A Ron DeSantis 2024 campaign worker who was reportedly fired for retweeting a fan-made video about the governor which featured a symbol associated with Nazis had previously praised the impact of white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
Nate Hochman, a communications staffer, is said to have allegedly retweeted the controversial meme video from the Ron DeSantis Fancams Twitter account which ended with the 2024 hopeful's face imposed over what appeared to be a circular symbol known as the "sonnenrad."
Hochman, as first reported by Semafor, was let go after allegedly retweeting the since-deleted video featuring the ancient symbol which had been appropriated by the Nazi Party and is still used today by white supremacist groups.
Hochman, Axios reported, not only retweeted the video from his own account but had actually made the clip himself and posted it from the Ron DeSantis Fancams profile. Joey Hannum, a former aide for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, had also speculated that the Ron DeSantis Fancams Twitter account was being used by Hochman as a "sock-puppet operation."
"Nate Hochman is no longer with the campaign. And we will not be commenting on him further," a DeSantis campaign official told Axios.
Newsweek reached out to Hochman via social media for comment.
The outrage over the video arrives after The New York Times reported that a video previously shared by the DeSantis War Room Twitter account attacking Donald Trump for comments he made in support of the LGBTQ+ community—which critics accused of being homophobic—was produced by a DeSantis campaign aide who then shared it so it could be posted online elsewhere to make it appear as if it was created independently.
Hochman, a former fellow for the Claremont Institute and the National Review who has previously written for outlets such as The New York Times, was previously seen as a rising star in the conservative movement.
In an August 2022 article in The Dispatch detailing the so-called "new right," it was reported that Hochman had taken part in an online Twitter Space conversation in December 2021 with Fuentes, a prominent far-right extremist and Holocaust denier.
During the online discussion, Hochman said that Fuentes and his extremist views are a hindrance to the right-wing movement in the United States but highlighted how the presenter of the far-right America First podcast and leader of the white supremacist organization, Groypers has shown an ability to influence young people.
"You've gotten a lot of kids based, and we respect that for sure," Hochman told Fuentes, according to The Dispatch.
"I think Nick's probably a better influence than Ben Shapiro on young men who might otherwise be conservatives," Hochman said. "The fact that kids are listening to you, there are good things and bad things about it. But the fact that you have said super edgy things means that there's a pretty strong ceiling to what you can accomplish in politics."
Hochman later told Fuentes that while he does "respect some of what" he is doing, his political strategy being entirely focused on "white identity" is ultimately doomed to fail.
"I don't think you're a serious political operator because the kind of politics that you are advocating is disconnected from the reality of what America is in 2021," Hochman said. "It's just not gonna work."
In a statement to The Dispatch discussing the praise he gave to Fuentes, Hochman said he mentioned "some really stupid things, which I don't actually believe" during the Twitter Space while stating he "couldn't disagree more" with the white nationalist's vision of the world.
Hochman said he has strongly condemned Fuentes in the past, including describing him as a "verifiable racist" and the Groypers as "noxious" in a March 2022 article for the National Review.
The article was written after Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene attended the fringe far-right America First Political Action Conference, which is organized by Fuentes, in February 2022.
In February 2021, Fuentes gave a speech at AFPAC that contained white nationalist rhetoric.
"White people founded this country. This country wouldn't exist without white people, and white people are done being bullied," Fuentes said.
Fuentes met Trump at his Florida home in November 2022 along with rapper Kanye West, who himself was being criticized for making a string of anti-Semitic comments at the time.
Trump claimed that he "didn't know" who Fuentes was when he arrived with West for the meeting but stopped short of condemning the man who Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, told Newsweek is "among the most prominent and unapologetic antisemites in the country."
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About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
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