Doug Burgum’s Response To Patriot Front: Very Fine People On Both Sides

Why do these people always have such a hard time condemning white nationalists? We all know why.

As we discussed here, Trump’s fascist friends showed up for his big party in Washington DC this weekend and marched throughout the city:

Hundreds of masked members of the white nationalist group Patriot ‌Front marched through parts of Washington, D.C., on Saturday ahead of Independence Day festivities planned for the evening that have been criticized as divisive.

The group posted on social media that it had arrived in the capital with about 400 members, and Reuters photographers saw hundreds of people dressed in Patriot Front ​outfits traveling on D.C. Metro trains.

Videos posted on various social media platforms and shared on Patriot Front’s own Telegram ​channel showed the group marching to drummers near the U.S. Capitol and the Union Station transit center ⁠while wearing khaki pants and caps, blue shirts, white face coverings and sunglasses. Many were carrying the group’s flag, Confederate flags, and ​variations of the U.S. flag, at times chanting “Reclaim America.”

Around midday, they boarded Metro trains and exited at New Carrollton, Maryland, in Washington’s ​northeast suburbs.

Trump Interior Secretary Doug Burgum made an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union this Sunday, and was asked about the march and this photograph which was widely circulated on line:

“.. Members of the group Patriot Front ride the metro on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence in Washington, D.C.”

@reuters.com

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) July 4, 2026 at 9:56 AM

When asked whether he was concerned about this, Burgum responded by refusing to answer the question, refusing to condemn the group before playing the “both sides” game with groups on the left:

BASH: OK, turning to something much more serious that happened yesterday, Secretary Burgum, several hundred masked men belonging to the white nationalist group the Patriot Front marched with Confederate Flags.

And they did it through neighborhoods in the U.S. Capitol, at least near the Capitol, and they chanted “Reclaim America.” There’s a widely circulated photograph, I’m sure you have seen it, taken by Reuters of an African-American woman on a subway surrounded by members of this group.

Are you concerned about this?

BURGUM: Well, I think we — obviously, when we’re celebrating America, we have had an incredible celebration, and we got — this is the kickoff of a celebration year.

But we know from our very founding that this was something that divided our nation; 85 years after those brave patriots signed the Declaration of Independence, we fought in the bloodiest war America’s ever fought, the Civil War, and it’s — our nation survived thanks to the courage and leadership of Abraham Lincoln and led us on a way.

As we continue to move forward as a country, we can be an exceptional nation because our ideals are exceptional, that all men are created equal.

BASH: Do you condemn this group and what they were doing and, more — most importantly, what they stand for?

BURGUM: Well, I think that the — certainly, what they stand for is nothing that I could possibly agree with. But one of the foundational principles of the United States which makes democracy messy is free speech. And there are plenty of things that I see that I might personally find offensive, irreprehensible. But in America, free speech is allowed.

And this is by the whole spectrum of things. I mean, we’re a country where someone can run and be elected saying that they’re a communist*, and — but yet this is what our nation has stood against and fought for, because we’re about — we’re about life and liberty.

We’re not — we’re not about death and tyranny, which we know communism has brought across the country, so — and across history. So there are plenty of things in history, and those things can pop up.

BASH: Yes.

BURGUM: But the good news is, these small things I think are the rare example. What we saw last night, what we have seen this week is people unifying around our — around our country, unifying around the flag.

BASH: I want to move on. But do you, as interior secretary, will you recommend to the president that he condemn the — this group and what they were trying to message, what they did try to message here in Washington?

BURGUM: Well, there have been — Dana, part of my response to that is that there are protests on the Mall that people say things that I think are irreprehensible about President Trump, and yet they’re allowed to go on because of free speech in our country.

And so this is a — something — but you have seen President Trump. I was with him in North Dakota. I was with him at Mount Rushmore. I was with him last night.

BASH: This is white nationalism. It’s, as you said, a part of America’s history that still has pockets.

But the fact that they were here in Washington on such an important day — I do want to move on.

BURGUM: But I do think, again, I mean, there are people that are saying “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” I mean, this is part of free speech in America. They can say it, we can object to it.

BASH: OK.

BURGUM: But it is something that comes with free speech in America.

Someone tell that to James Comey, or Mahmoud Khalil.

Sounds a lot like Trump’s “very fine people” remarks.

*Editor’s note: No one said they were a communist.