Alleged Patriot Front offshoot may be astroturfed by neo-Nazi accelerationists

26 September 2024

Content warning: This Dispatch contains racial slurs and other offensive language.

The Texas Revolutionary Army – Patriot Front (TRA-PF) is a recently emerged group that first claimed to be the armed wing of Patriot Front, then launched into an anti-Patriot Front campaign before explicitly allying itself with accelerationist groups. ISD analysts have examined the group’s postings, rhetoric and membership and assess that TRA-PF may not be an authentic, independent group, but rather a poorly concealed effort by neo-Nazi accelerationist groups to recruit and radicalize under the banner of a less extreme organization. 

Key Findings

1. TRA-PF is likely a campaign to radicalize disaffected white nationalists and/or Patriot Front members supported by a small cadre of accelerationists.
2. Consistent with previous ISD research findings, this campaign represents another example of accelerationists seeking to recruit and radicalize while concealing their role.
3. TRA-PF’s extreme messaging and clear accelerationist influences will likely expose less radicalized extremists to violent accelerationist ideology, potentially mobilizing some to violence.
4. Based on the low level of activity and participation observed by ISD, it is unlikely TRA-PF will have a significant impact on Patriot Front’s operations and membership, however, this is nevertheless illustrative of broader tactics by accelerationist movements to further radicalize white nationalist groups towards violence.

In late 2023, an alleged offshoot of Patriot Front known as the Texas Revolutionary Army – Patriot Front (TRA-PF) began posting images of graffiti and vandalism to their Telegram channel. These images include racial slurs and violent rhetoric not previously seen in Patriot Front (PF) materials and seemed intended to shock the audience. The TRA-PF channel administrators also appeared to be taunting Patriot Front and its leader Thomas Rousseau for his unwillingness to take Patriot Front in a more explicitly racist, antisemitic, and violent direction. These posts and the TRA-PF channel were heavily promoted by The American Futurist (TAF), a Telegram channel and website operated by former Atomwaffen Division members and neo-Nazi accelerationists, groups that are normally hostile and disdainful of PF and other white nationalist groups that engage in non-violent public-facing activism.

While infighting between extremist groups can result in poor outcomes for the parties involved, in this case analysts assess that this campaign is unlikely to significantly affect PF. TRA-PF’s extreme rhetoric and small audience will limit the impact of their message, furthermore the legitimate complaints about PF (cost of stickers, lack of consensus-based decision-making, etc.) are frequently aired in more mainstream fora. However, the campaign does have the potential to resonate with a small number of PF members or others who believe that PF is not radical enough to accomplish its goals. Through TRA-PF these disaffected individuals would be exposed to accelerationist ideology including the glorification of violence, that could result in their further radicalization or even mobilization to violence.

While analysts assess there may be at least one possible former PF member involved in TRA-PF, there are indications that the group is an astroturfed^[1] attempt by TAF to discredit PF and promote their more extreme views to a wider audience. In an effort to appear as if they have a larger and more distributed membership, the group has used images published by other neo-Nazi organizations and posted the same images multiple times claiming different locations. Analysts also identified several instances where the group sought to imitate other extremist groups before settling on Texas Revolutionary Army – Patriot Front.

Creation and evolution of TRA-PF

Since TRA-PF announced its creation in November 2023, the group’s public messaging on Telegram has evolved, likely reflecting the goals of its accelerationist backers to discredit PF and recruit radicalized individuals within the white nationalist movement. This is consistent with other accelerationist group’s efforts to infiltrate and radicalize as noted in recent ISD research revealing Terrorgram’s use of non-branded news channels. Throughout RA-PF’s short history, the group has consistently posted violent racist rhetoric. While it initially claimed to be PF’s armed wing, their public-facing messaging quickly shifted to transparently sarcastic praise of PF leader Thomas Rousseau accompanied by references to saints and other accelerationist icons. In January 2024 the group’s messaging underwent another shift, openly admitting that TRA-PF was never affiliated with PF and acknowledging ties with accelerationist groups. Elsewhere on Telegram, a purported group leader claimed that the rationale for forming TRA-PF was to “bring actual [National Socialist] folk from PF and outside together.”

