DeSantis video w/ Nazi "sonnenrad" symbol sparking outrage

[allegorical oracle]

A video which features Ron DeSantis that includes a symbol often associated with neo-Nazi groups has been met with outrage after it was allegedly retweeted by his campaign team.

The short clip, reportedly made by the Ron DeSantis Fancams Twitter account, shows a meme online character known as a "doomer" looking unhappy as he sees negative headlines about Donald Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP nomination race, as well as the former president's promotion of COVID-19 vaccines and support for the LGBTQ+ community.

The "doomer" becomes happier when DeSantis appears on screen, with the clip then going through a montage of the Florida governor and his immigration and LGBTQ+ policies. The video ends with what appears to be a far-right circular symbol known as the "sonnenrad" [sunwheel/black sun] on screen, with DeSantis' face in the middle being flanked by marching military personnel.

The video from the Ron DeSantis Fancams account has since been deleted after social media users said it was reshared by a member of DeSantis' campaign team. Newsweek has not been able to verify if it had been shared, or the account from which the clip was retweeted from. DeSantis' office has been contacted for comment.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the sonnenrad is one of a number of ancient European symbols that the Nazis appropriated in their attempt to "invent an idealized 'Aryan/Norse' heritage." The Nazi party and Adolf Hitler's paramilitary group the Schutzstaffel [SS] both used sonnenrad imagery.

Florida Democratic congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who has frequently accused the Florida governor of acting like a fascist leader, said: "When I first started calling Ron DeSantis a fascist, I got blowback from folks in both parties.

"Now, he's being so overt about it that people are coming around. Calling DeSantis a fascist isn't hyperbole, it's defining what he is."

https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis-nazi-symbol-campaign-sonnenrad-1814801

[BeckyDem]

1. I do believe he should resign. I get how it is customary to accept these demagogues

in our politics now but we must react forcefully.

ADL, NAACP and our Dems should ask for his resignation. He is treading intentionally on dangerous ground, he is there doing it as an official of the state of Florida.

[allegorical oracle]

2. Would like to see the video...it must be floating around somewhere in the netherland. nt

[edhopper]

4. Thanks Curt,

my links didn't work.

[CurtEastPoint]

6. image here... added a 2nd one. As good as I can get it. from video I suppose

Last edited Mon Jul 24, 2023, 02:41 PM - Edit history (1)

[prodigitalson]

32. so that's not an example of this symble but literally from the video?

It looks like someone in a suit is about to fade in or out.

[BeckyDem]

7. Yes, me too.

I'm sure he would prefer to blame his staffer and be done with it but that would be a mistake in my view.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. It's a pattern. He blames other people, when it's his words that are causing

them all to act in the way they are doing.

[BeckyDem]

12. Precisely right. n/t

[allegorical oracle]

37. Perhaps he stays purposely ignorant. Maybe not. Either way he doesn't know WTH is going on. nt

[RAB910]

3. I am not surprised the Nazi DeSantis used it. I am surprised he took it down

[PatSeg]

22. Maybe someone reminded him

how many of his constituents are Jewish. Pretty soon, Ron is going to run out of people to offend.

[Lovie777]

5. Ya think these assholes would learn from history.......................

oh wait - they are not woke.

[dchill]

24. They're too busy rewriting it.

[Johnny2X2X]

8. None of this is a mistake

Trump's campaign regularly used Nazi imagery and slogans. And that's on purpose because Trump's campaign had people in it who were acknoledged admirers of Nazi propaganda.

They're doing this stuff on purpose for multiple reasons. 1, they absolutely are sending messages to Neo Nazis that they're welcome here. 2, Nazi propaganda is very effective, they use it to get their followers more hooked. 3, they know when it comes to light, their followers will be fine with it and just blame any outrage on Woke libs.

That's where we have been for years with the GOP, they're duplicating Nazi imagery, propaganda, and slogans. Hundrds of incidents now when just a few would be too often to write off to coincidence.

