A staffer for presidential hopeful Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is being accused of retweeting a video showing the Florida governor surrounded by a Nazi symbol.
The video, which was originally shared and later deleted by a DeSantis fan account, shows troops marching towards the conservative politician as Florida’s flag and a sunwheel are visible in the background.
The sunwheel, also known as the sonnenrad, is an ancient European symbol that was appropriated by the Nazis. The imagery is also used by a multitude of far-right groups operating today.
“The @desantiscams account just deleted this video after at least one campaign staffer RT’d it,” podcast host Luke Thompson wrote after sharing a copy of the video. “I wonder if this was also made in-house.”
A screenshot of a reply to the tweet included the handle of the staffer, indicating that the staffer retweeted it.
Thompson’s remark also points to an incident several weeks ago in which the DeSantis campaign promoted another video that criticized former President Donald Trump for at times supporting the LGBTQ community. As reported by the New York Times on Sunday, the video, which had been passed off as being produced by a fan, had actually been developed in-house by a DeSantis staffer.
At this time, there is no evidence indicating that the latest video showing Nazi imagery was made by anyone connected to the DeSantis campaign. Neither the staffer alleged to have retweeted the video or the campaign itself have commented on the tweet.
Aside from the sonnenrad, the video focuses largely on celebrating DeSantis for his opposition to the LGBTQ community and criticizing Trump for failing to put up a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The DeSantis fan account that originally shared the footage on Twitter, known as Ron DeSantis Fancams, has not tweeted since deleting the video.
The incident is not the first time that the DeSantis campaign has been linked to those espousing Nazi beliefs. Earlier this year, the campaign hired a speechwriter who has openly praised white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
DeSantis continues to trail significantly behind Trump in the race for the Republican nomination.
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/debug/desantis-staffer-nazi-video-retweet/