• Initial Messaging: In November 2023, TRA-PF introduced themselves through an audio message posted to their Telegram channel, claiming to be the armed wing of Patriot Front. The message used violent and racist language and praised PF’s leader Thomas Rousseau. TRA-PF later abandoned the almost certainly false claim that they represent the armed wing of PF, but this initial message gave the appearance that TRA-PF remained affiliated with the organization. During this period, the group posted propaganda in the name of PF, including one poster that claimed “Patriot Front is dedicated to exterminating all mud races…total n****r death requires violence, and violence needs organization,” and several instances of graffiti where they tagged offensive slogans along with the PF website.
• Sarcasm and ridicule: In December 2023, the group began defacing authentic PF posters and graffiti tags without providing a coherent explanation for their actions. At the same time, they continued to claim allegiance to PF and praised Rousseau, although the tone of their posts became increasingly sarcastic and indications were observed that the group sought to ridicule Patriot Front and make Patriot Front appear more radical or violent than it publicly appears. Additionally, the group‘s postings began to reference saints and other accelerationist icons.

Figure 1: TRA-PF Telegram post claiming that the group is composed of “dissident” Patriot Front members and is supported by accelerationist groups such as the American Futurist and Terrorgram.

• Admission of ruse: TRA-PF posted a message claiming that the channel was a “crude, absurdist” effort to get the attention of PF leadership to raise a series of grievances, including the desire for PF to become openly neo-Nazi, for PF leadership to be more transparent, an end to exorbitant charges for stickers and patches, and for Rousseau’s resignation.^[2] Following this post, the channel began openly deriding Rousseau and in January 2024 the group referred to itself as an “operation” involving “several PF dissident members” that were supported by accelerationist groups, including TAF.

Accelerationist backing of TRA-PF

TRA-PF claims to be an independent group that is merely supported by TAF, however its rhetoric and behavior suggest that TRA-PF is being used as a vehicle for accelerationists to radicalize white nationalists within the movement and to more effectively spread its more extreme message. This tactic of concealment and subversion has been historically used by accelerationist groups and may represent an attempt by TAF and others to regain relevance as the overall popularity of accelerationist groups on Telegram appears to have declined in recent years.

TRA-PF’s calls for violence, use of polarizing slogans such as “Total N****r Death” and “Total K**e Death,” and constant polemics against Patriot Front and Thomas Rousseau seem tailor-made to advance the accelerationist narrative of TAF and other groups. TAF and other accelerationists have long disdained groups that focus on public activism such as Patriot Front, accusing their members of being federal informants and decrying Patriot Front’s refusal to endorse or call for violence. Using TRA-PF as an example, TAF and other accelerationists are able to discredit Patriot Front, spread violent rhetoric, and identify individuals who are primed for further radicalization. TRA-PF also echoes accelerationist talking points including veneration of “saints.”

TRA-PF doesn’t just echo accelerationist talking points, it also seems to have an almost total overlap in membership with accelerationist groups. Analysts have only been able to identify a single individual affiliated with TRA-PF that is not historically tied to TAF or its affiliates. That individual, who styles himself as the leader of the group, claims to be a former PF member and has displayed some degree of knowledge of the inner workings of the group to support that claim. That user consistently rails against Rousseau and PF leadership, defends the TAF leader Timothy Turtle, and espousing accelerationist rhetoric.

In early July a group chat was opened to accompany the TRA-PF channel. As of early August, the only user in that chat who identifies himself as a member of TRA-PF is the abovementioned leader and the remainder of the group members are either 1) individuals associated with TAF or its close ally the neo-Nazi accelerationist Injekt Division, or 2) other Telegram users who joined the group to learn about TRA-PF. These findings, combined with the indications of inauthentic behavior described below, suggest that TRA-PF is not an authentic, independent group but rather an attempt to conceal recruitment and radicalization efforts by accelerationist groups.

