Category: Patriot Front

Updates December 6, 2021:

• After publication of this article, Triad Martial Arts removed Ian Elliott and stripped him of any rank from the school. The school states that it firmly stands against bigotry.
• Concealed Tactical has not made any public statement but quietly removed Elliott’s profile from its instructors page. We will update our story if Concealed Tactical clarifies its stance.
• On Saturday, December 4, Patriot Front rallied in Washington, DC. Video footage from the event shows Ian Elliott sticking close by Patriot Front leader Thomas Rousseau, seemingly serving as his personal security.

Ian Michael Elliott of Harvest, Alabama is a member of the racist and fascist organization Patriot Front, going by the alias of “Norman AL” within the group. Elliott is also highly active in martial arts: he trains at Triad Martial Arts in Huntsville, Alabama and teaches at Concealed Tactical, a Krav Maga school in Madison, Alabama. In the neo-Nazi “Church of Aryanity” Telegram channel, Elliott – using the alias “Varangian” – states that he spends most of his time “traveling, and training, with White Nationalists”. By sharing his martial arts skills with racist associates, Elliott helps white supremacists prepare for violence against their enemies.

Patriot Front

Patriot Front (PF) was founded in the aftermath of 2017’s deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The founder, Thomas Rousseau, seized assets of an earlier white power organization, Vanguard America, and rebranded his group as Patriot Front. While the organization uses red, white, and blue patriotic imagery, PF is unambiguously white nationalist, stating that “Nationhood cannot be bestowed upon those who are not of the founding [white] stock of our people”. The organization is also fascist – an early text was titled “American Fascist Manifesto” – and involves neo-Nazis within its ranks.

As well as holding flash rallies featuring masked participants, Patriot Front regularly spreads propaganda in the form of stickers, banners, and stencil graffiti. PF’s goal is often intimidation, for example when it targets synagogues with propaganda for the racist group. Following 2020’s mass anti-racist protests and rebellion, Patriot Front has increasingly targeted Black Lives Matter and racial justice murals for defacement. PF does this both to threaten its perceived enemies and to build notoriety for the organization. 

Patriot Front propaganda has surfaced this year in Harvest, Alabama, which Ian Elliott lists as his home in recent bankruptcy filings. The organization’s materials also appeared in nearby Huntsville and Madison, Alabama, where Elliott visits regularly for work and training. Much of PF’s propaganda in northern Alabama was likely placed by Elliott, either alone or with other Alabama members.

Patriot Front encourages its members to spar and train together. Since Elliott claims to spend much of his time training in martial arts with other white nationalists, this training almost certainly occurs within PF as well as other settings. Patriot Front has circulated images of members sparring in Alabama, albeit with blurred faces to hide their identities. 

Identification

In Patriot Front internal communications in late October, “Norman AL” posted a picture of a recent martial arts competition where he had won gold. Although he obscured his face in the photo shared to PF, he wore a Triad Martial Arts outfit on the award podium. Ian Elliott had just won first place in his weight class (no gi) at the Columbus BJJ Championships in Georgia. This competition took place on October 23, 2021, where Elliott represented Triad Martial Arts. The second and third place winners from this competition also match the photo shared to PF.

Further, shortly before his martial arts competition, “Norman AL” shared pictures to PF of him wearing a rash guard for Devotion Jiu-Jitsu. Devotion is a martial arts studio in Lynchburg, Virginia, operated by Paul Waggener of the “Operation Werewolf” far-Right strength cult. Although he obscured his eyes in these photos, the person closely resembles Ian Elliott.

On Telegram messenger, a user named “Varangian” is a frequent commenter to the “Church of Aryanity”, a neo-Nazi channel. “Varangian” states that one of his jobs is as a combat instructor, matching Elliott’s role at Concealed Tactical. “Varangian” also wrote to “Church of Aryanity” in late November that he would soon attend a couple of large rallies, including one by “PF”.

“Varangian”/Ian Elliott shared a photo of himself to “Church of Aryanity”, where he is pictured with others at the Triad Martial Arts studio in Huntsville. In this image, Elliott wears the same Devotion Jiu-Jitsu rash guard worn by “Norman AL” in images shared to Patriot Front. 

“Aryanity”

As evidenced by his comments as “Varangian” in the “Church of Aryanity” Telegram channel, Ian Elliott is active in this “church” as well as Patriot Front. Aryanity is an “organized religion for White Aryans only” led by Aaron Chapman, aka “Orion Starfire”. As well as being a Nazi cult leader, Chapman operates the Elite Tattoo Lounge in Madisonville, Kentucky and is a former member of the white supremacist Traditionalist Worker Party.

