Just days after Hochman received criticism for reposting the unofficial ad on Twitter, the DeSantis campaign informed NBC News on Tuesday that staff member Nate Hochman was “no longer with the campaign” and that they would “not be commenting on him further.”
Before DeSantis emerges as the savior from a glowing door, the advertisement began with a character grimly surveying a list of the failures of former President Donald Trump. The Sonnenrad emblem, which was on display in the Wewelsburg castle of Nazi SS leader Heinrich Himmler, appeared over DeSantis’ head as a video of soldiers marching followed.
The Sonnenrad symbol has been used by neo-Nazi groups and the Azov Battalion of Ukraine since World War II, and it is recognized as a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League.
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Using an unnamed source “familiar with the situation,” Axios reported on Tuesday that Hochman, a writer for the New York Times and National Review, had not only shared the video but had also “secretly created” it. But there is no proof of this. It wasn’t the first time DeSantis’ presidential campaign received criticism for disseminating a contentious video.
Republicans who identify as LGBT have criticized the DeSantis campaign since it shared an odd video criticizing Trump’s ties to the LGBT community last month.
Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting Director of National Intelligence, described the advertisement as “undeniably homophobic,” while the Log Cabin Republicans referred to it as “dangerous and politically stupid.”