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Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign office has fired a staffer who shared a video of the Florida governor superimposed over Nazi imagery on social media at the weekend.
Nate Hochman, a speechwriter on the DeSantis campaign who was previously a staff writer at National Review, the conservative magazine, was scrutinised after he retweeted several videos from an anonymous pro-DeSantis Twitter account. One of the videos included an image of DeSantis at the centre of a Sonnenrad, a black sun symbol associated with Nazis and neo-Nazis. The video was later deleted. It remains unclear who first created the video.
A campaign official confirmed on Tuesday that Hochman was no longer with the DeSantis campaign. Hochman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hochman’s firing was first reported by Semafor.
Hochman is just one of several dozen DeSantis campaign staffers who have been let go in recent days. Nearly 40 people working for the campaign have been released, as the DeSantis team seeks to revive his lacklustre White House bid.
Earlier this year, DeSantis had been seen as the Republican best positioned to challenge former president Donald Trump for the party’s nomination for president. But the Florida governor’s poll numbers have slid and he now languishes in a distant second, more than 30 points behind Trump, according to the FiveThirtyEight average of national polls.
At the same time, he has faced heightened scrutiny from his largest donors, and several questions about his campaign finances after filings with the Federal Election Commission earlier this month showed that he had spent nearly $8mn in the first five weeks of campaigning, including roughly $1mn on payroll-related expenses for 92 staffers. A campaign spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that 38 people had been let go in recent weeks.
On Sunday, the Financial Times revealed that billionaire Republican donors Ken Griffin and Nelson Peltz were reconsidering their plans to support the Florida governor for president over his rightwing policies.
“Following a top-to-bottom review of our organisation, we have taken additional, aggressive steps to streamline operations and put Ron DeSantis in the strongest position to win this primary and defeat Joe Biden,” said Generra Peck, DeSantis’s campaign manager. “Governor DeSantis is going to lead the Great American Comeback and we’re ready to hit the ground running as we head into an important month of the campaign.”
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