Trump Administration Brushes Off Hateful Antics of Patriot Front During July 4 Celebrations

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is neither making excuses nor apologies for members of a white nationalist group who marched through Washington D.C. on the July 4th holiday, saying that a key feature being celebrated on America’s 250th anniversary is freedom of speech. Mr. Burgum, who as interior secretary has led the cleanup of national monuments on behalf of President Trump, told CNN on Sunday that the supremacists, who believe that white men should rule the United States, said they have a right to be there whether they are loathed or not.“One of the foundational principles of the United States which makes democracy messy is free speech,” Mr. Burgum said. “There are plenty of things that I see that I might personally find offensive, irreprehensible (sic) but in America, free speech is allowed, and this is by the whole spectrum of things.”The Patriot Front was founded in 2017 by Thomas Rousseau, who started the white power movement after participating in the Unite the Right rally at Charlottesville, Virginia. He has since led the group to several entanglements with federal authorities, including a conviction for conspiracy to riot at a gay pride event at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in June 2022, and an order to pay $2.7 million to a black man attacked by the group during a march in July 2022 at Boston.The group’s manifesto claims that foreign-born Americans are not legitimate citizens and insists that “membership within the American nation is inherited through blood, not ink. Even those born in America may yet be foreign.”The group’s appearance at Washington Saturday included a march featuring confederate flags through black neighborhoods and on the National Mall. Masked and wearing matching khaki pants and black polo shirts, the group at one point swarmed the D.C. Metro, their travel documented in a succession of photos featuring black and other minority passengers calmly but cautiously sharing the subway ride with the supremacists. The Patriot Front’s antics have been documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Anti-Defamation League, and Pro Publica, among others — and even is the subject of a widely spread conspiracy theory that it is led by FBI informants. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, a Republican, commented that the group’s actions are more likely funded by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been indicted by the Justice Department for allegedly defrauding funders by paying informants to participate in hate-related events. “Brought to you by leftists who don’t know that patriots don’t wear masks,” Mr. Lee said in a post on X. “Are these really the most believable fake white supremacists SPLC money can buy?”Five members of the Patriot Front have previously sued a Seattle-area man and member of a leftist group for doxxing them after posing as a rightwing extremist seeking entry into the front. The Justice Department, however, did not mention the Patriot Front in its lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center. Saying that what the group stands for “is nothing that I could possibly agree with,” Mr. Burgum said the actions of the Patriot Front are a “rare example” of bad actors in America, but one that cuts both ways. “We’re a country where someone can run and be elected saying they are a communist, but yet this is what our nation has stood against and fought for. We’re about life and liberty, we’re not about death and tyranny,” he said. Asked if he would advise the president to condemn the group, Mr. Burgum replied, “There are people that are saying ‘death to Israel, death to America.’ This is part of free speech in America. They can say it, we can object to it, but this is something that comes with free speech in America.”

Trump Administration Brushes Off Hateful Antics of Patriot Front During July 4 Celebrations

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