Ron DeSantis fires staffer who retweeted video with Nazi imagery

As part of its latest downsizing effort, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign fired a staffer who over the weekend promoted an online video that superimposed Nazi imagery over DeSantis’ face.

The staffer, Nate Hochman, had retweeted the video over the weekend before he deleted the post, a screenshot shared with NBC News showed. Hochman, a communications staffer who has written for The New York Times, National Review and other outlets, is considered by some to be an up-and-coming thinker on the right.

“Nate Hochman is no longer with the campaign,” a campaign official said. “And we will not be commenting on him further.”

The official did not say whether the retweet factored in the decision, which was first reported by Semafor.

Hochman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hochman shared a video from the Twitter account @desantiscams that criticized former President Donald Trump and concluded with an image of DeSantis standing in front of a sonnenrad — a symbol co-opted by the Nazis and promoted in modern times by fascist sympathizers — as soldiers marched by.

Republican strategist Luke Thompson, a regular critic of the DeSantis campaign on Twitter, first noted the video. The account has shared similarly styled pro-DeSantis videos since it launched in March.

Last year, The Dispatch reported that Hochman participated in a Twitter Space with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, saying Fuentes is “probably a better influence than Ben Shapiro on young men who might otherwise be conservative.” (Hochman later said he had said some "really stupid things" that he did not "actually believe.")

The DeSantis campaign has fired more than 40% of its original staff within months of having launched following concerns over its spending and large staff footprint. In total, 38 staffers have been cut since the campaign’s launch in late May, including at least 26 on Tuesday afternoon. Politico first reported the latest round of cuts.