Who Is Thomas Rousseau?
The White Supremacist, Thomas Russeau, was born and raised in the Dallas suburbs and graduated from Coppell High School.
While Rousseau was in high school, he was a member of “The Sidekick,” the student newspaper. In detail, he was a staff cartoonist working for the newspaper during his senior year.
Moreover, he also helped with video production and invested his time in the paper’s comment pieces. And this was the inception of forming an alt-group where Thomas, a young white supremacist, honed his propaganda-making talents.
This eventually catapulted his swift rise to the top of the racist right, first with Vanguard America and then with the formation of the Patriot Front.
Thomas Rousseau: Arrested In Coeur d’Alene
On June 12, 2022, police in Coeur d’ Alene arrested 31 masked members of a white nationalist group, “Patriot Front,” who were accused of planning a riot in the city’s downtown at the same time as the Pride celebration was taking place in the Park.
According to several reports and videos on social media, the group has used moving trucks like the one in Coeur d’Alene to carry their members in flash-mob-style protests.
It is not the first time the group has tried to inspire violence and intimidation of minority groups through its racist propaganda. ProPublica already did its investigation in 2019 regarding the practice of the Patriot Front.
Even though its founder Rousseau does not openly advocate violent techniques, he has been detained several times for displaying posters and stickers promoting his organization.
In the recent incident, the members arrested in Coeur d’Alene were from Texas, Arkansas, Wyoming, Washington, and Idaho.
One of Idaho’s six designated hate groups, Patriot Front, is recognized by its young white men, generally wearing khakis, blue shirts, facial covers, baseball caps, and sometimes, body armor.
Similarly, on August 4, 2020, Rousseau was booked in Weatherford, Texas, near Fort Worth, for a similar riot charge.
Thomas Rousseau: Founder Of Patriot Front
Rousseau founded Patriot Front when he was a teenager. As mentioned earlier, he used his high school newspaper as support to initiate this group, overtaking Vanguard America.
To exemplify, Thomas took control of Vanguard America’s website and Discord server several weeks before the Unite the Right demonstration.
He left Vanguard as the rally received negative press and then exploited the group’s domain name to start Patriot Front as an ostensibly new organization and attract rally participants. Nevertheless, the majority of the Patriot Front’s members were former Vanguard members.
Even though the organization is based in Texas, it has members from all over the country. During rallies and protests, Patriot Front uses a combination of patriotic and historical images, such as a symbol with thirteen stars, as well as grabbing attention by throwing off smoke bombs.
According to the SPLC, the main motto of this group is the establishment of a white ethnostate in the United States.
Thomas Rousseau’s Age and Family
Born in 1998, Thomas Rousseau is only 24 years old. The founder of Patriot Front has kept his lips sealed regarding his family and net worth.
Rousseau was a Boy Scout, striving to achieve Eagle Scout status before turning eighteen. During the 2016 presidential election, he was a staunch backer of Donald and was one of the independent candidates for the position.
Even though Thomas was mentioned in one of those Presidential remarks, neither it was approved nor did he actively push for the campaign.