Patriot Prayer is a US far-right group founded by Joey Gibson in 2016 and based in Vancouver, Washington, a suburban city in the Portland metropolitan area. Since 2016, the group has organized several dozen pro-gun, pro-Trump rallies held in liberal cities in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. Often met with large numbers of counter-protesters, attendees have repeatedly clashed with left-wing groups in the Portland area. Far-right groups, such as the Proud Boys, have attended the rallies organized by Patriot Prayer, as well as white nationalists, sparking controversy and violence.
Patriot Prayer has focused on fighting anti-fascist and leftist groups; street fights between the groups, which have taken place since 2017, have frequently been filmed and posted online by observers and members. A brawl between Patriot Prayer and anti-fascist activists at Cider Riot in May 2019 led to criminal proceedings against members of the group. Three people pleaded guilty while Gibson and another member were acquitted of their charges.
Patriot Prayer has described itself as in favor of free speech and opposed to big government. An infiltrator into Patriot Prayer said that the group had around 15 core members in 2019.
Overview
Patriot Prayer was founded in 2016 by Joey Gibson. Gibson was motivated to become an activist after he viewed TV coverage of a June 2, 2016, Trump rally in San Jose, California, where protests turned to brawling. Since early 2017, Patriot Prayer supporters have traveled to downtown Portland to hold rallies in support of Donald Trump. Patriot Prayer is a far-right group, part of the right-wing of American politics. The group has held rallies in areas known for their liberal politics. It has also been described as anti-government. The San Jose Mercury News described Patriot Prayer as a right-wing group whose events "attracted white supremacists and ended up in violent confrontations among demonstrators on both sides." In 2017, Gibson considered himself a conservative libertarian.
Patriot Prayer have been connected to the alt-right and other far-right groups. Gibson denied that the group was white nationalist and claimed that they supported "freedom, love and peace". The group's stated aim is support of the First Amendment, free speech and to "liberate the conservatives on the West Coast".
Patriot Prayer is known for being a "pro-Trump group". The Weekly Standard described early Patriot Prayer rallies as having "overtly pro-Trump themes."
Opposition to Gibson's rallies grew in May 2017, following the 2017 Portland train attack, a racially motivated double murder by Jeremy Christian, a man known to have attended Patriot Prayer rallies.
In August 2017, David Neiwert, writing for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), described Patriot Prayer as "trolling" the Pacific Northwest with the intention of provoking a response from antifa. Neiwert noted that Gibson denounced white supremacists and neo-Nazis after the Unite the Right Rally and stated that he aimed to "actively exclude" white supremacist groups. Members of Identity Evropa have attended the groups rallies. The SPLC referred to Patriot Prayer as "violent extremists".
In 2018, authorities were prompted to conduct an investigation after Patriot Prayer called the Council on American–Islamic Relations a "Muslim extremist organization" and made online threats against the group. Patriot Prayer has harassed and assaulted Abolish ICE and other leftist activists.
The group has also attracted anti-government paramilitary groups like the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters.
Organizational structure, membership and recruitment
For a period of time beginning in February 2019, Patriot Prayer was a corporation, but on September 18, 2019, it was voluntarily dissolved. In October 2019, Gibson advised followers to send him donations through the Church of Faith and Freedom, an organization that officials who oversee charities and non-profits found no record of in the states it claimed to be active: California, Oregon, and Washington.