The Patriot Party, also known as the MAGA Patriot Party, was a small Trumpist and right-wing populist third party which was founded on 25 January 2021 by supporters of former President of the United States Donald Trump. In December 2019, the Patriot Party was founded as an online political movement which operated on social media, staunchly supporting Trump and denouncing both the Republican and Democratic parties. By January 2019, the "Patriot Party" national Twitter account had 100,000 followers, and it operated 38 state Twitter accounts until the 2021 United States coup d'etat attempt led to many of them being shut down; starting on 15 January, Facebook started taking down Patriot Party accounts.
On 19 January 2021, it was reported that Trump had been discussing the formation of a new "Patriot Party" with several aides and other associates, as he and many of his grassroots supporters had become disillusioned with the Republican Party due to several Republican leaders blaming Trump for the 2021 United States coup d'etat attempt or distancing themselves from the Trumpist movement following his departure from office. From 19 to 20 January, the "Patriot Party" was mentioned 131,000 times across all forms of media, and, on 20 January, a "Patriot Party" Twitter account accrued 95,000 followers, while a Facebook account garnered 16,000 likes. George Papadopoulos said that the Patriot Party would be a "viable third party", Lou Dobbs suggested that the name had a "great ring to it", and far-right social media personalities such as Lin Wood circulated logos for the party. Trump's proposition of a "Patriot Party" may or may not have been inspired by the social media movement of the same name, but the existing "Patriot Party" organizations enjoyed a groundswell of support from grassroots Trumpists as a result of the Wall Street Journal story leaking Trump's interest in forming a third party.
On 25 January 2021, a formal "Patriot Party" was founded by the Punta Gorda, Florida-based government worker James Davis in San Antonio, Texas, where it completed its FEC filing to become a formal political party. Fox News San Antonio reported that the "MAGA Patriot Party" had groups in all 50 states, with Texas alone boasting 450 members, and the party having 12,000 members nationwide, according to Davis. Davis claimed that the party was made up of conservatives who felt like they were being censored, sought to elevate candidates in local and state campaigns to earn leverage as a swing party, and attract enough defectors from Trump's 74 million voters in 2020 to become a viable third party in the years to come. The party also expected to be able to accept donations and be filed in 13 states by 1 March 2021. On 25 January 2021, the same day as the party's foundation, Trump's still-active presidential campaign committee, "Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.", distanced itself from the new Patriot Party PAC. It was also revealed that the Patriot Party had falsely stated in FEC paperwork that it had a joint fundraising agreement with the Trump campaign committee, as did the "MAGA Patriot Party National Committee". The formation of the Patriot Party was met with criticism from the Republican Party, which feared that the Patriot Party's formation would split the conservative vote, while Democratic Oklahoma state representative Forrest Bennett welcomed the news and theorized that an exodus of the "MAGA movement" from the Republican Party to the Patriot Party would allow for Republicans and Democrats to get back to civil discourse. The libertarian website and magazine Reason theorized that the Patriot Party might merge with the Constitution Party, with Constitution Party chair James Clymer expressing his hope that the two parties could form an alliance. However, Reason also pointed out that the new "Patriot Party" would face ballot access issues, would have to fight an uphill battle of organizing volunteers and fundraising, and would have to fight to insert itself into America's strong two-party system.
Idaho party chair Will Johnson stated his belief that the party would not be nationally recognized until 2024, if the party's state campaigns were successful. In response to right-wing criticism of the Patriot Party's potential siphoning of conservative voters, Johnson stated that the party would focus on targeting the 33% of eligible voters who did not vote in 2020, such as "Joe Auto Shop Guy or a local firearm or police officer", and claimed that both the Republican and Democratic parties no longer represented "the people". Due to the social media crackdown on the party following the storming of the Capitol, the party moved its operations to Gab, as its previous base of Parler was also shut down. Within a few weeks, the brief surge of interest in the idea of "Patriot Party" had died down, as Trump had disowned the nascent party, and the GOP had censured all of its congresspeople who had voted to impeach him. By August 2023, on the eve of the 2024 presidential election, Trump held the support of over 52% of Republican primary voters, confirming his control over the GOP.