TAF’s support for and involvement with TRA-PF is in line with the group’s accelerationist beliefs. Founded by several members of the now-defunct Atomwaffen Division (AWD), TAF serves as the spiritual successor to the Siege Kultur website that was closely associated with AWD and James Mason. Despite largely eschewing the term accelerationism in favor of the “American Futurism” and “Revolutionary Fascism,” TAF has continued to solicit and publish stories that promote accelerationism and posts by its editors clearly indicate that they continue to subscribe to that ideology.

Accelerationists have also denounced PF for being a “de-radicalization” or “derad” group, arguing that it is pushing the white nationalist movement in a moderate direction. While Patriot Front’s aesthetics and public messaging do not include overt neo-Nazi symbols and themes, in the group’s leaked private chats, PF has accepted self-professed National Socialists to the organization and have posted photos of themselves performing Nazi salutes. The group also works closely with more overt white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, including Active Clubs and the now-defunct National Justice Party (NJP).

Figure 2: TRA-PF Telegram post referencing James Mason, whose book SIEGE is a foundational text in neo-Nazi accelerationist communities.

Indications of inauthentic behavior

ISD analysts found several pieces of evidence suggesting that TRA-PF was engaging in inauthentic activity, including claiming images from other neo-Nazi groups as their own, impersonating other groups besides Patriot Front (such as Active Clubs), and claiming the same images of graffiti in different cities. While these findings alone do not confirm that TRA-PF is an astroturfed organization, they do indicate that the group’s claims have been inconsistent and support the assessment that the group is attempting to portray itself as having more members or active contributors than it actually does.

Figure 3: Photo comparison of two identical pieces of TRA-PF graffiti claimed in different locations. (Left) Claimed in Austin, Texas. (Right) Claimed in Dallas, Texas.

In at least one instance, TRA-PF attempted to pass off a photo published by a different neo-Nazi organization as their own. TRA-PF also attempts to prove its authenticity through photos of alleged real-world activity, primarily graffiti and other instances of vandalism using the group’s name or symbols. However, in several instances, the group has used the same images multiple times claiming different locations. Of the photo sets that could be reliably geo-located, six were likely taken in the Dallas region, two from area of Michigan where a TAF administrator is known to reside, and one from Western Pennsylvania, a region where the Injekt Division – a neo-Nazi accelerationist group that is closely associated with TAF – has been active. This strengthens the analytic assessment that the actual membership of TRA-PF is miniscule or non-existent outside of a small group of accelerationists.

In addition to the inauthentic behavior noted above, revious iterations of the TRA-PF Telegram channel reveal that the channel’s operators first attempted to brand the group “Patriot Front Virgin Islands” (PFVI) before impersonating the “Alamo Active Club” (AAC). Each of these efforts utilized a slightly different approach, but both attempted to discredit non-accelerationist groups and used phrases such as TND and TKD, which are highly controversial and polarizing.

Figure 4: TRA-PF Telegram post where the group attempts to impersonate Alamo Active Club.

Conclusion

Accelerationist groups do not require large numbers of members to accomplish their goals, they seek to have a disproportionate impact through propaganda and intimidation. This campaign to co-opt the PF audience while recruiting and radicalizing their members is a prime example of such an effort.

Whether TRA-PF is led by a former PF member or not, TRA-PF has taken steps to obfuscate its ties to PF and outlets such as TAF in a likely effort to appeal to a larger audience and identify recruits who are already engaged in offline, ideologically-motivated activities. It is unlikely that the group will successfully poach any significant number of recruits from PF, but even a small number of defectors would be highly concerning given their willingness to engage in offline activity and the fact that they would be explicitly responding to calls for racist and antisemitic violence.

Endnotes

[1] Astroturfing is a term to describe coordinated efforts to artificially imitate grassroots support for a cause

[2] PF has been the subject of frequent criticism, not just from its ideological opponents, but also from current and former PF members themselves. Leaked internal communications from 2022 revealed that some PF members complained about having to buy the group’s “promat” (flyers and stickers) directly from Rousseau, a grievance echoed by TRA-PF. In addition, Patriot Front’s strict hierarchical structure does not allow for dissent among the rank-and-file, which has caused some members to leave the group. PF members are expected to meet stringent activism quotas and fitness standards and are reportedly shamed by leadership figures if they fall short of the requirements.