Leaked internal documents portray Patriot Front as a rapidly expanding white supremacist group, with a tightly controlled recruitment system spanning nearly every state and an emphasis on “active clubs,” alongside detailed instructions on public behavior and p
When Patriot Front members show up in public. they do so in uniform—blue shirts. chinos. and white face coverings—carrying American flags like they’re hosting a patriotic demonstration. But leaked internal documents describe a different mission: a rapid expansion plan. tightly managed “optics. ” and recruitment that reaches far beyond rallies.
Over the past two years. one of the nation’s largest white supremacist groups has added hundreds of members across 49 states. according to internal materials provided by a source inside Patriot Front. The files—distributed as step-by-step manuals and linked to a network of “active clubs” where members meet and sign up new recruits—offer a rare look at how leaders are accelerating growth.
The documents show a group that is already broad in reach. Patriot Front has more than 540 members covering every state except Hawaii, as of early 2026. The group has roughly doubled in size every year since its founding in 2018. and it gained more than half its new members in surges during the past two years.
What stands out in the leak is how coordinated the expansion appears to be. down to conduct rules and how members should present themselves in public. Internal guides distributed to members lay out what they should wear. how they should behave. and even how they should manage their identities online.
In one General Conduct Guide, the document says: “Activists are representatives of the organization at all times, and in all circumstances, and no exemptions exist for ‘personal’ or ‘unofficial’ circumstances.”
That same sense of control shows up in messaging and recruitment tactics. The files describe Patriot Front’s propaganda and marketing as something members must follow strictly—especially when trying to look “patriotic” to the widest possible audience.
The group is also linked to dozens of “active clubs. ” where young white supremacists train in mixed martial arts and gather. The documents provide a list of “active clubs” across the country affiliated with Patriot Front: there are at least 23 in total. spread across 32 states. because some clubs are listed for more than one state.
These clubs function as small groups that organize online and then meet in real life. often at gyms or outdoor locations where members train and spar and engage in other activities. The documents suggest Patriot Front is trying to appeal to these groups and build alliances with them. including naming members who are friendly with club leaders and contacts within the clubs who should be approached.
For Patriot Front, that network appears to be a deliberate recruitment channel. Jeff Tischauser. a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center. said Patriot Front is “the most active white nationalist group we track.” He added that internal documents to a secretive white nationalist group help investigators “inform our communities about what’s going on inside this hate group.”.
Tischauser also described why active clubs matter. Patriot Front has gained a reputation among white supremacists as a hotbed for “feds”—informants for federal law enforcement. That has, in turn, led the group to open what he characterized as a new front in recruitment efforts.
“Patriot Front needs to use active clubs to recruit in the movement,” Tischauser said. “It offers them plausible deniability and it also offers them a way into the American conservative movement that isn’t Patriot Front-facing.”
In the middle of all the structure sits the leader’s growth target. In an internal communication provided in the leak. the Texas-headquartered group’s leader. 27-year-old Thomas Rousseau. urged members to get more involved. stay fit. and continue what he described as an “incessant campaign of white supremacist propaganda.”.
Rousseau called for 600 members by July 4, 2026, writing: “This is a picked band of dedicated men that far exceeds any of our domestic contemporaries.” He continued: “These teams need dedicated members. Men willing to work for the cause and not just fight for it.”
Publicly, Patriot Front portrays itself as merely patriotic and focused on “traditional” American values. Yet the documents provided in the leak include messages and recruitment language that point to intentions far beyond slogans.
One applicant wrote, “working to secure a future for White children,” while another said: “White Nationalist tired of watching my country be raped and pillaged by foreign invaders.”
Patriot Front did not respond to a request for comment. USA TODAY is not identifying the source of the documents out of concerns for personal safety.
The leak also includes instructions aimed at avoiding violence. While the group publicly eschews violence, one document says: “Suggestion or conduct which may infer, encourage, or advocate for members to become aggressively violent themselves or encourage it in others is prohibited.”
