Jake Tapper: Patriot Front Consists of ‘Sad, Young White Guys with Little Going on in Their Lives’

EXCERPT:

TAPPER: "By now, many of you have no doubt seen this shocking stark image taken on the 4th of July in Washington D.C. on the Metro from Reuters. It’s the picture of a young girl sitting alone and brave, a young black girl surrounded by all of these white masked men, too afraid to show their faces in public. These are members of a group that calls itself the Patriot Front, though they are obviously not patriots in terms of their bigotry, and it’s hard to call a group that won’t show their front a front of any sense. So, let’s just call them the PFies. I'll tell you about the PFies. After the disastrous, murderous Charlottesville 'Unite the Right' rally in 2017, the PFies split from a different hate group, the white nationalist group called Vanguard America. Vanguard America apparently was too Nazi-adjacent and the PFies wanted to be more cloaked in American patriotism. Since almost all of them hide their faces, here is what we know about them. According to extremism experts, they are headed up by this one guy, Thomas Rousseau, he’s 27. He does show his face in public. He has been accused through the years of being part of a group that vandalized a statue of tennis legend Arthur Ashe, part of a group that was arrested for plotting to disrupt a Gay Pride parade in Idaho. It’s basic bigoted punk loser behavior. And honestly, that’s the whole vibe when you dive deeper and learn more about who these guys are: sad, young white guys with little going on in their lives, who seem to blame everyone else, the Jews, the blacks, the gays, whatever, for their sad situations.”