(AmericanProsperity.com) – Members of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign retweeted on July 23 a video of the candidate with a symbol that is associated with neo-Nazi groups. This raised controversy on social media, with many politicians and associations expressing outrage against the Republican leader.
The video shows a meme online character named “Doomer” showing a sad face as he sees bad headlines about former President Donald Trump. As the clip continues, the character keeps showing an unhappy face as he sees Trump’s support for the LGBT community and promotion of the vaccines. At one moment, he becomes happier as the Florida Governor appears on the screen, with a montage of his LGBT and immigration policies. The short clip ends with the “sonnenrad” circle with the candidate’s face in the middle, while being flanked by members of the military.
The video was allegedly made by the Twitter account DeSantis Fancams. Different reports have said that the “sonnenrad” circle is originally a Norse symbol that different far-right and white supremacist groups in the United States and Europe use. The Anti-Defamation League reported that this symbol was first appropriated by the Nazi Party in Germany and Adolf Hitler’s paramilitary group Schutzstaffel.
The video from the Fancams account was immediately deleted after many users tweeted that the clip was shared by a member of the Florida governor’s campaign team. However, other members of his campaign have noted that no media outlet has been able to determine that the video was indeed shared.
On Twitter, Florida Democratic representative Maxwell Frost blasted DeSantis because of the video and the “retweet” made by one of his campaign members. Frost said that when he initially referred to DeSantis as a “fascist leader,” members of both parties criticized him for being too radical. However, he says that the video now shows that DeSantis is so “overt about it” that everyone is finally “coming around.” He closed his tweet by saying that the Florida Governor is a real “fascist.”
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