better (but many of us think it will be better when we destroy it!).
So thanks for your vote in advance – don’t waste your time checking me out or seeing if I have any thoughts or record that might indicate I might give a damn about the middle class! I’m for me, baby! MAGA all the way!
Tony Mack says
Trump had one single objective relative to this election — stay out of jail as a convicted felon and stay out of the justice system for any other crimes. The Heritage Foundation had another objective — install as their puppet a person who would implement their Project 2025 without question! The co-conspirators had four years (and Ivanka Trump’s voting technology patents from China) to perfect their bloodless coup and both Trump and the billionaires who supported him, including Musk, will benefit tremendously from their plot. They now have it all — the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, the lower courts and most of the media talking meatheads. They are not going to give it up voluntarily and submit their programs to another vote in 2026. They are not going to risk any defeat of their legislation in the Congress. Think Germany in the Thirties. End of story — end of democracy.
And if you are looking forward to another Trump Administration, maybe a look at his previous history —
Donald Trump: Promises vs. Reality:
• Promised to cut the deficit but added $8 trillion to it.
• Promised to build a wall; completed only 458 miles out of 2,000, mostly repairs.
• Promised Mexico would pay for the wall; they didn’t.
• Promised a new healthcare plan; it never existed.
• Promised a middle-class tax cut; primarily cut taxes for the rich, leaving the middle class to bear the burden.
• Promised not to play golf; made 250 visits to his own golf clubs, costing taxpayers $150 million.
• Promised to increase economic growth by 4%; didn’t achieve it, President Biden did.
• Promised an infrastructure plan; had none, President Biden signed a massive one.
• Promised to hire “the best people”; fired 3/4 of them, then labeled them the worst.
• Promised to reduce prescription drug prices; didn’t happen, President Biden did.
• Promised to win the trade war with China; it cost about a quarter million jobs.
• Promised corporate tax cuts would benefit workers; corporations used the money to buy back stocks instead.
• Promised to revive the coal industry; more coal jobs were lost during his presidency.”
Laurel says
And the MAGA Americans haven’t yet realized that firing thousands of experienced federal workers are jobs lost. Trying to replace experienced people with butt kissers is never good. They never know how to handle things without being told. This is destruction within.
Ed P says
FYI,
Any and all public sector jobs do not ever add to the GDP.
Many, such as police, fire, teachers, ect are necessary but are you aware that nearly 20 percent of federal employees still work remotely when in fact they should have returned to their offices since Covid.
Finally, all public sector jobs cost tax payers. Period
Who would not want to eliminate government waste or abuse of tax payers monies?
Laurel says
Ed P: Is there government waste? Yes! It has been that way for a very, very long time, under both parties. Should we try to get rid of it, or at least, reduce it? One would certainly think so. I would like it. However, replacing scientists with people who are not trained in science, for example, with butt kissing, untrained people and their subjective opinions, is totally insane, or intentionally destructive.
You want to get rid of waste? Get rid of lobbyists.
Kool-Aid Man says
There are few people more delusional than Trump supporters. I can’t wait to see their faces when their demigod doesn’t lower prices (all prices will increase), when free speech dies (he will sue it into oblivion), when the people he appoints end up killing Americans from their policies, and when he takes out gold reserves and sells it all for crypto garbage…but hey, they voted for it. It wasn’t a mandate. It was a win the size of a small mushroom.
Ed P says
Have any of you read the entire above diatribe?
Embarrassing.
Someone even questioned if “would we better off if the Butler shooter succeeded?”