One thing about the alt right is that they have a very hard time hiding their racism. Siding with Russia is one thing but you would never see them defending and advocating for solidarity with Muslims for instance. Not only that but communism and communist language are not exactly popular in the US so there is little tactically to gain from fascists pretending to be communists. Because of this, the argument that fascists are somehow trying to gain acceptance by masquerading as communists for me doesn't really hold water, at least not in the circumstances of the present day US.

We always have to look at things in their historical context, and while this tactic made sense in the context of the interwar period when socialism was ascendant and popular in Europe and fascists had much to gain from appropriating (some of) the language of socialism, the same does not generally hold true in the US now. Though of course pro-working class rhetoric will naturally appeal to workers in today's US as well, i would say it's only when it's not explicitly being associated with communism. Fascist and reactionary language on the other hand is already well accepted and embedded in the US' settler-colonial culture.

So for me the way i see it it's more a case of confusion, reactionary inclinations that were always there and are hard to shake because they are so ingrained in the culture that Americans grow up in, and/or a genuine but misguided belief that by capitulating to reactionary stances which are perceived as being popular with the masses (whether or not that is actually the case is a different question) or by appropriating the language of American patriotism, the masses can be swayed over to socialism without first having to deconstruct all of their chauvinistic indoctrination (opportunism would be the best term for this).

I think they are communists that are, incredibly ironically, weak on understanding the national question.

If you have only a basic understanding of Marxism, its not hard to get to a class reductionist analysis that goes something like: workers in US need to rise up against US imperio-capitalists > there's a huge population of the working class which are very alienated from the left due to propaganda > make propaganda that appeals to them where they are already at to begin pulling them left > eventually enough people will be radicalized to get organized and make an impact.

This is kind of the basic Marxist model right? Unite the workers against the common enemy, the bosses, and fight together for a better world. Why wouldn't you want to bring such a large demographic of workers into the fold instead of rejecting them and thus giving them only one political option in the right? "If only all the rednecks would be like the early 1900's again, we'd be able to make so much change!"

Patsocs realize that there is a large, white working class demographic of people in the US that is only being targeted by right wing media so they are utilizing symbolism and rhetoric that said group already identifies with in order to get content views which they see as radicalizing them towards the left. The reality is that the majority of workers in the US, not even just white ones, would identify with the US and the idea that the US is a legitimate state over the idea that it should be abolished and made into a bunch of smaller nations of some kind, especially anything run by Indigenous people who are such a small percentage of the population that people can't imagine being governed by them.

This all fits nicely into a very antiquated and reductive analysis of Marxism that avoids the concept of settler colonialism and neo-colonialism, and is missing the sub-classes of workers which actually keeps the workers of the US at large, particularly the white ones, in a sort of global labor aristocracy which sees them as fundamentally on the side of capital because they benefit so much from it. Without understanding this reality, it is easy to imagine we can just get all the workers in the US on the same side against their common enemy and thus would want to try to meet them where they are at and guide them towards the light. Instead, the truth is closer that these demographics of US workers are brown shirt sleeper agents who will allow any atrocity to be committed in their name as long as they get to keep their comforts more or less intact. They do not have the same interest as other workers in the US, especially the colonized workers that they exploit domestically like Indigenous people and New Afrikans.

I believe the PatSocs genuinely believe the logical thread I spoke to above and think that they are going to incite the working class white people into some sort of communist ballot box revolution in the US that will usher in a socialist USA. They reject the idea of the US being illegitimate because it has existed for "too long," the people who's land it was are "virtually gone" in the majority of areas of the country and it has and continues to have such a profoundly large global impact that it is firmly cemented in reality as a nation. A lot of Americans don't vote or care about politics but they do identify with America, because they do benefit from imperialism, and the idea of the USA not existing is something I'd bet most US citizens would find totally implausible.

All of this will be very validating to the PatSoc engagement reports for similar reasons that DSA and anarchism has a lot of traction in the US - they don't ask anyone to change their self perception, or beliefs. They don't ask you to commit class or race suicide or even grow as people, you can just adopt a new rhetoric and aesthetic and feel like you are better than anyone to the right or the left of you. This brings money into the PatSoc's bank accounts which affirms their positions and creates a positive feedback loop which keeps them chasing clout/money/power and forces them to become grifters even if they thought they were sincere at some point. I'm sure they go to bed at night thinking "we are spreading communism and socialism farther each day, we are radicalizing the masses, this is the correct thing to be doing," but once you have patreon subscribers paying your bills because they like the content you put out, you are pretty much on that track for life.

Personally I think instead of rejecting them entirely, people need to be engaging with and showing why their rhetoric is undeveloped and backwards.