With Patriot Front, what you see is not what you get : NPR

Key Points:

• Hundreds of masked members of Patriot Front, a white nationalist group originating from the 2017 Charlottesville rally, marched in Washington, D.C., over July Fourth weekend, drawing widespread attention and concern from residents.
• Despite their public display of orderliness and avoidance of violence during the event, experts warn that Patriot Front has a history of violent acts, including vandalism of a mural honoring Black tennis legend Arthur Ashe and an assault on an African American musician, with little criminal prosecution.
• The group, founded by Thomas Rousseau from the remnants of Vanguard America, adopts patriotic imagery to mask its neo-Nazi ideology and fascist beliefs, aiming to rebrand white nationalism in a more palatable way.
• Patriot Front operates with a strict internal hierarchy resembling a cult or pyramid scheme, requiring members to fund operations and Rousseau's lifestyle, while demanding significant personal sacrifices and control over members' lives.
• The recent D.C. demonstration amplified the group's public image as patriotic and law-abiding, which experts caution is a deliberate facade that obscures their true extremist and violent nature.