As Americans marked the US’s 250th birthday and another Independence Day, members of the white nationalist Patriot Front were seen marching through Washington, D.C. with American and Confederate flags, with one image of the group taken by a photographer for Reuters going viral online for being a “defining image”.
Yet, when one X/Twitter user shared a video of themselves asking Patriot Front members for their thoughts on FBI director Kash Patel, Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham dismissed the footage as “fake”.
“I call fake. Looks more like Antifa in costume. No one should be allowed to cover their faces,” she tweeted.
Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger was among those who criticised Ingraham’s comments, tweeting: “Fake. That’s the only defense you have to this? How about condemning it?”:
Journalist Danny Krikorian replied: “I agree with Laura Ingraham. No one should be able to cover their faces. Let’s start with ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]”:
One account asked: “Laura, why is it so scary for you to admit that this exists amid your party – and your audience? If you were an actual journalist, you’d have to”:
“Soooo close,” commented The Atlantic reporter Tom Nichols:
Journalist John Harwood said: “When you’re so embarrassed by your own team that you have to pretend it’s the other team”:
And Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch, wrote: “They used to claim Patriot Front was the FBI doing false flags. I guess they can’t use that anymore so now they’re Antifa”:
Indeed, Newsweek reported in May 2023 that a Patriot Front march was met with conspiracy theories about whether it was an FBI “false flag” – a term used to describe an operation carried out by one party to make it look like it was conducted by another.
Ingraham has not responded to the backlash, but has been approached by indy100 for comment.
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