Over two-dozen men allegedly involved with a white nationalist group were arrested Saturday near a gay pride event in Idaho. But it’s what a police officer told a reporter following the arrests that has some people up in arms.
According to Fox News, police in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, arrested 31 men who were packed inside the back of a U-Haul near a “Pride Month” event on a Saturday afternoon.
The men were each wearing khakis, blue shirts, beige hats and masks, and some were wearing patches indicating they were part of a group called Patriot Front. The group is a white supremacist organization formed after the infamous Charlottesville, Virginia, rally in 2017, according to ABC News.
Police said the men were carrying “riot gear” including shields and shin guards, and they were charged with conspiracy to commit a riot.
“It is clear to us, based on the gear that the individuals had with them, the stuff they had in [their] possession and in the U-Haul with them, along with paperwork that was seized from them, that they came to riot downtown,” said Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White, according to ABC.
Following the arrest, reporters asked an officer how the police knew members of Patriot Front were in the U-Haul.
“We have informants,” he responded.
A police officer leaks to the media that “Patriot Front” includes more than one informant.
Reporter: “But how did you know?”
Officer: “We have informants.”
(It’s toward the end of this video.) pic.twitter.com/QVgTonW1TE
— Marina Medvin ?? (@MarinaMedvin) June 12, 2022
After this admission, many Twitter users were quick to suggest the members of the Patriot Front group were actually federal agents.
— Brick Suit (@Brick_Suit) June 11, 2022
“Patriot Front” is a fed operation, so these arrests really mean nothing. https://t.co/TASbmcbfFP
— Amy Curtis (@RantyAmyCurtis) June 12, 2022
Are there actual Nazis or Nazi wannabes in this group? Probably. But the number is infinitesimal and the members don’t stick around. (Check out complaints about attrition.)
Not a group of big concern, considering they remain better behaved than Antifa. And need protein powder. pic.twitter.com/qTRZz7IL6z
— Marina Medvin ?? (@MarinaMedvin) June 12, 2022
Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, also noted the irony of arresting these men but refusing to arrest various members of antifa and other leftists, like those protesting illegally outside the homes of Supreme Court justices.
“So this ‘Patriot Front’ group is arrested before protesting because they might riot but the leftists who are actually breaking federal law with ongoing illegal demonstrations to intimidate Supreme Court justices are never arrested?” Fitton wrote.
So this “Patriot Front” group is arrested before protesting because they might riot but the leftists who are actually breaking federal law with ongoing illegal demonstrations to intimidate Supreme Court justices are never arrested?
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) June 12, 2022
To be clear, the allegations that this arrest was a conspiracy or some kind of “false flag” operation have not been substantiated. The fact that the police had informants does not necessarily mean the group is not primarily made up of actual white supremacists.
However, the immediate sense of distrust from Twitter users underlines a massive problem with our government today.
Do you trust the American government after its recent investigations?
In the past few years, the government has engaged in multiple investigations that eroded Americans’ trust in their own institutions.
These include the “plot” to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (fomented almost entirely by government informants), the evident FBI corruption involved in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Jan. 6 committee and the ludicrous impeachment proceedings against Trump.
While there is a fierce partisan split about the legitimacy of each of these investigations, all of them have had their motivation and methods called into question, often for good reason.
Agents of the federal government have created a situation in which many Americans cannot trust them, and we are seeing the results of these mistakes play out in real time.
The suspicion that greeted the “Patriot Front” arrests is just the latest example.
