Ron DeSantis sidesteps Randy Fine’s critique of trip to ‘antisemitic’ Ireland, rips legislator for taking ‘lobbyist’ money

When it comes to a dissident Republican legislator’s latest critiques, Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t holding back.

DeSantis was asked about Rep. Randy Fine’s charge that visiting Ireland for the Florida State-Georgia Tech football game was tantamount to visiting an “antisemitic country.” In response, the Governor noted that he was not alone.

“All I will say to that is I think just about every lobbyist in Tallahassee made that trip. So is Rep. Fine going to stop taking the money from all the lobbyists like he’s been doing? I’d like to see his answer to that.” Florida’s Governor said at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Operations Center.

DeSantis got applause for his pithy takedown of Fine during Q&A, but the Brevard County legislator wasn’t having it.

“I think we’ve grown used to these childish responses to legitimate criticism by Gov. DeSantis, and his petulance isn’t worthy of a response,” said Fine, the only Jewish Republican in the Legislature.

Fine told USA Today earlier this week that he was “certainly disappointed to see not only folks go to what is clearly an antisemitic country that supports Muslim terror,” but was “also disappointed that the game wasn’t canceled, which it should have been.”

Fine once aligned with DeSantis, but fell out with the Governor over a number of issues around the time of DeSantis’ failed challenge to Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential Primary.

In an interview with the New Yorker, the legislator described a Governor whose “quietness around the rise of Nazism” in the state led him to reverse his previous endorsement of DeSantis.

“I had been very unhappy with the quietness around the rise of Nazism. And while I wasn’t beating the Governor up publicly over it, I was very vocal privately, asking why we were not using the laws that are in place. So were lots of his Jewish supporters,” Fine said late last year.