“Let the fight begin there. Then President Trump will get what he needs.” Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the so-called Oath Keepers, a far-right militia, said during a meeting shortly after the US presidential election. Ever since it was clear that Joe Biden had won, Rhodes has inflamed his Oath Keepers with lyrics about “civil war”, “bloody fighting” and the need to protect the “rightfully elected president” Trump. He was arrested Thursday on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a riot. On Friday, he was presented hand and foot in handcuffs.
With the arrest of Rhodes, Justice in the United States is taking it a step further: it no longer only prosecutes people who simply entered the parliament building. It now also looks at those who worked behind the scenes to sabotage the power transfer.
parachute jump
Over the course of the year, the preparations for the January 6 storming of the Capitol and the role of militias such as the Oath Keepers have become increasingly clear. Stewart Rhodes (56) founded the Oath Keepers in 2009, not coincidentally the year Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States. The former soldier, whose career ended when he broke a vertebra in a failed parachute jump, was a lawyer in Montana at the time, trained at the renowned Yale University. He was known in modest circles as a libertarian blogger.
Rhodes wrote a manifesto arguing that military personnel and law enforcement officers must abide by the oath of allegiance they take when enlisting, and vow to “defend the Constitution against all its enemies, domestic and foreign.” A large proportion of the members are former military or police officers.
But according to Rhodes, the Oath Keepers must oppose orders that they believe are against the Constitution. If necessary by force.
Conspiracy Theories
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors and analyzes extremist groups, the Oath Keepers’ “self-assessment” is steeped in conspiracy theories, the core of which is that government is the enemy of the citizens. Rhodes, recognizable by the patch over his left eye, the result of an accident in which a loaded pistol slipped from his hands and a bullet pierced his skull, is an energetic propagator of conspiracy theories. In blogs, speeches and interviews, over the years he has pointed to Muslims, the Pentagon’s top, China, migrants, Communists and “phony Republicans” as enemies of the American citizen.
For example, in 2015, Rhodes branded the elderly John McCain, a former presidential candidate, a fake Republican and traitor. In a speech, Rhodes said: “We should try him for treason. And after we have convicted him, he should be hanged to death.”
In Donald Trump, Rhodes saw the president who would free the Americans from their government. Trump’s loss signaled to Rhodes that his Oath Keepers had to act. “We must now start a bloody, massively bloody revolution against them,” Rhodes said in an interview on Dec. 22, 2020. the prosecution filed against him and ten other Oath Keepers.
Justice now also has the people behind the scenes of the riot in the picture
On January 6, 2021, the Oath Keepers were clearly visible at the storming. Unlike the similar group the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers often wore their signature insignia: yellow lettering stitched onto their combat clothing. At one point the members lined up through the crowd, each member holding the shoulder or backpack of the person in front of him. Outside Washington, at the same time, units of Oath Keepers stood ready with guns and ammunition to advance into the city on a signal from their leaders.
It all turned out differently. Trump has left the White House and dozens of Oath Keepers have been arrested. The fact that Rhodes remained at large for so long aroused suspicion in the right margins of American society. The man who so eagerly spread conspiracy theories was now labeled an “FBI agent” himself. Allegations that Rhodes used member dues for his own use, that he steaks, firearms and hair dye of bought have led some local chapters to say goodbye to the Oath Keepers.
On charges of conspiracy to commit insurgency, a crime he says he has not committed, Rhodes now faces 20 years in prison.
Also read this comprehensive reconstruction of the Capitol storming by America correspondent Bas Blokker and editor Merijn de Waal
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