“Aryanity” tries to reconcile white supremacist versions of paganism and Christianity, claiming to be “both Pagan and Christian for it [Aryanity] reveals […] Christ as an Aryan Pagan archetype and Christianity as a Pagan Gnostic religion.” Adherents consider whites/“Western Aryans” to be the only race that “can truly be called ‘Human’”, with all other races portrayed as “Hybrids or sub-Humans.” According to the Aryanity website, “Western Aryans” are distantly related to a lost “Atlantean civilization” as well as to advanced “Hyperboreans” who inhabited the Hollow Earth. Jewish people are portrayed as an “accursed bloodline” and the “ancient enemies” of the Aryans. Hitler is called “the Great One […] possibly the greatest man to grace this earth with his presence since the last incarnation of the Christos.” The religion is apocalyptic, predicting a final war in which “the Pan-Aryan people” will slaughter their enemies, who “will beg for mercy and no quarter will be given”.

Ian Elliott is a recent convert to Aryanity. By Elliott’s admission, he only grasps “the basics” of the apocalyptic neo-Nazi religion, but he nevertheless promotes it to others. In a voice message to the Church of Aryanity group on Telegram, Elliott/“Varangian” stated that he talked about Aryanity to attendees at this year’s racist American Renaissance conference in Burns, Tennessee. 

Combat Training and Neo-Nazism

On the “About” page for the “Concealed Tactical” Krav Maga school in Madison, Alabama, Elliott is listed alongside the school’s instructors and described as “an Air Force veteran that has trained in multiple military and civilian defensive/weapons courses.” Elliott also trains in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Triad Martial Arts in Huntsville, recently representing that school in his first BJJ competition.

Elliott had to explain his role as a Krav Maga instructor to his political associates, since many are suspicious of a fighting system that is closely associated with the Israeli Defense Forces. Ultimately, Elliott states that training in this system is just “one more tool in the toolbox” – in other words, another way for white supremacists to increase their capacity for violence.

We are concerned by white nationalists training at martial arts schools for several reasons. First, when martial arts schools involve white nationalists, they increase those individuals’ ability to do violence on an individual interpersonal level. Second, they increase white supremacist violence on an organized group level: violence is central to white nationalist movements, since the goal of creating a white ethnostate cannot occur without mass violence. Third, martial artists who are Jewish, people of color, or LGBTQ+, should not be required to help white supremacists improve at violence, yet this is exactly what happens when martial arts schools welcome white supremacists. On the student end, white nationalist cliques at gyms and training centers serve to push away students who are Jewish, people of color, or LGBTQ+, making it much harder for them to learn the skills they may want to learn to defend themselves.

Martial arts schools often have significant involvement by current and former law enforcement, as well as military. For example, the main instructor of Concealed Tactical stresses his past in the Army, the National Guard, and as a police officer. Racist organizers often try to build contacts in these same sectors, which are considered particularly useful for their cause. When a white nationalist becomes integrated within a martial arts community, their influence with police, prison guards, and military often increases.

Finally, success in martial arts can help someone gain prestige or move up the ranks within racist organizations. The name of the school then becomes complicit in advancing white supremacist ambitions, a kind of stamp of approval.

We hope that with Elliott’s white supremacist activity now made public, martial arts studios will cease their involvement with him.

Other Activity

Elliott’s recent bankruptcy filings list him as working as a meat cutter at the Publix supermarket on Wall Triana Highway in Madison, Alabama. Elliott had earlier worked as a realtor. However, his license is currently marked as inactive in the Alabama Real Estate Commission system.

In March of this year, Elliott was arrested as a fugitive from justice and spent almost four weeks in jail. At the time of writing, we have not discovered the underlying charge behind Elliott’s “fugitive from justice” arrest. This arrest and time in jail may have forced Elliott’s change of employment. (Update March 2022: We have learned that Elliot faced a charge of aggravated criminal damage and two counts of third-degree burglary in Arizona. Elliot accepted a plea for the criminal damage charge and authorities dropped the burglary ones. These charges stem from March 2017 vandalism against Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Arizona.)

While Elliott is listed as living in Harvest, Alabama, he has mentioned to “Church of Aryanity” that he is working on a homestead in Tennessee. We have not located this property, although it may be the same as an “Aryan Tribal Land” which Elliott/“Norman AL” mentioned helping. They may also be two separate projects. We welcome further information on this point – please get in touch if you can help.

