Overview
- Multiple outlets renewed scrutiny this week of Nate Hochman’s past online behavior and his current role, citing reporting from The New York Times and investigations by The New Republic.
- Hochman is listed as deputy director of the State Department’s policy planning office and uses an email signature that identifies him as Secretary Marco Rubio’s chief speechwriter, and the department has publicly defended his work.
- In July 2023 Hochman was fired from the Ron DeSantis campaign after resharing a pro‑DeSantis clip that ended with a Sonnenrad or black sun, a symbol catalogued by groups such as the Anti‑Defamation League as linked to Nazi Germany and later white‑supremacist movements.
- Hochman has denied creating the video, saying he deleted his repost and told supervisors, while a New Republic report says people on the DeSantis campaign created and seeded the clip and published audio shows Hochman made complimentary remarks to extremist influencer Nick Fuentes.
- The case highlights wider questions about how campaign staffers with controversial pasts can move through conservative advocacy and Senate offices into top executive‑branch jobs and could prompt calls for clearer vetting and accountability in personnel decisions.