Fascist Group Sneaks into DC for a Photo-Op March, Ends Up in Everyone’s Crosshairs if They Weren’t Already

Their idea of victory was holding a rally without alerting any opposition. One, it’s good to know antifa scares them that much. Two, it didn’t work.

Ever since the neo-fascist group Patriot Front was formed by former members of Vanguard America in the wake of the tragic Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA, the idea had been to do everything they could to conceal their identities and actions, primarily from those who would oppose and confront them. On Saturday, over 100 members from across the country marched in Washington, DC from the World Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol, and while many were shocked that such a stunt happened under their noses, a handful of antifascists were there to greet and follow them on their march – and that was not supposed to happen.

Photos of the Neo Nazi protest in Washington DC today…

Members of the Patriot Front marched from the National Mall, past the Capitol, ending near Union Station.

Patriot Front is run by Thomas Ryan Rousseau, who founded the group in 2017, as a teenager.@WUSA9 @washingtonpost pic.twitter.com/0CLOqEtIz5

— Mike Valerio (@MikevWUSA) February 9, 2020

The march took residents by surprise, as a common tactic among this and other groups in recent years has been to organize flash mob-styles marches and rallies as opposed to announced events in order to avoid those who would counter protest them. Patriot Front has particularly focused on concealing and controlling the identity and the movements of their members, but even before it was announced by the group that they were going to stage an unspecified action at an unknown location, antifa groups were monitoring their actions and alerting communities all over the country. Patriot Front members participated in several pro-life marches last month and even held a quick demo at the Washington Monument during the annual March for Life in Washington, DC. On Jan 29, when Trump held a rally in Wildwood, NJ, a Patriot Front member was handing out flyers for the group and unknowingly handing one to Jared Holt of Right Wing Watch. Holt posted a picture of the member on Twitter.

1) Neo-Nazis from the group Patriot Front have been showing up to a lot of ‘pro-life’ rallies as of late, handing out propaganda and attempting to recruit people. If there is an anti-abortion rally scheduled to take place in your community, consider pic.twitter.com/JU76q70Pc5

— American Iron Front (@Iron_FrontUSA) January 27, 2020

I was just handed a flyer for the white supremacist group Patriot Front by this young man outside the Trump rally in Wildwood, NJ, tonight. Safe to say he didn't recognize me. pic.twitter.com/yGuGk9OF4V

— Jared Holt (@jaredlholt) January 28, 2020

One People’s Project founder Daryle Lamont Jenkins spoke on Thursday at a church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn in the wake of Patriot Front flyers and banners showing up in that neighborhood, prompting residents to hold rallies and discussions in the days and weeks that followed. They caught a break last month when Patriot Front members, including reportedly the reputed local leader of the group were captured on video doing a banner drop on an overpass. That video was eventually broadcast on WPIX-TV, which included pictures of two unmasked males that might have been involved in the banner drop. At some point before the event, Patriot Front stickers were seen posted around the church.

In 2017 Thomas Rosseau was the leader of the Texas Vanguard America chapter and eventually gained control of the organization’s website and servers. In the aftermath of the Charlottesville rally, Vanguard America felt particular heat because James Fields, who after the rally drove his car into a group of counter protesters, killing local resident Heather Heyer, was seen marching with them. Attempting to avoid the fallout from Charlottesville, Rousseau began to transform Vanguard America into the new organization Patriot Front. As Vanguard America began to fade, Patriot Front took up the tactic of posting racist flyers in random areas in the country. A number of Patriot Front members have criminal records, most notably Victor Staab, the reputed leader of Patriot Front in the DC area, who in 2016 was arrested on charges of  racial Harrasment along with First and Second Degree Assault when he brandished a firearm and threatened to shoot while shouting epithets at a neighbor. He later pled no contest. Last month, Noah William Bogosh,22, of Norwood, Massachusetts was arrested and charged with vandalism after he allegedly posted Patriot Front stickers in a park in nearby Brookline.

Only a handful of antifascists were able to meet Patriot Front at last weekend’s march, which ended at the Capitol Building. Police disallowed everyone but the marchers to be on the grounds until after their rally, then they retreated to a nearby Walmart parking garage where they were met with heckles and jeers. Despite having low numbers at the clandestine march, antifascists were still able to gather enough information to monitor their movements in the area.