DeSantis campaign fires staffer for video featuring Nazi symbol

Once used by Old Norse and Celtic cultures, white supremacists now tend to wield the Sonnenrad.

By JNS

The campaign of Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis fired Nate Hochman, a former writer for National Review, after the speechwriter retweeted a video he had created featuring the Florida governor dissolving into a rotating Sonnenrad.

The Anti-Defamation League describes the symbol as, “one of a number of ancient European symbols appropriated by the Nazis in their attempt to invent an idealized ‘Aryan/Norse’ heritage.”

According to the ADL, “often, white supremacists will put another hate symbol such as a swastika in the center of the inner circle.”

DeSantis previously took criticism when Hochman joined the campaign, receiving evidence of the writer’s white supremacist sentiments. On Wednesday, Bulwark editor-in-chief Charlie Sykes wrote, “If only they had been warned. Oh wait,” and linked to an article by American political consultant Tim Miller from four months prior revealing that the new hire had previously appeared with and praised neo-Nazi podcaster Nick Fuentes.

Hochman had told Fuentes: “You’ve gotten a lot of kids ‘based,’ and we respect that for sure.”

He also recommended the white supremacist agitator over a more prominent podcaster, saying, “I think Nick’s probably a better influence than Ben Shapiro on young men who might otherwise be conservative.”

Hochman will have company as he seeks new employment. He’s one of a number of former DeSantis staffers let go in the months since the governor threw his hat into the ring for America’s top job. This week, the campaign announced the choice to lay off a third of its staff force amid news of extravagant expenditures, such as regular private plane flights.

2024 Presidential electionRon DeSantisWhite Supremacists