As mentioned in many of our previous articles, Patriot Front is a white supremacist and Neo-fascist group that split off of the ardently Neo-Nazi group Vanguard America. The split came after a member of Vanguard America drove his car through a crowd of counter protestors at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Virginia, killing one and wounding dozens of others. Vangaurd America also participated in the rally alongside groups like the American National Socialist Movement and the Traditionalist Workers Party.
Patriot Front uses American Nationalist aesthetics to appeal to a mainstream audience, but despite their attempts to wrap themselves in an American flag and call themselves “patriots” their ideology is very explicitly fascist. Their logo consists of a Fasces with thirteen stars around it, and the groups online manifesto calls for an end to American Democracy and the creation of an all white ethnostate with a fascist government. The manifesto defines an American as someone who is “of the founding stock of our people” and later goes on to exclude people of color from this definition.
The group largely draws attention to itself and intimidates minority communities through acts like putting up flyers promoting thinly veiled white nationalism, putting up banners in public places and doing flash marches through major cities. After the 2020 unrest over police brutality and injustice the group escalated its tactics, and they have since started vandalizing murals and statues dedicated to social justice causes. These have included the pro-lgbtq+ “love and respect” mural in Olympia Washington, a mural dedicated to African American tennis Star Arthur Ashe in Richmond Virginia, and a mural depicting numerous famous African American figures on the Washington college campus in St Louis, to include Robert L Williams, the Washington college professor who coined the term “Ebonics” and George Poage, the first African American to win an Olympic gold metal.
Sometimes Patriot Fronts actions and escalation of tactics have led to arrests and legal trouble. In 2022, 31 Patriot Front members, including the groups leader Thomas Rousseau, were arrested for attempting to start a riot at a pride event. The group was armed with smoke bombs and riot shields, and apparently had a detailed written plan to “be confrontational.” Most of the men involved were found guilty, although the charges against Rousseau were later dropped due to lack of evidence
We know many of the aforementioned events were heavily pre planned due to the unprecedented leak of Patriot Fronts chats by the independent media outlet Unicorn Riot, where many participants in the chat either explicitly planned to commit acts of property destruction or expressed a desire to do so.
While many members of Patriot front have been identified, we have another name to add to that list: Haeden Hockersmith
Haeden is a Utah based member of Patriot Front who uses the alias “Max UT” in the leaked rocket chats. According to online sources, Hockersmith attended Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, where he was listed as a member of the schools track and field team during the 2019-2020 season.
Digging deeper into Hockersmiths background we found his LinkedIn page where he claims he’s currently living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Voter Records list his mailing address as his parents residence in Orem,Utah, and show that he is/was affiliated with the Republican Party.
Hockersmiths father currently works as a chiropractor in Orem, and a deeper search revealed that his wife has a Facebook page where she posts ardently pro-trump and anti-LGBTQ+ content.
Even a precursory glance at Haedens mothers Facebook page reveals that the entire family is deeply involved with the Church of Latter Day Saints. This is particularly ironic given that numerous LDS churches have released statements condemning the white supremacists that marched at the 2017 Unite the Right Rally and the actions of James Alex Fields, the Vangaurd America member responsible for the car ramming attack that killed a counterprotestor.
We would also note that Christianity, regardless of the denomination, has long been used to justify white supremacy and racial hierarchies throughout American history, and many aspects of Christian theology have been co-opted or bastardized by white supremacists to justify their own ideology. The Church of LDS is no exception, as for over a century the church banned African Americans from obtaining priesthood due to the belief that black skin was a curse. More recently a faction of Mormons started using a hashtag called “deznat” on twitter. This twitter based movement quickly aligned itself with the alt right and openly promoted white supremacy, misogyny, homophobia and other types of bigotry towards marginalized groups using twisted interpretations of Mormonism as a justification. We believe it is highly likely that Haeden may have been affiliated with this movement in some way, as the movement intersected with other sectors of the alt right. We would also note that Haeden isn’t the first Mormon Patriot Front member we have helped to identify. Tyler Russell Arbuckle aka “Anthony UT” was also involved with the Church of LDS, and both Arbuckle and Hockersmith exchange messages in the leaked chats. Haedens participation in a white supremacist group should concern members of the church of LDS who actively try to make the church more inclusive to marginalized groups, as his beliefs not only foster a toxic environment for congregates but also opens the door for further radicalization of other LDS members which could create fissures within the church
Activities in Patriot Front
From the leaked chats it is evident that while hockersmith participated in many of the groups events he did not post much in the rocketchat server. From the few messages he did post he openly discussed stealing pride flags, which could be construed as planning criminal activity. While it is unclear if he ever followed through with these plans, it shows that he has a willingness to commit physical acts motivated by a hatred of marginalized groups
Hockersmith also discussed a desire to participate in “activism” with other members of the chat. As mentioned previously, Patriot Fronts activism largely consists of flyering/banner drops and stenciling that both promote the group and use thinly veiled white supremacist slogans and messaging to appeal to a mainstream, albeit racially biased audience. The purpose of these actions are two fold; they grow the groups numbers by appealing to young, angry, racist, upper middle class white men and intimidate minority communities who the flyers/banners directly target or reference. It is why the group often performs “activism” in areas that are likely to contain both populations, like college campuses or large cities with diverse populations.
Hockersmith also attended the December 4,2021 flash mob in Washington DC. Patriot Fronts flash marches are short lived, heavily choreographed events that often take place in the dead of night to avoid confrontations with bystanders. Sometimes these flash marches have spiraled into violence, and there have been examples of Patriot front members committing unprovoked physical assaults against community members, as was the case with a well known BIPOC artist when members of Patriot Front surrounded and punched them numerous times during a flash march in Boston. During the flash march that occurred in December 2021 about 200 Patriot front members dressed in tan kakis, blue overcoats and white gaiters marched across the capitol mall carrying flags bearing Patriot Fronts explicitly fascist logo. Some members of the group carried metal shields and wore shinguards in an attempt to intimidate bystanders. Due to antifascist infiltration of the group and sudden problems that arose involving transportation the group of assorted fascists waited hours in the cold December weather only to have a single Uhaul pick them up.
It is likely that Hockersmith was carrying a shield during the event, as he discusses drilling with the shield team in the leaked chats. According to leaked videos of Patriot Fronts training events, Haeden participated in a training/drilling event that took place in Grand Junction, Colorado.
In the videos Haeden can be seen practicing synchronized marching techniques and doing pushups with the worst form we have ever seen
Haeden also participated in the infamous Patriot Front Push up circle
Important Notes:
We would like to mention that any religion or belief system can be twisted to justify bigotry, and Christianity is certainly not the only religious faith that has been used to achieve this goal. More recently Neo-Nazis/white supremacist groups have espoused Norse/Germanic paganism, and even satanism to justify and spread white supremacist ideology. It is important to remember that no version of Christianity or Paganism is inherently bigoted, and bigoted versions of these religions are perversions of their original teachings.
We currently do not have any info on Hockersmiths employment. If you have any information please reach out to us at centraloregonantifascist@protonmail.com