When 120 white nationalist Patriot Front (PF) members descended on Washington, D.C., to recruit at the National March for Life anti-abortion rally in January, a few dozen counterdemonstrators were ready with banners, flyers and clown music.
It worked. The group did not release its usual barrage of propaganda videos after holding that rally.
Hugh Meredith, an organizer with For Liberation And Resistance Everywhere, which describes itself as a “nonviolent, antifascist collective,” led the efforts to counter the PF presence.
“I had three specific goals,” Meredith said. “One was to ruin their photo op. I wanted to also make sure that they were met with the appropriate response: ridicule, mockery and humiliation. I [also] wanted to counter their propaganda with truth.”
The group’s use of clown music is a big reason for their success. The song “Entrance of the Gladiators” by Julius Fucik, which has been used to introduce clowns at circuses since the early 20th century, blares from every video Hatewatch staff watched from that day. An image-obsessed group, Patriot Front wants to be seen as intimidating and fierce. The soundtrack denied that appearance.
Thomas Rousseau is saying ridiculous things. But with the clown music behind it, it’s like America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
— Joey, counterdemonstrator
Hatewatch talked to counterdemonstrators over the phone to learn how they confronted the active white nationalist group. Meredith agreed to provide his name. Three others used aliases out of concerns for their safety.
Patriot Front uses covert street activism to intimidate targeted groups. It also creates prepackaged propaganda to post on social media and to recruit online. Up to 180 Patriot Front members — dressed in their trademark white face coverings, blue, long-sleeve shirts and brown pants — arrive unannounced at their flash rallies, chanting bigoted slogans and listening to the group’s leader, Thomas Rousseau, give speeches.
While the group usually keeps the location of its demonstrations secret, PF has appeared at March for Life every year since 2019. There had not been an organized response until this year, when Meredith took the initiative. Over the course of 2025, Meredith researched the group and organized local activists.
“Four weeks prior to [the rally] happening, I put together an educational slide show on what Patriot Front is and then did about three rundowns of it with as many people as I could get in a call,” Meredith said.
Patriot Front members view themselves as disciplined, dedicated and powerful representations of modern-day American revolutionaries. So Meredith created flyers that members of his organization distributed to rallygoers. The flyers contained information about the racist and antisemitic beliefs of Patriot Front and its ties to violent people such as James Fields, the man who murdered Heather Heyer at the August 2017 United the Right (UTR) rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Rousseau and Fields were part of Vanguard America, the precursor to Patriot Front, and were photographed together hours before Fields drove his vehicle into dozens of counterprotesters, killing Heyer.
Last month in D.C., Meredith’s group confronted Patriot Front members as they arrived with banners that counterdemonstrators had created. One banner bore an image of Rousseau standing next to Fields at the UTR rally, captioned with “Charlottesville killer” and “Patriot Front founder.” The other proclaimed, “Patriot Front are Nazis!” and had an image of a PF member giving a Nazi salute.
Counterdemonstrators also used their megaphones to direct March for Life rallygoers away from Patriot Front.
“We’d say, ‘Welcome to the March for Life; if you are here for the pro-life march, keep on walking down,’” said a counterdemonstrator who identified himself as John. “Then I would explain: ‘If you’re wondering who the gentlemen in the white masks are, they’re an antisemitic neo-Nazi group.’”
As seen in videos widely circulated on social media, Patriot Front members appear to attend March for Life events because they think anti-abortion activists will be more receptive to their hateful ideas and provide recruitment opportunities. But this year, anti-abortion activists joined counterdemonstrators in mocking the white nationalist group.
The clown music set the tone.
“I made all of their videos better,” said another counterdemonstrator who identified himself as Joey. He brought the audio.
“Thomas Rousseau is saying ridiculous things,” Joey said. “But with the clown music behind it, it’s like America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
Patriot Front members responded to the music and mockery with antisemitic ramblings.
“You’re marching in military uniforms alongside 100 of your buddies so you can feel like a badass,” John said. “I would have thought that would have instilled more confidence in them. I was surprised at how small they acted.”
Organizing a counterdemonstration against any hate group comes with security challenges. Meredith planned for the worst, but his research on the group helped alleviate a lot of concerns. Joey’s choice to bring clown music also settled the nerves of counterdemonstrators.
“I definitely had some anxiety leading up to it,” said another counterdemonstrator who identified herself as Kat. “But once we got there I didn’t feel at risk once. Because once you add the clown music to them, you’re like, wow, you guys look stupid as f‑‑‑.”
Image top top: During the March for Life anti-abortion rally at the National Mall in Washington on Jan. 23, 2026, a counterprotester holds a sign opposing the white nationalist group Patriot Front, whose members attended as part of the group’s recruitment efforts. (Credit: Photo contributed to the SPLC)