Conclusion

We have exposed Ian Michael Elliott as “Norman AL”, an active member of Patriot Front in Alabama. Elliott is an Air Force veteran who spends much of his time traveling, networking, and combat training with other white nationalists. He is also an adherent of “Aryanity”, a crackpot racist religion that is unambiguous in its love for Hitler and its hopes of genocide. We hope that by exposing Elliott within his community and the martial arts world, we make his race war organizing more difficult. 

If you have further information on Elliott, his associates, and racist organizations such as Patriot Front, please reach out to Atlanta Antifascists.

Update, November 2020: Bill Hagerty won the Tennessee election for US Senate.

Summary: Twenty-year-old Michael Patrick Hagerty, II is a member of two racist organizations, Patriot Front and Revolt Through Tradition. This year, he placed stickers for those organizations throughout Atlanta. Hagerty even wears clothes designating himself as a “National Socialist” – in other words, a neo-Nazi. His uncle, Bill Hagerty, is a Trump loyalist campaigning as the Republican candidate in Tennessee’s US Senate race, which he will likely win. Bill Hagerty vilifies Black Lives Matter and anti-fascists. Meanwhile, his nephew works with white supremacists to build a climate of intimidation against people of color, Jewish people, Muslims, leftists and LGBTQ communities.

Introduction

Michael Patrick Hagerty, II is a twenty-year-old white nationalist who belongs to two different fascist organizations, Patriot Front (PF) and Revolt Through Tradition (RTT). Over the last year, he has covered Atlanta with stickers for these organizations, trying to give the impression that they have a strong presence in our city. Hagerty has also traveled to meet with other PF and RTT members and posed in photos as they trained together for fighting. Hagerty even wears a t-shirt identifying himself as a “National Socialist”: in other words, a neo-Nazi. One of Hagerty’s associates in Patriot Front is “John GA” (alias), who targeted synagogues in Columbus, Georgia, last year with another PF member, Chris Brooks. 

Hagerty’s uncle, William F. Hagerty, is currently campaigning in Tennessee as the Republican candidate in that state’s election for the US Senate, which he will likely win. As a candidate, Bill Hagerty has repeatedly attacked Black Lives Matter and anti-fascists. He characterized Black Lives Matter as aiming to “overthrow the government and usher in Marxism” and echoed Donald Trump’s characterization of anti-fascists as “domestic terrorists”, stating that they “must be stopped”. Through his aggressive public stance against anti-racist movements, Bill Hagerty shelters and emboldens white nationalists like his nephew while they prepare for violence.

Family Background

Michael Hagerty, II has a clear family connection to the Trump regime and the Republican establishment through his uncle. Bill Hagerty was director of presidential appointments for Trump’s transition team. At the end of July 2017, Bill Hagerty was sworn in as US Ambassador to Japan, a position he held for two years until Trump endorsed his run for US Senate. A few days after Bill Hagerty’s 2017 swearing-in ceremony, Michael Patrick Hagerty, II posted to Instagram about his recent “weekend at the White House.” It is unknown whether Michael Hagerty, II had embraced white nationalism at that time, however by 2019 he had signed up with Patriot Front.

Michael Hagerty, II grew up with wealth and privilege. The young neo-Nazi’s family home in Buckhead is valued at 1.2 million dollars. He graduated in 2019 from the Howard School, an independent school for students with language-based learning differences that charges a yearly tuition of more than $30,000. His parents are listed as donors to the school. Hagerty’s mother is a partner at HR consulting firm Mercer, while his father is a Vice President of Safety and Security at Flower Foods. 

Overview of White Nationalist Projects

Michael Hagerty, II belongs to two racist and fascist groups, Patriot Front and Revolt Through Tradition. He also supports the Rise Above Movement, a white nationalist fight club, and has promoted Our Fight Clothing, a distributor of far-Right clothes. Since these four different projects may be unfamiliar, we are providing brief notes on each one.

Our Fight Clothing: Our Fight was a far-Right clothing company which sold designs by Patriot Front leader Thomas Rousseau, Rise Above Movement leader Rob Rundo’s “The Right Brand”, and other labels. At the end of September, Our Fight shut down its website. The operation has now been folded into Will2Rise, a new Rise Above Movement-affiliated brand.

Patriot Front (PF): Patriot Front was founded in the aftermath of 2017’s “Unite the Right” in Charlottesville, Virginia, as a splinter from and rebranding of an earlier fascist group, Vanguard America. At “Unite the Right”, James Alex Fields, Jr. who murdered Heather Heyer and wounded dozens more in a vehicular attack, stood with Vanguard America earlier in the day. Now, Patriot Front attempts to rebrand European fascism with American red, white and blue imagery. PF has a few hundred members across the US and is known for its incessant placement of stickers and its occasional, masked flash rallies. Leaked PF internal communications show that underneath the Americanized branding, Patriot Front holds all the typical neo-Nazi positions. In both Georgia and Vermont, Patriot Front has targeted synagogues with propaganda material in attempts at harassment.

