“We Are Not Going Anywhere” UF College Republicans Appears Defiant Amid Disbandment

Update | March 27: Added a reference and hyperlink.

Correction | March 26: The original version of this article included a link to a photo that mistakenly identified Dylan Estrella as standing alongside Nick Fuentes when the image actually shows Fuentes and Kai Schwemmer.

Correction | March 23: The original version of this article identified Estrella as the secretary of UFCR. The referenced post refers to him as a member of UFCR and shows a webpage listing him as the secretary of an organization called Uncensored America.

Edit Mar 23 | A redaction was made to the face of the individual to the left of Estrella after being informed they were a 14-year-old at the time of the photo.

On March 7, Sloan Rachmuth made an X (Twitter) post that states, "Last night UF student Julian Winer, was radiantly beaming with notorious Holocaust denier Myron Gaines... Julian is reportedly an active member of College Republicans of America at UF. He is a prominent supporter of James Fishback."

According to her bio Rachmuth is an "Investigative journalist," "Zionist," and "Terrorism survivor" who is "Defending Judeo-Christian values."

On March 11, the University of Florida (UF) College Republicans (UFCR) hosted Florida Governor candidate James Fishback for a town hall.

On March 12, at 7:13 p.m., Rachmuth made the following post on Twitter with the image shown in the cover photo attached.

Rachmuth said the individual standing to the right in the photo is Dylan Estrella, who she said is a member of UFCR, which he denied in an email to Main Street Daily News. The image shows him performing a Nazi salute alongside another individual.

On March 13, at 8:08 a.m., Nikki Fried, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, shared Rachmuth's post and said, "This is unacceptable."

Rachmuth did not respond to Fried's support with open arms.

On March 14, at 7:55 a.m., UF responded on their social media. The statement indicates that the Florida Federation of College Republicans (FFCR) has authority over UFCR. The post states FFCR informed UF that UFCR would be disbanded because "members engaged in a pattern of conduct that violated its rules and values, including a recent antisemitic gesture." UF said they are "in the process of deactivating" UFCR.

Senator Rick Scott, former Florida governor, supported UF, stating he was grateful to the university for "working with FFCR to stand with Jewish students and resolve this quickly."

At 11:12 a.m., UFCR posted a response on Twitter where they implied Fishback's appearance had a role in their disbandment. They added that they are "not a part of" FFCR and that the organization has "no authority" over the chapter. UFCR said they are members of the College Republicans of America. UFCR said FFCR is lying to silence them.

UFCR reposted the response on their Instagram story with the caption, "WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE."

In the replies of a follow-up post, Rachmuth referred to the person doing a Nazi salute alongside Estrella as "a trans."

Fishback has been showing his support for UFCR, calling the disbandment a "disgusting assault on the First Amendment."

Attorney and Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini said he will file a lawsuit on behalf of UFCR. Rachmuth said he is "full of shit" and that UFCR is under the authority of FFCR.

The College Republicans of America website does not currently present itself as having a chapter at UF. However, this appears to be due to UFCR being a new chapter.

Chapters

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Less than two weeks ago, the College Republicans of America made a post welcoming UFCR as a chapter.

The FFCR has a website link on their Facebook account. As of this writing, the link redirect users to a URL not found page.

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Gainesville Public Information Services