There are always those who preach about “freedom”, but only their own. This week three years ago, at the height of Covid, some of them paraded around maskless in Dublin city centre with their “patriotism” wrapped in the national flag, roaring “traitor” and “paedo”, threatening to lynch public figures while hurling fireworks at gardaí – three of whom ended up in hospital.

Despite the “patriot” tag, the language, aggression and symbolism were lifted wholesale from the Donald Trump/QAnon playbook, along with a heavy supplement of English white supremacy.

Last week in Celbridge, Co Kildare, a few kilometres from where I live, the same roars and obscenities were heard, the same fouling of the national flag, the fireworks hurled at gardaí – this time outside a hotel which had been housing asylum seekers for some time.

Hours beforehand, locals were talking about a Twitter/X post from Fergus Power, whose online bio reads: “Husband, Father, Patriot of éiRe [flag] God Wins – We win [joined hands emoji].” It was sent at 11.50am on February 27th, and was headlined “Major Incident Celbridge”.

Since Power and his sidekicks rejoice in the title of “citizen journalist” while loudly denouncing the mainstream media, it’s worth reprinting his post for contrast. His technique should also be plainly understood, including by those who........

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