Revolt Through Tradition (RTT): Established last year, Revolt Through Tradition is a “metapolitical” fascist organization. As RTT understands it, metapolitical activism means changing culture and values in a way that is amenable to fascist politics. RTT’s primary activities are building a visual presence in areas – from stickers to banners and graffiti – as well as combat sports training. RTT foster fascist subculture through far-Right clothing labels and activities such as group hikes. RTT’s focus on culture rather than direct political organizing does not make them less dangerous, since RTT has close ties to Rise Above Movement and other violent white supremacists.

Rise Above Movement (RAM): Originally formed as the “DIY Division” in Southern California, Rise Above Movement is a white power group focused on training for and enacting violence against its political enemies. In 2017, RAM members took the lead in attacks on leftists and anti-racists in Huntington Beach and then later Berkeley, California. Members also traveled to take part in the bloody “Unite the Right” in Charlottesville, Virginia later that year. During the second half of 2018, RAM faced several high-profile arrests from these earlier events. Some RAM members who had been charged under the Anti-Riot Act – including founder Robert Rundo – beat their cases on appeal. Others, in a different jurisdiction and with different underlying facts, had convictions upheld. This year, RAM founder Robert Rundo relocated to Eastern Europe, where he networked within far-Right and combat sports scenes, produced media, and promoted the cause of the RAM prisoners to other white nationalists. With federal authorities now seeking to reinstate charges, Rundo returned to the US.

Identification of Michael P Hagerty, II as Patriot Front and Revolt Through Tradition Member

­Michael Patrick Hagerty, II’s personal account on Instagram followed the personal account for Ryan Saxer AKA “Sean Battle”. Saxer is Revolt Through Tradition’s main organizer in Florida. Saxer is also a prospect for full membership in the Vinlanders Social Club, a notorious white supremacist crew with a history of extreme violence. Another Instagram account operated by Ryan Saxer until recently was an explicitly fascist networking account featuring a RTT logo. Saxer deleted that RTT-branded Instagram account on Monday, October 19, after he was exposed as a fascist organizer. Hagerty also followed the obvious fascist account until it was deleted.

Before Florida RTT organizer Saxer used his most recent, explicitly fascist Instagram account, he had an Instagram with a near-identical name that was also deleted. On that account, Saxer shared an image of gym training “with the boys” and tagged two others. Although Saxer blurred the face in the accompanying image, the figure in the photograph wears a Euro 2016 soccer jersey for the Russian team, and what appears to be an Apple watch. Michael Hagerty, II has been photographed wearing this same jersey and watch. Hagerty has the same build as the figure in Saxer’s photograph. The “fightingback_14” Instagram account tagged by Ryan Saxer does not resemble Hagerty, so by elimination Hagerty would have been the other account, “InItForGlory” (now also deleted).

In June, Revolt Through Tradition posted a group photo to its social media. The second figure from the left wears a black t-shirt with red vertical lines. Hagerty has been photographed wearing this same shirt. The accompanying text states: “this past weekend in Florida […] an RTT activist from Georgia was greeted by his brothers with open arms”. Hagerty’s associate, Florida RTT organizer Saxer, is also in the photo.

An Instagram account that was active this Spring and Summer, “Revocato_Gloria”, shared a photo of fight training from this same RTT gathering in Florida. “Revocato_Gloria” also mentioned activity around Atlanta, such as a “sticker run” that placed propaganda by the CNN Center. This Instagram account followed sequentially from the “InItForGlory” account, already linked to Hagerty. Like “InItForGlory”, “Revocato_Gloria” was eventually deleted. After “Revocato_Gloria” vanished, we were tipped off that Michael P. Hagerty’s personal Instagram followed accounts for Ryan Saxer.

Hagerty’s “Revocato_Gloria” account revealed his membership in Patriot Front as well as in RTT. In one picture shared by “Revocato_Gloria” of him and Ryan Saxer, Hagerty wears the exact same outfit as in a photo from Florida that was shared to PF’s social media in December. Therefore, Hagerty must have been a PF member since at least late 2019. Another group photo shared by “Revocato_Gloria” shows an out-of-state gathering, likely also in Florida. The figure on the right of the group photo wears a hat with a Patriot Front patch, signaling his membership in the organization. This person’s wrist area – where Hagerty wears his distinctive watch – was blurred to obscure the item. 