That contrasts with Patriot Front’s legal history, which includes criminal charges tied to Pride protests and vandalism. Dozens of members were charged with conspiracy to riot in 2022 after being arrested en route to protest a Pride parade in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. Five were eventually convicted.
Other members have been charged with vandalism for defacing a Pride mural in Olympia, Washington, and a Richmond, Virginia memorial commemorating Arthur Ashe—described in the reporting as the first Black man to win singles tennis titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open.
Experts who track the group say the leak reinforces what they have long observed about Patriot Front’s strategy: making the movement look controlled, disciplined, and visually consistent.
Carla Hill, vice president of research and investigations at the Anti-Defamation league’s Center on Extremism, said the group is “very good at optics.” She described a plan built around advance preparation, coordinated attire, and matching colors.
“They plan everything ahead, they dress alike, they’re color-coordinated – it’s all planned,” Hill said.
The documents also detail how members should handle their public-facing identity. Multi-page PDFs distributed internally tell Patriot Front members exactly how they should behave in public. what sort of shirts they should wear at protests—“work shirts with two breast pockets. ” rather than dress shirts with just one—and how to scrub identities online.
Another part of the leak shows how propaganda is designed and deployed. The group uses a color palette of reds. whites. and blues and incorporates Patriot Front’s logos. alongside patriotic rhetoric such as “America First.” Other examples veer closer to the group’s ideology. including slogans like “Reclaim America” and “Not Stolen. Conquered.”.
The documents also show overt antisemitism, with members bearing banners at events that read “No Zionists in government.”
Patriot Front has distributed thousands of pieces of propaganda in recent years. and the internal files describe how to mass-produce and place it. One guide covers how to create stencils for graffiti. Another instructs members on how and where to place large posters. including how to mix flour and water to create wheat paste to stick the posters up.
Another document provides instructions for creating a Patriot Front banner, “down to how to tie the knots affixing the canvas.”
Crucially, the files insist that members only use propaganda created by the group’s innermost leadership and approved by Rousseau himself. J.M. Berger, a researcher, author, and academic who co-authored a 2020 study on Patriot Front’s propaganda efforts, said the messaging is calibrated.
“They’re trying to attract the widest possible audience so they put out some messaging that is patriotic in its orientation,” Berger said. “They’re trying to capture people who if you just said ‘Hey, do you want to join the Nazi Party?’ would say ‘No.’”
The group’s website describes its mission as “a hard reset on the nation we see today – a return to the traditions and virtues of our forefathers.” While the word “white” doesn’t appear in the manifesto, experts say years of research and the leaked materials point to the group’s true goals.
Tischauser said he has no doubt about what Patriot Front is attempting to build. “I have no doubt in my mind that Patriot Front is a white nationalist group that is trying to build a white ethnostate. ” he said. “Based on leaked messages. we know that members of Patriot Front idolize Hitler. they joke about the Holocaust. they use racial slurs and they very much want to psychologically traumatize nonwhite groups – they are very comfortable being white supremacists in private.”.
The leak arrives on top of prior reporting and earlier disclosures. A 2022 leak of thousands of internal messages and audio and video recordings between Patriot Front members, published by the media collective Unicorn Riot, offered another look inside the group.
Recent months have also shown Patriot Front’s ability to make headlines. Members participate in several demonstrations a year, usually attracting at least 100 participants. The reporting notes recent rallies in Washington DC. Kansas City. Des Moines. and other cities. including a Memorial Day weekend protest in Virginia Beach.
At these protests, members are described as wearing matching chino pants, blue button-down shirts, and white face gaiters, carrying American flags and banners and flags featuring the group’s logo.
“No-one has rebranded themselves as successfully as Patriot Front,” Hill said. “They’re very good at optics.”
In the background of these public appearances is the playbook described in the documents: recruit through active clubs, keep identities and conduct tightly controlled, and maintain propaganda oversight from Rousseau and the group’s inner leadership as it aims for 600 members by July 4, 2026.
Patriot Front white supremacist group Thomas Rousseau active clubs recruitment propaganda Southern Poverty Law Center Anti-Defamation League extremism conspiracy to riot Pride protests