Interior Secretary Doug Burgum condemned the ideology of the white nationalist group Patriot Front but stopped short of saying President Donald Trump should publicly denounce the organization, instead emphasizing that the First Amendment protects even offensive speech.
“I think certainly what they stand for is nothing I could possibly agree with,” Burgum said on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday. “But one of the foundational principles of the United States, which makes democracy messy, is free speech.”
The group seen marching in Washington on the Fourth of July has been identified as Patriot Front, a Texas-based white supremacist group founded in 2017, led by Thomas Ryan Rousseau. Members of the group believe that their ancestors conquered America and bestowed it to them, and no one else, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The group was also formed in the aftermath of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017. The organization then broke from Vanguard America (VA), a neo-Nazi group that participated in the chaotic demonstration, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Pressed repeatedly by CNN’s Dana Bash on whether he would recommend Trump condemn Patriot Front, Burgum did not answer directly. Instead, he argued that the First Amendment protects even speech and demonstrations many Americans find offensive or “irreprehensible.”
Burgum contrasted the demonstration with what he described as broader displays of national unity during Independence day. “The good news is these small things, I think, are the rare example,” he said. “What we’ve seen this week is people unifying around our country, unifying around the flag.”
Burgum argued that the constitutional protection of free speech extends to all demonstrations and protests even ones we may find objectionable, noting anti-Trump rallies and protesters chanting anti-American or anti-Israel slogans. “They can say it, we can object to it, but it is something that comes with free speech in America,” he said.
