Patriot Front

Masked racist cowards marched through the capital on our nation's 250th birthday

When I saw photos of masked racists surrounding a young black female on DC's metro system yesterday, it made me wish I were there.

I have ridden on the metro a lot, and I am not intimidated by it. Last year, on Trump's birthday, when he held a military parade for himself, DC was flooded with MAGAts. There were red hats all over the metro, and while I wasn't looking for a fight, I wanted them to know they weren't going to intimidate people. I told several to go fuck Trump. Every single one did the right thing, and that was to walk away from me. I am not a badass, and I don't want to get into a physical fight, but I will not allow MAGA goons to intimidate me either. The thing is, these people are cowards. I never saw a MAGA hat wearer on a train by himself. They always travel in groups.

Yesterday, on Independence Day and our nation’s 250th birthday, hundreds of masked men in dark blue shirts and khaki pants swarmed around our nation’s capital. They were mostly seen at Union Station and the Eastern Market. These men are racists and members of the white nationalist organization Patriot Front. They were chanting “reclaim America” while carrying the United States flag, the Patriot Front flag, and the Confederate flag. How are you a patriot to the United States while waving a flag of one of our enemies?

In a photo that has gone viral, a young black female is surrounded by members of this incel group on the metro.

Cheney Orr, Reuters

Notice that none of them are sitting next to her. That's because they are cowards. These goons are marching through the city, trying to intimidate people. They are so confident in their racist club, yet not confident enough to show their faces. There’s speculation that some members could be J6 insurrectionists or that they’re members of ICE. One thing that is for sure, and that is if Donald Trump were not president, these idiots wouldn't feel so important to perpetrate this display of racism.

This group is very much in the minority. Patriot Front was created in 2017 by Thomas Rousseau after the 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally. It is estimated that there are fewer than 600 members nationwide, which means the bulk of their membership was in DC yesterday.

We need to know who we are dealing with here. According to the Anti-Defamation League, members of this organization believe that their ancestors conquered America and bestowed it upon them, and no one else.
It defines itself as an organization of “American nationalists,” justifying its hate and intolerance under the guise of preserving America’s identity as a “Pan-European nation.”
Since 2019, Patriot Front has been responsible for the vast majority of white supremacist propaganda distributed in the United States, using fliers, posters, stickers, banners, and the internet to spread its hateful ideology.
Patriot Front frequently participates in localized “flash demonstrations,” making it one of the United States’ most visible white supremacist groups.

Starting in 2018, less than a year after splintering from the openly antisemitic and neo-Nazi Vanguard America, Patriot Front transitioned from using antisemitic and traditional white supremacist language to the more palatable red, white and blue aesthetic of “Patriot Nationalism.” This branding packages their white supremacist ideology in a way that appeals to a more mainstream conservative audience, using symbols like the American flag and ambiguous “patriotic” rhetoric like “America First,” “United We Stand,” “Better Dead Than Red,” “Reclaim America” and “Not Stolen. Conquered.”

Patriot Front’s message is the same as “Make America great again.”

Creative note: I did not give these guys hoods or sheets because equating them with the KKK would not insult them. They are aspiring to be the new klan, but they have competition.

GoComics comments: Here are a couple of comments from redhats at GC today that I take particular exception to.

You can't compare someone asking for donations to support their work to Donald Trump's grifting, which made him $2.2 billion last year while sitting in the Oval Office. I understand that you are always seeking to discredit my work, but with logic like this, you're not smart enough. But hey, thanks for visiting the website.

This is a lie. The GoFundMe was created by two other cartoonists, Jack Ohman and Kevin Necessary, the day after my stroke. Note that he does not mention the stroke. The goal was set by them on that day, and it has never been met, nor has it ever changed. You, sir, are a liar. Also, you don't know what a minion is. I don't have minions as nobody works for me. Being a fan or a reader does not make a person a minion. Ironically enough, minion is a word that describes what you are to Donald Trump.

Both of these right-wing readers have a history of making bigoted comments.

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