On Saturday, masked men associated with the hate group “Patriot Front” marched through downtown Washington, D.C. holding American flags, shields, and a large banner that read “Reclaim America”.
But some right-wingers are convinced that all wasn’t as it seemed - even though the January 6 riots showed that Biden opponents had the willingness to storm the Capitol and cause harm to many people.
And there’s one aspect of the theory in particular that people on Twitter found humorous - as MAGA supporters convinced themselves that the latest marchers were just too fat to be true fans of the former commander-in-chief.
Writer and podcaster Sam-Adler Bell took screenshots of Trump supporters’ comments on the video footage.
lol MAGAs convincing themselves the Patriot Front march was an FBI op because none of them are disgusting and fat pic.twitter.com/mZDE6yHSFU
— Sam Adler-Bell (@SamAdlerBell) December 7, 2021
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Check out some of the responses below.
The Charlottesville Tiki Torchers were in pretty good shape also. They obv learned from that, now they’re rocking the face covers
— PAUL9000 (@koinoyokan77) December 7, 2021
Would the fbi had to wait a couple of hours in a parking lot for a uhaul van to pick them up?
— craig carlson (@harpodad) December 7, 2021
The latest right wing insanity I’m seeing tonight is that the Patriot Front march in DC had to be “staged by the Feds,” because everyone was too clean cut and there were no beer guts. They’re basically saying MAGA can only look like out of shape hillbillies.
— Eric Ansley Diaz 🏳️🌈 (@GeekBoyEric) December 6, 2021
Marge Greene has now joined the chorus of MAGAs claiming that the ‘Patriot Front’ march in DC last night was a false flag operation. pic.twitter.com/Lp6mtw9zj9
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 6, 2021
CIA and FBI: They know too much Operation: Patriot March
— The Poet (@PoetScotty24) December 6, 2021
Me: pic.twitter.com/hDYVch2m1O
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Patriot Front is classified as a “white nationalist hate group” that came out of an earlier group called Vanguard America.
That particular group ended up fragmenting in 2017 after a member, James Alex Fields, killed a counter-protester named Heather Heyer with his car during the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
At the weekend, police carefully monitored the procession of Patriot Front to Arlington Memorial Bridge.
According to The Daily Beast, a police lieutenant said that they were “waiting for people to leave.”
But it took much longer than expected as hundreds of masked marchers were stranded, according to the outlet, when they all couldn’t fit into the U-Haul truck they’d reserved to transport them out of D.C.
The vehicle was reportedly forced to make repeated trips, leaving some passengers waiting for up to three hours in the cold.
A police officer pointed out that someone had left a shield behind as the final caravan began to depart.
This wasn’t the Patriot Front’s first march in D.C.
Last February, the group garnered attention after it marched through the National Mall.