There were literal Nazis in Trump's White House, not even Neo Nazis, but literal members of a country's Nazi party.

Gpdwin's law no longer applies when you have the above.

[KewlKat]

10. Found the video at link below on Twitter. Not sure I know how to post it

Link to tweet

/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1683194937179877381¤tTweetUser=Scott_Wiener

[MagickMuffin]

16. I bet Kate Bush would be pissed using her song in this manner

But it does little good anymore to send cease and desist letters. They’ll just be ignored.



Sorry Kate that the Nazis are stealing your music!

[karin_sj]

21. Holy crap

What a horrendous video. This guy is totally clueless. I'm sure Kate would not approve of the use of her song and hopefully will do something about it. Make it stop!!!

[Hekate]

25. He's not clueless -- this is all very intentional

[allegorical oracle]

27. Good grief. Cuts are so fast that they could cause seizures. Thx for posting it. nt

[keep_left]

36. Does anyone know how to save this? Video DownloadHelper shows errors...

...seemingly only when trying to download Twitter videos. It's been that way for a long time now. Anyway, this video should be saved, because you know it's going to be taken down and disavowed.

[KewlKat]

40. I went to an online site and plugged in the link below and was able to save it on my PC

GO HERE

https://twittervideodownloader.com/


PLUG IN THIS LINK TO THE VIDEO

https ://twitter.com/i/status/1683194937179877381

REMOVE THE SPACES between https and colon, then paste it in the download box!



Worked for me...

[keep_left]

45. Thanks! I don't know what's going on with Video DownloadHelper. It used to...

...download from Twitter just fine, then about a year ago, it just stopped working (but only with Twitter videos).

[niyad]

11. hey, newsweek. ." from which it had been deleted from"?? Do you have editors?

[usonian]

14. Two Words (abbreviated)

[niyad]

17. I have been seeing these kinds of mistakes in venues where, one would think,

proper grammar, spelling, etc., would be the barest minimum one should expect, for decades. A.I. is only exacerbating an ongoing problem.

[allegorical oracle]

29. These errors are everywhere. Always want to correct them when I cut/paste, but don't feel we

have the right to do that. Believe these unedited mistakes occur when writers re-write but forget to remove their earlier version.

[niyad]

30. I think that you are being generous. I go through books that I am reading, and am

appalled at the mistakes. One does assume that publishing houses do, or did, employ proofreaders. Apparently that is no longer the case.

[orthoclad]

33. Two words: Spell Check

I've been seeing huge errors of grammar and word sense ever since spell check became common. Proofreading now consists of glancing it over for spell-check highlights, which don't even pick up there and their.

I have seen grammar checkers, but they're not so common.

And I'm sure machine writing has it's portion of blame, too.
(See? "it's" went through).

[niyad]

42. Sadly, you are quite correct. As a former editor, those errors drive me nuts.

I disabled spellcheck on my computer, because it could not spell. And misplaced apostrophes??? aaargh!!!

Just because "ghoti" can be pronounced "fish" does not excuse the grammatical horrors that I see daily.

Interesting side note: a friend who retired from directory assistance told me many years ago that voice recognition programs have trouble with people who speak and enunciate clearly. Bizarre, yes?

[orthoclad]

43. I had that experience today,

enunciating an account number very clearly. The robot said it couldn't understand me.

People think that spell check catches all errors, I guess.

I read sf "year's best" anthologies. One tends towards print media, the other towards online publications. I keep wishing the online pub had an editor who actually EDITS the material. There seems to be much more care taken with print.

And I'm not a grammarian, I make lots of typos, but my stuff is still better than what I read from a lot of national publications. Maybe running material through a translation cycle would help spot errors.

[niyad]

44. Frustrating, is it not? There are times I wonder if sceaming would help when

interacting with software.

I do tend to believe that the study of other languages would help. Sadly, that is yet another area in which we are far behind other countries. Other languages??? What am I even thinking, when so many in this country can barely speak, read, or write, their native tongue!!!

