Nate Hochman, a prominent former staffer with the Ron DeSantis campaign, was reportedly fired Tuesday, according to Semafor.
Hochman came under fire after retweeting a pro-DeSantis video featuring Nazi imagery from a DeSantis fan account. The video concluded with a superimposed sonnenrad — a well-known symbol used by the Nazis — over DeSantis’ face, NBC News reported. Hochman reportedly deleted the video after some Twitter users drew attention to it. Hochman apparently made the video, Axios correspondent Alex Thompson reported, citing a source familiar with the matter. (RELATED: DeSantis 2024 Campaign Announces Mass Layoffs)
“Nate Hochman is no longer with the campaign,” the campaign said in a statement, Semafor first reported.
WATCH: This is the since deleted DeSantis for President ad that was retweeted by official staffers on the @RonDeSantis for President campaign.
The video they reposted literally features a Nazi symbol imposed over the Florida state flag and DeSantis’s face with soldiers marching… pic.twitter.com/TtnCnL30cU
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) July 24, 2023
The DeSantis campaign initially came under scrutiny after sharing a purportedly “anti-LGBT” video on social media. The campaign initially defended the video, claiming that it was a “fair game” attack on former President Donald Trump for promoting “gender ideology” while in office.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the video was produced by a member of the DeSantis campaign and then shared to an outside party to spread on social media.
Hochman, widely considered to be a rising thinker on the right, left the National Review to join the DeSantis campaign as a speechwriter. He had also been published in The New York Times, where he promoted right-wing populism. Hochman also participated in a Twitter Spaces event with far-right influencer Nick Fuentes, in which he said Fuentes was, “probably a better influence than Ben Shapiro on young men who might otherwise be conservative,” according to reporting by The Dispatch.