Screenshot via Shneako on YouTube
Audio By Carbonatix
Florida has no shortage of politicians with controversial views. Our surgeon general is pushing to eliminate state-mandated vaccines. Our governor gave motorists permission to run over protestors ahead of a “No Kings” demonstration. But among the politicos behind the never-ending headlines, one prospective governor stands out: James Fishback.
You may remember Fishback as the guy who proposed a 50 percent “sin tax” on OnlyFans creators. While he’s not doing the greatest in the polls (the most recent Mason-Dixon survey found that just three percent of registered Republicans would vote for him if the election were held today, while 37 percent said they’d go for President Donald Trump-endorsed frontrunner U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds), he’s creating quite the chatter on the interwebs.
Last week, Fishback, CEO of investment firm Azoria Capital, appeared on an online podcast with right-wing influencers Clavicular and Sneako to discuss policy and his hopes for the Sunshine State’s future. We rounded up some of his most electrifying ideas below.
Fishback did not respond to New Times’ requests for comment via email or Instagram.
The “Hoe Tax”
Sin tax, hoe tax, it’s all just syntax, we guess. Clavicular and Sneako open the interview by asking Fishback about his proposed tax on OnlyFans creators. Fishback explains that the 50 percent tax would be implemented “for the simple reason that we want to stop them from doing it,” and that, hopefully, the high tax would keep the creators from wanting to be on the platform at all.
“What thot stands for is these hoes owe taxes, okay?” Fishback quips. (Thot is a slang term for a woman considered to be promiscuous.)
He then says that Sophie Rain, the OnlyFans creator who roasted Fishback for his comments about the site in the first place, owes the state $42 million, suggests that women do something “productive,” like work at a clinic, or become a nurse, teacher, or stay-at-home mom, and mentions China and Saudi Arabia as beacons of female morality.
“Say what you want about Saudi Arabia,” Fishback says. “There are no women hoeing out on the internet in Saudi Arabia.”
It has been less than eight years since Saudi Arabia ended its ban on women drivers, and women still need a guardian’s consent to get married or divorced, so maybe not the best example?
Fishback bemoans the poor men who are victimized by OnlyFans creators. At no point during the discussion does he mention the men who create content on the adult entertainment site or where their fates should lie. When asked later in the conversation whether the men who pay for OnlyFans content should be held accountable for their end of the bargain, Fishback hesitates.
“I don’t know that consuming the content is just the same as creating the content,” he says. “I think it’s all sinful; it’s all bad.”
In all of Fishback’s apparent concern for young women, he forgets to point out that the Broward County School District cut ties with him in 2022 over sexual misconduct allegations involving a then-17-year-old girl, according to NBC. Fishback was 27 at the time.
Israel
Fishback claims to be the only candidate running for Florida governor who hasn’t taken money from pro-Israel lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), calls his opponent Donalds “AIPAC Shakur” and a “slave” (not the first racist comments he’s made about the GOP frontrunner, who is Black), and dubs Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “depraved warlord.”
Donalds has accepted $45 million from AIPAC for his gubernatorial run, Fishback claims (Donalds has actually raised a total of $45 million from more than 8,000 donors), while Fishback himself has raised less than $19,000 since launching his campaign in November 2025, according to Florida Politics.
Affordability
In court, Fishback said he couldn’t pay a $229,000 judgment to a former hedge fund employer (though he wore a “borrowed” Cartier watch to the proceeding), so perhaps it makes sense that he’s offering ideas to make Florida more affordable. His proposals include nixing tolls for Florida residents while keeping them for tourists, penalizing employers for hiring foreign workers under H-1B visas, and prohibiting foreign nationals and asset managers like Blackstone from buying single-family homes.
When his gracious hosts ask Fishback the difference between him and New York Gov. Zohran Mamdani, Fishback responds, “Well, I use a fork to eat a Chipotle bowl; he doesn’t.”
But seriously, Fishback has a totally different approach to affordability from Mamdani, he says, one that doesn’t include government involvement. Fishback plans to “tackle affordability from both ends” by lowering prices and raising wages, partly by deporting undocumented immigrants.
“If you took the random guy in Downtown Miami and Brickell and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to pay you $30 to pick strawberries,’ they would be picking strawberries in Homestead right now,” Fishback says, rather than paying someone $4 to pick strawberries. How the proposal would lower the price of said strawberries at the grocery store was unclear.
Abortion
Fishback quotes a Bible passage when asked why he doesn’t support abortion.
“I believe that life begins at conception, as a Catholic, as a Christian,” Fishback says. “And so my view on abortion is that women who face an unexpected pregnancy, men need to take responsibility, and women need to be met with compassion and patience and resources.”
He argues that women are exploited by the abortion industry, calling Planned Parenthood’s work “murder,” and says that being pro-life should include policies like paid maternity leave.
Higher Education
The gubernatorial candidate has a plan to prioritize Florida college students: Raise annual tuition for Chinese students to $1 million.
“I don’t want them here; we don’t want them here,” he says. “How do you take someone who’s literally been in the state for 17 years, did everything right, got good grades, Black, white, doesn’t matter, and say ‘You know what, that spot at your dream school in Gainesville or in Tallahassee, that spot was just given to a Chinese foreign student and guess what?'” Fishback asks hypothetically. “Your life is on hold now, so you can go hoe out on OnlyFans.”