[usonian]

13. It's all intentional.

They're all dogwhistles.

Fascist playbook.

The Fuhrer can spew only so much shit.
This is the Ex-Lax that gets it flowing in the mob.

[NowISeetheLight]

18. Exactly

Just like "Stand down and stand by" for the proud boys. Send a message, claim it's an "accident" or "innocent", but it's out there.

[Blue Owl]

15. He's a pudding-finger-licking white-jackass-boot-wearing Nazi fuck

[Justice matters.]

19. Exactly. nt

[Cronezilla]

20. LOL! This is genius...

Behold the perfect image for the DeSantis campaign flag!

[Dorian Gray]

23. Great rebrand

you stupid tool.

[republianmushroom]

26. Is this surprising, I don't think so. Look what he has done and wants to do to Florida.

[BlueIdaho]

28. None of this is an accident or ignorance...

DeSatin’s Nazi imagery, Jason Aldean’s violent racist video, and TFG’s “Stand down and Stand by” are but a few of the carefully crafted messages intended to inflame fascists.

It’s time to stop giving right wingers and their propagandists any slack whatsoever. They are all working to destroy our democracy.

[orthoclad]

34. The Reich wing

I stopped using "conservative" long ago. Nothing conservative about them.
Not even "right-wing" properly covers it any more.
Now I say Reich wing.

[Duppers]

46. Same here.

It should be a standard in our lexicon.

[BlueIdaho]

48. Totally Agree nt

[Tiny Tabby]

31. Misogyny too!

The ghostly looking male in the video resembles the character used in Gamergate campaign which was extremist mysogyny. Coincidence?
I feel that image was used recently with Pepe the frog too .

[orthoclad]

35. Looks like DeSantis. Also, "In

God We Trust" around his head like a money halo.

[keep_left]

38. This is all Reddit/4Chan/8Chan/8Kun alt-right incel crap. One poster mentions Pepe...

...and it's truly amazing that whoever put this together had the restraint to leave Pepe out of it. I guess they thought that was too dated or something.

"The doomer" character, an alt-right trope, always becomes happy when the society turns fash. And sure enough, you see that in the video clip. He's depressed when he reads about how Trump's idiotic wall is rusting, and how MAGA morons are POd because Trump is pushing vaccines and boosters. And then DeSantis comes through the door like a savior, and suddenly "the doomer" becomes "the bloomer" (see 0:36). I'm ashamed that I know enough about the moronic Chan "culture" that I recognize these stupid tropes.

[allegorical oracle]

39. The symbol, however, does have a link to Nazi Germany...

Wikipedia:

The Black Sun (German: Schwarze Sonne) is a type of sun wheel (German: Sonnenrad)[1][2] symbol originating in Nazi Germany and later employed by neo-Nazis and other far-right individuals and groups. The symbol's design consists of twelve radial sig runes, similar to the symbols employed by the SS in their logo. It first appeared in Nazi Germany as a design element in a castle at Wewelsburg remodeled and expanded by the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, which he intended to be a center for the SS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sun_(symbol)

[keep_left]

41. Oh, yes, you're quite correct about that. I was referring more to the idiotic tropes...

...like "Doomer" and "Bloomer", and in particular how one transforms into the other as the society goes fash. Or as they like to put it, "degeneracy is eradicated", where "degeneracy" = people they don't like.

By the way, the Sonnenrad is a popular symbol on Reddit and 4Chan/8Chan/8Kun/whatever-the-hell-they-call-it-now. Reddit is currently fighting a losing battle to root out the Nazi subs, but the smart ones try to "hide their power level", as the kids say. One of the worst was "Frenworld", which often featured Pepes dressed up as SS officers parading around with conspicuously placed Sonnenrads in the background.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216627886#post38

[allegorical oracle]

47. Oh, thanks for the clarification. Your point suggests to me that DeSatan's got a staffer(s)

who may keep up with what's popular in crazy land. This neo-Nazi crap is like a leaking sewer.