Jesse Scheckner
Gov. Ron DeSantis is again going to bat for controversy magnet Scott Yenor.
DeSantis appointed Yenor, a conservative political scientist who doesn’t live in Florida, to the University of West Florida’s (UWF) Board of Trustees last month.
Shortly thereafter, Yenor’s public comments drew criticism from both sides of the political aisle. He derided race-based considerations in hiring and education practices and said women should choose motherhood over higher education.
In a social media thread last month, he said an overrepresentation of women and Jewish Democrats in elected office offer “slim pickin’s” for intraparty reform and that it’s a “problem” that “only three of the 23 Democrat governors (in the United States) are straight white men under sixty-five.”
Boynton Beach Democratic Sen. Lori Berman called Yenor’s assertions “shocking.” The Jewish Legislative Caucus called for DeSantis to reconsider the appointment. Brevard County Sen. Randy Fine, the only Jewish Republican in the Legislature and a frequent critic of DeSantis, said the Governor’s selection of Yenor left him “very troubled.”
Fine went a step further Tuesday, when he amended a bill to remove Yenor from consideration for the Institute for Human Machine Cognition’s Board of Directors. He called Yenor a “misogynist and bigot.”
“How on Earth this idiot got appointed to be on the Board of Trustees of a university is a question worth considering,” Fine said during the Senate Postsecondary Education Committee meeting. “We as a Legislature should be taking every bit of power away from this person that we can.”
Yenor fired back on X, blasting “dishonest media & the left” who are “actively working to prevent the reform of Florida’s institutions.” He said he’s been “an ardent supporter of Israel and the Jewish people … dating back to 2011” and provided screenshots of people criticizing him for being “heavily biased in Israel’s favor.”
DeSantis took a similar tack Wednesday when asked about Fine’s most recent comments.
“I stand behind Scott Yenor. He has been a champion for the types of reforms at universities that we need. Trying to dredge up statements and, quite frankly, distorting things — I mean, he’s been attacked for being a Zionist and being too pro-Israel,” DeSantis said.
“All these things are very flimsy.”
DeSantis then took a shot at Fine, a former ally and likely future Congressman who now regularly spars with the Governor and his staff. Fine started knocking DeSantis publicly in 2023, shortly after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and has regularly done so since. In essence, Fine said, DeSantis has talked one way about the issue but has done little to address it.
DeSantis said he’s done plenty. He cited a policy he enacted shortly after taking office in 2019 to punish companies that participate in the “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) movement against Israel. He also referenced several bills he signed to allow recurring state funding for Jewish day school security, define antisemitism in Florida Statutes and multiple measures aimed at cracking down on anti-Jewish actions in Florida.
“Let’s just consider the source,” he said, referring to Fine. “That same Senator called me antisemitic, OK? (Me), the guy that went and did a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, the guy that signed antisemitism legislation, the guy that has led the fight against BDS … and all these things, the guy that’s helped with all the money for security of Jewish day schools, the guy that’s done universal school choice.
“So, I think that that’s just misplaced criticism. I think it’s part of a separate political agenda (and) I’m not somebody that’s just going to let someone be out there and be unfairly maligned by distorting all this stuff. … I don’t think he’s antisemitic at all, and I think we’ve got to get beyond trying to … smear people based on mischaracterization or bad-faith interpretations of what they’ve done.”
That last statement is rather ironic, according to Fine, who said that contrary to DeSantis’ claim, he has never referred to the Governor as antisemitic or an antisemite.
Florida Politics asked the Governor’s Office for proof Wednesday of any time Fine lodged such a label or accusation against DeSantis.
His office did not respond by press time.
“Ron DeSantis is deflecting legitimate criticism of his poor judgment because he can’t defend his abhorrent choice,” Fine told Florida Politics by text. “I’ve never called Ron DeSantis an antisemite; by falsely accusing me of doing so, he raises real questions about whether he actually is one.”
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A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics contributed to this report, which was updated to link to Yenor’s social media thread.
