Patriot Front

Patriot Front is a Texas-based, white nationalist group spreading its antisemitic message and goal of “collective liberty” across America. One of the most visible groups of this kind, there is a leadership dispute between anti-Zionist Thomas Rousseau and Jew-hating Dillon Hopper. Rousseau, who formerly led Vanguard America, allegedly orchestrated a coup against Patriot Front national leader Dillon Hopper and took over the fascist organization in the aftermath of the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville.

According to its website’s manifesto, Patriot Front’s core ideology is based on the belief that its members are the only true Americans whose European ancestors bequeathed the country to them. Thus, it is their duty to forge a new nation as the ‘true inheritors of America.’

Self-described fascists, the group’s tactics include vandalizing synagogues, drawing graffiti, hanging antisemitic banners, and distributing flyers filled with bias against the Jews, posters, and stickers containing white supremacist propaganda.

Patriot Front tends to use less explicit antisemitic rhetoric in its public messaging, in contrast to the group’s earlier incarnation, Vanguard America, which was unambiguous in its Jew-hatred. Still, Patriot Front targets Jewish institutions across the country, including museums and synagogues, and leaked internal communications reveal that its members privately engage in unabashed Jew-hatred, promoting conspiracy theories such as Jews controlling the media and Jews being “anti-white.”

Responsible for a large percentage of white supremacist propaganda distributed in America, Patriot Front stickers can be found on college campuses and on signs and light poles throughout major cities, such as Chicago and New York. Its supporters fly upside-down American flags and Betsy Ross flags at rallies, as well as stage “flash demonstrations” i.e., events that are privately planned but not publicly announced in an effort to minimize negative press and avoid the attention of law enforcement. These demonstrations, in which participants typically wear face masks, sunglasses, or bandanas, dress in khaki pants and polo shirts and use smoke bombs, signal flares, or torches., are mainly held as a photo or video-op to create quick content that will then be posted online.

In addition to its antisemitism, Patriot Front is unequivocally racist towards the Black community and bigoted towards the LGBT community. Recently, 31 Patriot Front members were arrested in Idaho and charged with planning to violently disrupt a gay pride celebration.

Though the group uses social media to organize and spread its propaganda, it is more focused on in-person meetings. According to Rousseau, Patriot Front members are required to engage in on-the-ground activism, lest they be expelled. The group also holds physical training events, such as boxing and hiking, as a means to be prepared for a fight against its perceived enemies. Chris Hood, the anti-Zionist leader of the Nationalist Socialist Club, was a member of the Patriot Front before being thrown out for allegedly stealing money from the group to purchase marijuana.