Another college Republican group at a public Florida university exposed with Nazi sympathies
By Philip Cardella March 16, 2026
Florida, United States
First, Republican Party chapter leaders at the state's largest public university was busted participating in a chat some of them called "Nazi Heaven." Then, a week later, it has been revealed that Republican student leaders at the state's flagship public university were gleefully giving the Nazi salute for cameras to be posted in a chat.
The coverage of the Nazi saluting UF students is almost as bad as the Nazi saluting UF students
In the Associated Press coverage of the University of Florida "deactivating" the College Republicans chapter at the flagship university this is how they described the incident in the fourth paragraph of the story:
"Officials at the University of Florida said over the weekend that they had been informed by the Florida Federation of College Republicans that the federation had disbanded the Gainesville campus’ chapter after determining that some members had “engaged in a pattern of conduct that violated its rules and values, including a recent antisemitic gesture.”"
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But nowhere in the story, at least as of 1:40 PM on Monday 16-Mar-2026 does it say what exactly these College Republicans at the University of Florida did.
Not to be outdone, another major wire service, Reuters, managed to be even weaker in their coverage suggesting the antisemitic behavior is "alleged." The headline at Reuters is (as of March 16, 2026 at 2:00 PM): "Republicans close University of Florida chapter over alleged antisemitism."
What was the "alleged" behavior? A Nazi salute for the cameras to be posted on a group chat.
A Nazi salute isn't alleged antisemitism. It is antisemitism, even if it was some twisted joke it is still antisemitism. Even if the alleged culprit isn't the person in the photo the salute in the photo is a Nazi salute and is antisemitic. There's no alleged in it. The sky isn't allegedly up. It is up. The Nazi salute isn't allegedly antisemitic, it is antisemitic.
Newsweek, however, wasn't so shy opening their coverage with this sentence: "The University of Florida (UF) disbanded its College Republicans (CR) chapter after a photo showing a student leader performing a Nazi salute started circulating on social media."
Unlike the AP and Reuters, Newsweek posted the damning photos that the students had shared on social media. Per Newsweek:
"The incriminating photo showing two UF College Republicans’ student leaders doing the Nazi salute in front of the camera was circulated by North Carolina–based journalist Sloan Rachmuth. The photo was a screenshot from a Guilded chat room, an online platform for the gaming community shut down in December."
Newsweek included screen shots of the students making the Nazi salute (yes, THAT Nazi salute), which I will not do here. If you feel the need to see them, follow the Newsweek links.
Of course, leave it to an off mainstream media outlet to do it better justice. The Miami New Times has perhaps the most complete version of the story I've found so far.
Fun fact, the University of Florida is not exactly local to Miami–it's a five hour drive north, so distance isn't the issue here with who is doing decent coverage and who is not.
Alex DeLuca
While the Miami New Times story points out the guy suing the University of Florida has serious allegations of racism against him, it also points out that the University of Florida may have gotten some facts of the story wrong.
From the Miami New Times coverage:
"The UF club has insisted that it’s not affiliated with FFCR and is instead part of the College Republicans of America. The lawsuit claims that FFCR is a “third-party group” with “no authority over or affiliation” with UF’s College Republicans."
In other words, the guy doing the Nazi salute might not be a part of the main College Republicans at UF.
One thing is certain, antisemitism is a problem in Florida and that's terrifying and wrong.
Not Just One University, Not Just One Group Hated
All these stories note that a deeply and violent racist, antisemitic and misogynistic group chat at the state's largest public university, Florida International University. that the Miami Herald noted called itself "Nazi Heaven."
Newsweek seems to have done the story justice while the AP has one image in their story, a stock photo of people riding their bikes on the State of Florida flagship university's campus. Reuters doesn't have any photo on the story.
All of these stories, however, may have erred in another way. While it is without a doubt that the Nazi salute is antisemitic and antisemitism is growing in the United States and globally and must always be condemned, it is not a coincidence that the "Nazi Heaven" group chat at FIU was not only antisemitic, but racist and misogynistic as well. The Nazi regime was violently white supremacist, sexist, anti-immigrant and homophobic as well as antisemitic.
A Nazi salute therefore is a tacit pledge to violent adherence to white supremacy, antisemitism, male dominance, and anti-immigrant values. All of these things are bad and have no place in a healthy society. They are also deeply stupid and self-defeating beliefs.
