DeSantis campaign produced memes, spread them through anonymous accounts: report

Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign used a dubious digital strategy of creating incendiary meme-like videos and sending them to third-party accounts to spread across the internet, a report said Monday.

Senior aides to the campaign created and shared the content in a private Signal channel entitled “War Room Creative Ideas” — and two of the videos shared were a source of irritation for the candidate, according to Semafor.

Screenshots obtained by the outlet show staffers praising some of the content that would later get them in hot water.

One of the videos featured DeSantis’ face over the Florida state seal that spins into a Sonnenrad, a symbol associated with Nazi Germany. The words “Make America Florida” appear as soldiers march in the background.

“This belongs in the Smithsonian,” Kyle Lamb, the campaign’s director of research and data, wrote in the chat, according to screenshots obtained by the outlet.

Lamb was among the nearly 40 staffers who have been laid off from the campaign in an effort to “reset” the playing field.

The campaign’s director of rapid response, Christina Pushaw, told staffers to create more videos and sent content to anonymous accounts that were allied with the campaign.

In one case, Pushaw shared a clip of Trump at a Fox News town hall and asked if the group knew “any Anons who might want it.”

She added, “if we post it or a named influencer posts it, it might get noted.”

They then suggested sending the video to a pro-Desantis account called ProudElephantUS.

The Signal channel was shut down after the image of the Sonnerad created negative media attention for the campaign.

Another video criticized former President Donald Trump’s stance on LGBT issues.

During an interview with Fox News, Desantis defended the videos but clarified that he was not solely responsible.

“These things get shared, or whatever — and look, I’m responsible for it. Don’t get me wrong,” DeSantis said. “But the idea that I was sitting there, like — oh, share this video? No. It’s a rapid response thing.”