To recap: by matching social media accounts and photographs, we established that Michael Patrick Hagerty, II, is the “RTT activist from Georgia” discussed by that organization. We also determined that Hagerty was behind “Revocato_Gloria” on Instagram. That account revealed that Hagerty was a member of Patriot Front as well as RTT. Patterns of fascist propaganda in metro Atlanta this year further corroborate our identification.

2020 Activity

On the night of January 1^st this year, Patriot Front shared photos of propaganda stickers it had placed in Atlanta. Since its founding ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­in 2017, PF has gone through several cycles of activity in our state. PF distributed large amounts of propaganda in metro Atlanta during early 2018 until we exposed its main Georgia organizer, bringing that round of activity to a halt. During 2019, Columbus, Georgia became a new hotspot for PF, which culminated in the organization targeting synagogues in that city. We exposed one of those responsible earlier this year. In the beginning of 2020, Atlanta again emerged as a hub of PF activity through Michael Hagerty, II’s efforts.   

Within a few days of Patriot Front’s January 1^st brag on social media, we located the organization’s stickers in Atlanta’s Ansley Park neighborhood and removed them. We found a sticker for Our Fight Clothing in the same area. Patriot Front posted on the 2^nd that it had also placed materials in Tyrone, Georgia, a town in Fayette County. Over the next two months, Patriot Front would target other communities south of Atlanta along I-85 with propaganda, as well as repeatedly hitting areas in Atlanta. When our organization removed Patriot Front stickers in Tyrone, we found a “Rise Street Team” sticker for RAM in the same park. During January and February, Patriot Front also stickered in Peachtree City, Newnan, Grantville and Hogansville. All these locations are along I-85 and are part of the route from Columbus, Georgia to Atlanta. These locations could have been hit during drives to Columbus from Atlanta, or vice versa. They are also approximate midway points, if people from the two cities wished to meet and place propaganda. 

Also in early January, a member of Patriot Front unexpectedly showed up at an anti-war demonstration in Little Five Points in Atlanta, handing out flyers to the crowd opposing the threat of war with Iran. Little Five Points was then repeatedly hit with Patriot Front stickers, with the propaganda typically being removed quickly. We cannot prove that Michael Hagerty, II was responsible for every instance of Patriot Front propaganda that we have outlined so far. However, as time went on it became evident that a single person – a supporter of RAM, a patron of Our Fight Clothing, and a member of Patriot Front – was behind the overwhelming majority of this year’s street propaganda in metro Atlanta.

At the end of March, the fascist “metapolitical organization” Revolt Through Tradition announced its presence in Atlanta with a post about propaganda placed in the city. In the months that followed, PF, RAM, RTT, or Our Fight stickers consistently appeared together along the same routes. By May, our group learned of the “Revocato_Gloria” account on Instagram. This account indicated that he was responsible for sticker campaigns around Atlanta. For example, he noted his pleasure that a photo from a “sticker run I did” – of a RAM sticker near CNN Center in Atlanta – had been shared on a neo-Nazi Telegram channel. When antifascists removed the sticker near CNN, Hagerty or a close associate returned to the spot and left a RTT one there instead.

In our discussion of how we identified Hagerty, we already discussed Hagerty’s trips to Florida, to network and train with Ryan Saxer’s RTT crew. However, that travel was not the extent of Hagerty’s face-to-face networking with fascists and white supremacists. A video released online by PF documenting its “activism” during April, contained a scene labeled “Georgia” showing fight training. Once we identified Hagerty as “Revocato_Gloria” and a PF member, this allowed us to look at the PF video with fresh eyes. Hagerty is one of the two figures in the clip, wearing a “NationalSocialist Hardcore” t-shirt broadcasting his neo-Nazism and wearing a Patriot Front patch on his hat. Hagerty wears focus mitts while the other figure weaves and punches. This other person is Columbus, Georgia, Patriot Front member “John GA” (alias), whose real identity we are still seeking. Last year, “John” targeted Columbus’ synagogues on behalf of Patriot Front, with help from another PF member named Christopher Brooks. 

