To many on the Left, the group known as “Patriot Front”—known for its surprise marches while wearing a uniform of khaki pants, blue t-shirts, and white balaclavas, displaying American flags and banners reading “Reclaim America” or similar sentiments—is a terrifying example of how rapidly fascism is metastasizing across American conservatism. Miles of column inches have been written about the group, both by professional “hate-watchers” such as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and by various fear mongering journalists at Slate, Daily Beast, and the like, nearly all of whom exclusively cite and quote these so-called experts.

Meanwhile to the Right, given that Patriot Front dresses like cannon fodder for COBRA—the eternal (and always incompetent) enemy in the cartoon TV series G.I. Joe—the group is regarded as an FBI office costume party. Patriot Front, from this perspective, is a thinly-disguised “op” to trap foolish right wingers into supporting a criminal conspiracy in order to meet the Bureau’s statistical need for white supremacist terrorist arrests. According to FBI whistleblowers, special agents can receive substantial cash bonuses for hitting white supremacist arrest targets, so official perfidy seems plausible.

The group’s marches or stunts, which circulate prolifically online, are met by howls of derision from conservatives. They’re easy to mock, after all, as the small handful of Patriot Front members who show up are nearly always surrounded by a swarm of “anti-fascist” protestors and numerous police, who are present to ensure that the supposedly terrifying and dangerous fascists don’t get torn limb from limb.

So who are Patriot Front? Are they in fact insidious fascist stormtroopers and a grave threat to Our Democracy? Or are they a Lincoln Project political campaign stunt with a larger budget?

The truth is slightly more complicated than the online caricature, but in many ways no less ridiculous.