Former commander of III% United Patriots alleges Feds behind nationalist neo-fascist hate group 'Patriot Front.'
Unicorn Riot has blown the lid off the nationalist, white supremacist, and neo-fascist hate group Patriot Front. Part of the broader alt-right movement, the group split off from the neo-Nazi organization Vanguard America during the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in 2017.
Unicorn Riot is a decentralized, educational 501(c)(3) non-profit media organization of journalists and operates independently of corporate or government control. Unicorn Riot spans multiple US cities, including Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia, as well as South Africa. Their financial support comes from donors and grants, according to their website.
The detailed inner workings and operations of Patriot Front came to light after a massive leak from their chat servers.
"The exposed communications show coordination with their leader Thomas Rousseau to deface murals and monuments to Black lives across the United States, and intimate struggles to bolster morale through group activities like hiking and camping," says Unicorn Riot, which published more than 400 gigabytes of data in association with their comprehensive article.
Patriot Front Fascist Leak Exposes Nationwide Racist Campaigns - UNICORN RIOT
The data leak exposing the group's nationwide racist campaigns included detailed notes taken during interviews with those who wished to join the hate group. According to one such document included in the leak, an applicant who was subsequently accepted into the group is said to have had a back-burner plan to escape and homestead in Alaska if a situation occurred with the far-right group that necessitated the individual fleeing.
Finding it interesting that an individual associated with a far-right white supremacist and neo-fascist hate group might seek refuge in our state, The Blue Alaskan clipped the link and a screenshot of the document and shared it to Twitter because, as I wrote, it was an interesting detail included in the leak.
Somehow, and perhaps rather incredibly, Dustin Sherman, a reported former “commanding officer” for III% United Patriots, member of the far-right Save Anchorage operation and frequent Anchorage Assembly testifier, shared that he found it interesting that The Blue Alaskan thought Patriot Front was a far-right group.
"This is laughable at best. None of the people in my circle and its a big ass circle want anything to do with Patriot Front. We don't wear masks and we don't do pop-up rallies like that," Sherman wrote in a public Facebook post.
Because I didn't opine at length in the post made to Twitter two days ago, it occurred to me that Mr. Sherman believed I may have written the thorough and well-documented account of the Patriot Front hate group. Mr. Sherman claimed in a subsequent comment that was not his intent but rather that my sharing of the information may have indicated I believed it.
But perhaps more telling is that Sherman also wrote in his post that the feds were behind the Patriot Front hate group, an assertion that appears to have no basis in fact.
In December, Newsmax host John Bachman played with the idea that Patriot Front’s December 4, 2021, march was a false flag operation by the FBI. Despite ProPublica's report in 2019 that Patriot Front was "probably the most active white supremacist group in the nation," Bachman initially said that he'd "never heard of these folks before." A Wikipedia page for the hate group has existed for a number of years.
Other right-wing politicians and commentators also sought to play down the "Patriot Front" demonstration on the National Mall last December — Dinesh D’Souza speculated that the event was “fake,” and conducted by “FBI agents.” He asked, “Where are the media interviews so we can see and hear directly from this group?”
On Telegram, far-right conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl claimed “these are feds,” on the basis that the men shown in the videos appeared to be unusually slim. Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers, a prominent supporter of disproven election fraud conspiracy theories, described Patriot Front as a “fake group” composed of “feds.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Texas-based group was responsible for at least 80 percent of the antisemitic and racist propaganda they tracked last year. In 2017, the ADL released a report on Patriot Front detailing the circumstances surrounding their formation.
Patriot Front is indeed an earnestly-motivated white nationalist group with a readily verifiable history. Its leader, a 23-year-old Texan named Thomas Ryan Rousseau, is a well-known far-right and fascist activist in the United States, and was clearly visible and identifiable at the Dec. 4 National Mall rally, says Snopes in addition to numerous news reports.
Claims that events were faked or staged by federal agents or actors are entirely lacking in evidence. Other than pure speculation, nothing indicates that 'the Feds,' have anything to do with the hate group other than opinions given by right-wing pundits.
As an aside, of course, I hide certain social media comments, especially when they're made by individuals who are known to block elected officials and who post content to social media some might find to be concerning and or/disturbing.
In the end, however, the Twitter post drew the attention of Zach Roberts, a respected photojournalist who responded, "Yeah they [Patriot Front] literally fly fascist flags."
