Antisemitism fight explodes in Florida as voters head to the polls: 'Political pogrom'

Randy Fine has never been shy about a fight, but calling a primary challenge a "pogrom" is a word choice that deserves scrutiny on its own terms. Pogroms involved mobs, state sanction, and dead bodies. This involves an AI-generated attack video and a rival candidate with a Twitter account and too much money. Those are not the same category of thing, and pretending otherwise cheapens a word that should be reserved for actual historical horror.

That said, if the video really did traffic in Nazi imagery to smear a Jewish candidate, that's disgusting and worth calling out plainly, without the hyperbole. Antisemitism doesn't need inflation to be taken seriously. It needs to be named accurately, which is exactly why loose talk of "organized pogroms" against a sitting state senator running in a normal primary does the opposite of what Fine presumably intends. It hands his critics an easy dodge: dismiss the real complaint by mocking the framing.

Florida Republicans have bigger things to sort out than an AI-slop attack ad, but voters deserve a campaign where the accusations match the facts. If Bilzerian's team actually leaned into antisemitic tropes, say so specifically and show the receipts. If it's a low-rent internet stunt, call it that. Either way, the fight itself, real bigotry versus manufactured outrage, is one worth having honestly, not one worth burying under a word that belongs to a much darker chapter of history.