For context, Patriot Front is a rebrand from one of the original white nationalist groups at the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA in 2017. The fascist who drove his car into the crowd, killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others, marched at the rally with teenager Thomas Ryan Rousseau of Vanguard America, a neo-Nazi group. For more information on James Alex Fields, click here. Soon after the rally, Rousseau formed Patriot Front as a splinter of Vanguard America. Today, Patriot Front is one of the most active distributors of racist and antisemitic propaganda in the country, both online and via fliers, stickers, and banners. Per its manifesto, the group does not allow women to join and is actively working to create a whites-only ethnostate.

Since 2017, Patriot Front has also held several “flash mob” events, where they are easily spotted in their uniform of khaki pants, polo shirts, ball caps, and white gaiter masks, and carrying American flags, smoke bombs or other props. At these events, their uniformed members will unload from the back of a rented U-Haul or Penske box truck, then briefly march along their planned route through the city, usually at night when there are few bystanders. The purpose of these marches is to generate footage for a few minutes of flashy recruitment videos for their social media channels and to minimize chances for confrontations with antifascists and the public. They stage manage accordingly to attempt to appear powerful, intimidating, and superior while reducing risk of opposition.