We know that “John GA” is the figure with Hagerty in the PF “April Activism” video for several reasons. Since “John GA” was highly active in Columbus last year and Columbus was also hit with PF propaganda twice this year, the fact that communities located between Atlanta and Columbus were regularly marked with PF stickers already suggests an Atlanta – Columbus PF connection. The individual in the “April Activism” video matches a profile image on Gab that we had linked to “John GA”, as well as the blurry surveillance footage released by Columbus Police after synagogues were targeted. Finally, the individual training with Hagerty wears a long sleeve t-shirt with a triangular logo on its left arm. Last year, “John GA” traveled from Georgia to Panama City Beach, Florida, where he helped other PF members give out flyers at a Trump rally. In a photograph posted to PF social media from the Panama City Beach event, the figure matching “John GA” wears the same distinctive shirt as in this year’s fight training video.

Interestingly, a photo from Hagerty’s “Revocato_Gloria” Instagram was taken at the same location as the PF fight training. In that Instagram image, Hagerty, “John GA” and a third individual pose with a flag for RAM. It is not surprising that Hagerty’s friend “John GA” would pose in a RAM support photo, since in leaked internal communications for PF, “John GA” shared a RAM video and asked how he could write to RAM leader Rob Rundo while Rundo was still in jail (“John GA” post of May 3, 2019 in PF leak). What is noteworthy is that regional fascists seem to use support for RAM interchangeably with PF when they signal their affiliations. This highlights the two white power groups drawing closer together.

Our narrative has focused on events earlier this year, but street propaganda around Atlanta has continued to the present. Propaganda campaigns like those done by Hagerty serve multiple purposes for white power organizations. They mark territory for the groups and encourage other racists in the area. The materials also send a message of intimidation to people of color, Jewish people, Muslims, LGBTQ communities, and so on. For example, when Patriot Front placed materials in Clarkston, east of Atlanta, this February, this was almost certainly because of that community’s sizable immigrant and refugee population. Finally, images from these street-level propaganda campaigns are used by white nationalist groups in their online recruitment efforts, as evidence that they are on the ground and doing something.

In recent months, we have continued to remove Our Fight, PF, RAM and RTT materials in areas such as Midtown and around the Jackson Street Bridge in Old Fourth Ward. In retrospect, some patterns of propaganda activity in Atlanta also offered clues to the identity of “Revocato_Gloria”/Hagerty. In Midtown, one route frequently marked with white power propaganda began (or ended) at the corner of Huff Road and Foster Street in Midtown. Less than a block away on Foster Street is the driveway to the Howard School, which Michael Patrick Hagerty, II graduated in 2019. In early August, we received a tip about an Our Fight sticker placed near the Publix supermarket at West Paces Ferry, which is just over a five-minute drive from the Hagerty family home. Driving a further ten minutes north from that spot leads to Cumberland/Vinings, which Patriot Front boasted of stickering in September. Ten minutes in the opposite direction from the Hagerty family home is the corner of Chattahoochee Ave. and Howell Mill Road, where we found a sticker for The Right Brand (RAM clothing label) in July.

Conclusion

As his Republican uncle campaigns to represent Tennessee in the US Senate, Michael Patrick Hagerty, II has been very politically active in his own crude way. Michael Hagerty, II is an unambiguous fascist and white nationalist, even wearing a t-shirt declaring himself to be a “National Socialist” (i.e. a neo-Nazi). The younger Hagerty is a member of two fascist organizations, Patriot Front and the “metapolitical” Revolt Through Tradition. He also supports the Rise Above Movement, a white power group that made a name for itself through violence. Hagerty has blanketed Atlanta with stickers for PF, RAM, RTT and Our Fight Clothing, a far-Right clothing distributor linked to all three other projects.

Michael Hagerty, II’s white power associates include Ryan Saxer, Florida RTT leader and prospective member for the notoriously violent Vinlanders Social Club, and “John GA”, the PF member who targeted synagogues in Columbus, Georgia last year. Hagerty has been pictured training for violence with both of these individuals. Meanwhile, his Trump loyalist uncle insists that anti-fascists are the true “domestic terrorists”, to distract from the white nationalist movement’s murderous track record. While the young Hagerty organizes in the white supremacist underground, he has a friend in high places.

If you have further information on Michael Hagerty, II, his associates, or any of the white power groups mentioned in this article, please get in touch. 

Thanks to Corvallis Antifa for help on this article.

On July 29 of last year, two members of Patriot Front – a fascist and white nationalist organization – placed propaganda at synagogues in Columbus, Georgia in an apparent attempt at intimidation. We can now identify one of the two people responsible, who we had written about earlier this year but failed to connect to activity in Columbus. As discussed in our previous article, Christopher Skylar Brooks helped place Patriot Front (PF) materials in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville in May 2019. We connected Brooks to the PF materials in Lawrenceville via an online brag in combination with Brooks’ internet handle, location, dress, and other clues. In our article about Brooks, we surmised that he did not last long in Patriot Front. However, he stayed long enough in the organization to target Columbus, Georgia synagogues with another member, a month and a half after the May propaganda run in Lawrenceville.

