In the Idaho thing, didn’t it come out at some point that there were at least 15 FBI undercover operatives involved?
No, that never happened. You might be thinking of the Proud Boys, who in their big January 6 Sedition trial had all sorts of undercover agents who had infiltrated testifying against (and some for) them. And even the head of the Proud Boys was at one point an FBI source, we learned.
Or you might be thinking of the Gretchen Whitmere, Gov. of Michigan, supposed kidnapping. There were somewhere near 15 Federal agents and paid informants who were instrumental in setting up that fiasco. In the end only 4 people were charged, so the ratio of informers-to-possible criminals was 4 to 1. But then two of the four were acquitted in the first trial, meaning the jury agreed they had been entrapped. The other two hung, but were convicted on the 2nd trial (where the judge forbid some evidence that was allowed in the first trial). So the ratio goes to 8:1 Feds to convicted conspirators.
So, yeah, there have been those cases. I didn't follow the Oath Keepers trial as closely, I think it was full of Feds too.
But the Patriot Front have not had anything like that happen to them. The Idaho arrests happened when they were spotted, all dressed in their uniform, in a hotel parking lot, getting into a U-Haul truck to go to the protest. A citizen called it in, the police stopped them.
They were charged with conspiracy to riot, but most cases haven't gone to trail. One guy pled down to disorderly conduct, and got a recomendation of suspended 6 month sentence.
They are uniquely good at pulling off the sorts of stunts they do, and are very careful to try not to get caught, and not to break the law, and to avoid the retribution of the hard-left which has a big cadre of people who live to dox people on the far right.
Are they "white supremacists"? You can go read their web site and decide for yourself. They aren't moronic racists throwing around the N-word, or dressing up in KKK costumes, and burning crosses.
The ADL and other far left groups call a lot of people nasty things. Donald Trump, according to the same people is an anti-semite.
At one point in Free Republic's early history it was tagged as a "hate site" by the SPLC. Legal action was taken to make them withdraw the tag. But the owner here is a smart, experienced fellow. The SPLC and ADL hang a lot of labels on people, many are unjustified and just slurs. I ignore the labels the Left, including Leftist media, hang on the right.
I find the response of most Freepers to them is at the retard level. What I would expect of libtards. but here on FR. Which is unfortunate, and why I keep taking time to try to bring a bit more realism to the discussion.
I can't say I know for sure that their aren't Feds in the org. I've never actually met anyone in the Patriot Front, nor have I even seen them in person. But I did investigate the 31 people who were arrested in Idaho, none of them are remotely glowie.
The right is great at denigrating other right-wingers who have a different style, or slightly different beliefs. Maybe they lie outside those boundaries, I'm not sure. I'm also not 27 myself. I didn't grow up being lectured by teachers about white privilige and then being rejected by colleges that spot blacks 300 SAT points and a full 1.0 in GPA in admissions.
Boomer-cons have left a lot of social wreckage for today's young people. I can at least sympathize with why some of them are more radical than we are or were.