After Patriot Front targeted the Jewish congregations in Columbus last year, police released surveillance footage showing those responsible. One of the figures closely resembles Chris Brooks. Other documentation supports Brooks’ involvement. A source who had access to Patriot Front’s internal chats provided us with mid-2019 communications from the organization. These conversations, held in internet discussion rooms accessible only to members of the organization, revealed that Patriot Front members “John GA” and “Daniel GA” targeted the Columbus synagogues. Patriot Front chatter also allowed us to figure out that “Daniel GA” was Chris Brooks’ alias within the organization. 

Chris Brooks has now relocated to Shanghai, China, where he is involved in the Shanghai Beverly Business Consulting company and its “ITutorESL” subsidiary – “Chris B” is listed as Chief Operations Officer on the ITutorESL website. In addition to Patriot Front, Brooks was involved with the Proud Boys, a broader far-Right “Western Chauvinist” fraternity which overlaps with white nationalist circles. 

We have not yet identified the second individual, “John GA”, but provide details on this organizer in a later section. Of the two, “John GA” was more active in Patriot Front, traveling long distances to network with other members, helping with rallies, and propagandizing for the racist organization online.

Chris Brooks’ Identity as “Daniel
GA”

At the time Patriot Front placed
materials at Columbus, Georgia synagogues, there were three members listed in
the organization’s chat server as Georgia members: “Daniel GA”, “Henry GA”, and
“John GA”. “Daniel GA” uploaded photos to PF’s internal discussion server of
the Columbus propaganda spree, specifying that “John GA” had been with him as
they hit the synagogues.

Typically, only Patriot Front members have access to stickers and propaganda designs for the organization. Our earlier article established that Brooks placed materials for Patriot Front in May 2019. Details such as Brooks’ employment history did not match for the other two Georgia members who were then in the PF chat server, establishing that Brooks was “Daniel GA”. 

In a Patriot Front meeting on May 14, 2019 held via audio group chat, “John GA” mentioned having “vetted a new guy in an area near Atlanta” and placing organizational materials with this new member. “John” also mentioned that this propaganda attracted antifascist attention, which makes it clear that he was referring to activity around Lawrenceville. The night before the May 14th PF meeting, “John GA” tagged “Daniel GA” (and PF leader Thomas Rousseau) in the PF discussion server, with a link about antifascists removing Patriot Front stickers in Lawrenceville and commanding “Daniel GA” to “overwhelm these losers”. In our earlier article, we documented that Chris Brooks returned to this spot, to again place Patriot Front propaganda.

Further details from Patriot Front communications also support “Daniel GA” being Chris Brooks. The icon for “Daniel” in the PF chat features a “Black Sun”/ Schwarze Sonne symbol favored by neo-Nazis. This same symbol (though not the exact same image) featured on Chris Brooks’ Facebook profile under the alias “Nash Schunulitz”.

In May 2019, “Daniel GA” told PF members that he knew some individuals responsible for (purportedly) exposing an antifascist researcher, stating that members of the Proud Boys were involved. “Daniel GA” criticized the Proud Boys’ official ideology but also called it a useful “gateway org”. In addition to being part of Patriot Front during 2019, “Daniel GA” has a history with the Proud Boys and is well networked within Proud Boy circles.

July 29, 2019: Brooks and “John GA”
Target Synagogues in Columbus, Georgia

Using the photos that Chris Brooks
(“Daniel GA”) posted to the Patriot Front internal chat, we can recreate what
happened in Columbus on the night of July 29, 2019. The times in the Patriot
Front discussion reflect when the images were posted, not when photographs were
taken. Those time stamps are also for a different time zone. However, the
photos were posted in roughly sequential order, with the sky getting darker as
night falls.

The numeric file names for the photos posted in Patriot Front discussion may give approximately the correct time. However, they are likely off by a few minutes if the time in surveillance footage released by Columbus Police is correct.

“John” and Chris Brooks began by placing Patriot Front materials at the intersection of River Road and Mobley Road. There, they placed propaganda on at least one pole and one electricity box in front of Shearith Israel synagogue. They also left a poster on the opposite side of Mobley Road across from the synagogue, in the process being captured on surveillance camera footage that was later circulated by Columbus Police. A local news report mistakenly stated that Shearith Israel was not targeted with PF propaganda on July 29 but noted that the synagogue had been hit with materials from the organization months earlier, in an incident not made public at that time.

Brooks and “John” then proceeded to Temple Israel. There, they wore masks and placed propaganda directly on the building, in addition to signs and poles. After the posters were discovered the next morning, Temple Israel spoke out about the antisemitic targeting.

Finally, Chris Brooks (“Daniel GA”) posted images suggesting that messianic congregation Kehilat Emet in Columbus was targeted on the same night. This was not reported in the media and may not even have been noted by the congregation.  

Patriot Front Organizational
Response

After the story of the synagogue
targeting broke in regional media, a North Carolina Patriot Front member
commented in the organization’s chat server on August 2^nd, giving
“props” to the “Georgia boys” for wearing gloves. This comment got a couple of
thumbs-up from other members.

A few days later, Patriot Front posted images on social media of their propaganda in Columbus, Georgia, including an image from Shearith Israel and one from Temple Israel. By doing this, the organization as a whole signaled its approval of the harassment by Chris Brooks and “John GA”. Since Patriot Front is carefully micro-managed by its leader in Texas, Thomas Rousseau, releasing images of the targeted synagogues would have been approved from the very top of the organization. To further gloat, Patriot Front shared footage of Shearith Israel speaking out about the harassment on its “PatriotFrontNewsClips” video channel in December.

Notes on “John GA”

We have not yet identified “John
GA”, the second individual involved alongside Chris Brooks in the Columbus
harassment. However, in Patriot Front chats “John” left several clues about his
identity and documented his efforts for the organization. We hope that by
presenting notes on “John GA”, someone may be able to help identify him. Just
as Chris Brooks does not actually have the name “Daniel”, “John GA” may not
really be named John.

In March 2019, “John GA” told other PF members that he had “hit the same park like 4 times in the last few months”. He stated that the park was in an “affluent white area” and was one of the “busiest places in my area” because of baseball every weeknight. In the early months of 2019, Columbus was the only Georgia city where PF regularly left propaganda. “John GA” was the only active PF member in the state during those months (Others joined later.) Therefore, “John GA” was likely based in or near Columbus. For similar reasons, we suspect he was involved in the earlier targeting of Shearith Israel, which according to local media took place months before the July 29 harassment.

“John GA” posted a picture of a newborn baby to the PF chat in mid-February 2019, receiving congratulations on the healthy child. “John” accompanied the picture of his newborn son with a reference to the “14 words” – a slogan coined by neo-Nazi terrorist David Lane about the future of the white race. 

In the audio recording from the May 14, 2019 Patriot Front meeting, “John” reported that he had recently met up with other Patriot Front members in Florida and gave out Patriot Front flyers at a Trump rally. The event was almost certainly Trump’s appearance at Panama City Beach on May 8, 2019, which Patriot Front posted images from. 

After mentioning his recent meetup with Chris Brooks in the Atlanta suburbs, “John” told the May 14^th audio meeting that he would be traveling to New York over the weekend. On May 18, 2019, “John” joked about having just met PF member “Patrick NY”: regional leader Kieran P. Morris of New York.

Comments in PF internal discussions indicate that “John GA” participated in Patriot Front’s flash demonstration at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Sunday, May 26, 2019. “John GA” was also present at Patriot Front’s brief nighttime demonstration at the Bunker Hill monument in Boston, Massachusetts (July 6, 2019). 

On May 20, 2019 “John GA” told other Patriot Front members to “Follow American_Revolutionary_ for PF shilling”, which suggests he maintained this Instagram. Although the Instagram account was removed later that year, an “American_Revolutionary_” account remains on the Gab social network. There are two figures in the profile image for this Gab account. The figure on the right resembles Patriot Front member Kieran Morris in New York. “John GA” is likely the individual on the left.

Conclusion

Patriot Front’s presence does not seem to have completely disappeared in Columbus, Georgia. PF boasted of placing stickers on the Columbus State University campus in February this year and of distributing propaganda elsewhere in Columbus during April. It is unclear whether “John GA” or some other member was responsible for these recent acts. 

Our organization will always do our best to respond to racist and antisemitic harassment. With this article, we presented evidence showing that Christopher Skylar Brooks helped target synagogues in Columbus last year, on behalf of the white nationalist Patriot Front. Brooks’ involvement in the Columbus harassment was a gap in our earlier article about him. We are glad to complete the picture.

We also provided documentation on the second Patriot Front member involved in targeting Columbus synagogues. We provided a voice recording of “John GA”, information about his activities for the organization, as well as a potential photo. We ask Columbus residents to share this article, and to reach out if they have further information which could help identify this racist organizer.