QAA Podcast - Premium Episode 191: The Oathkeepers feat Left Coast Right Watch (Sample)

Episode Date: November 25, 2022

Ferguson, the Bundy ranch, and January 6th. We track the path of The Oathkeepers — a right wing militia — and their leader Stewart Rhodes. Guest writers Abner Häuge and Michael Boorman of investigative outlet Left Coast Right Watch lead us into the storm. Subscribe for $5 a month to get an extra episode of QAA every week + access to ongoing series like 'Manclan' and 'Trickle Down': http://www.patreon.com/QAnonAnonymous Left Coast Right Watch: https://twitter.com/LCRWnews / https://leftcoastrightwatch.org The Absolute State Podcast: https://leftcoastrightwatch.org/podcast Music by Kobermann & Anahedron. Editing by Corey Klotz. New Merch / Join the Discord Community / Find the Lost Episodes / Etc: http://qanonanonymous.com

What's up QAA listeners? The fun games have begun. I found a way to connect to the internet. I'm sorry, boy. Welcome listeners to Premium Chapter 199 of the Q&On Anonymous podcast, The Oath Keepers episode. As always, we are your host, Jake Rockatansky, Michael Dorman, Abner Howge, Julian Fields, and Travis Vue. This week, we're taking a deep dive into the Oathkeepers, the right-wing non-profit slash militia, now on trial for seditious conspiracy after storming the Capitol.

If you're unfamiliar with the group, they were started in 2009 and are mostly composed of former military and law enforcement members. They claim to be defending the Constitution while being heavily influenced by sovereign citizenship and other strange ideas we've explored on this podcast in the past. Our guest writers this week are from the fantastic investigative outlet known as, left coast right watch, and they've spent plenty of time looking into the organization firsthand, including their leader Elmer Stewart Rhodes, a lawyer in former paratrooper who has a habit of making outlandish boasts and, unsurprisingly, being pretty racist. So let's jump right into it. The man on the rooftop. June 3rd, 2017. I'm at the airport in Portland, Oregon. I'd flown there to

cover an anti-fascist protest the following day. Turned out others had the same idea. One was Kyle Chapman, a 6'4 fascist brawler better known as Bass Stickman. He recognized me from protests in Berkeley and chose this moment to tell me how Google uploads human brains to the internet. I nodded along as we walked to the baggage clean.

Some of his heavy-set camel-clad friends were already there. They said they were members of the oath keepers. At this point in my life, I'd never touched a gun before. All I knew about these guys was they'd stood on the rooftops with their rifles during the Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson. I nervously introduced myself and Stickman invited me to have dinner with them that evening. I said yes. The cab dropped me off a few blocks away from the restaurant.

Downtown Portland was having some kind of festival. Street performers and kids blowing bubbles ran around. Queer couples and nice people with brightly dyed hair, clapped and cheered. It looked a lot more fun than a meal with a militia. My heart was pounding as I pushed open the big glass archway door. The place was called Fogo de Chow. It was a high-ticket place with red carpets and lofty ceilings. Instead of a menu, tuxedoed waiters ran from table to table with platters and skewers.

I felt like I was in Vegas. The party was all the way in the back, about 12 grim guys and grunt-style t-shirts. and Oakley's on their ball caps. Stickman finally spotted me and waved me to an empty seat beside him. Right across the table, at the center of the gathering sat a man with an eye patch. I plopped my bag full of camera gear down and reached in for the audio recorder. I'll give you an interview later, dude. Not now. He said.

This, it turned out, was Stuart Rhodes. A waiter appeared at my elbow, thrusting a sword under my nose. Steaming chunks of pork were impaled on the blade. He explained, whipping out a second blade to slide some onto my plate. Each man's dish seemed heaped high with meat and little else. They ate joylessly, looking back at Rhodes to see if he was speaking before taking another bite. Only Stickman seemed to be having a good time, wolfing down steak, pork, and cheesy biscuits. Rhodes was king of this court, and now he resumed a lecture I had clearly interrupted.

He pointed at Stickman. See? Antifa is scared of you, Kyle, because you'll beat this shit out of him. Stickman didn't look up. Rhodes carried on without missing a beat. They're scared of us, because if they get too out of line, we'll shoot them. What the hell had I walked into, I wondered. You're a journalist, said some inner voice. Ask him a question.

I swallowed the meat and timidly asked Rhodes what he thought of Richard Spencer, the dapper Nazi who wanted a white ethno state through, quote, unquote, peaceful ethnic cleansing. Big mistake. Just mentioning Spencer made Rhodes' face turn dark with anger. It'll be a civil war between me and him. Once we get rid of all the commies, he's done. I've got Mexican family.

I'm a quarter Mexican dude. I'm not leaving so he can have a whites only state. It's going to be a fight between me and him. Rhodes gripped his steak knife, but his mind wasn't on the meal anymore. He leaned forward over his plate, his one eye flashing in anger as he gave me a warning. Look, dude, I'll talk to you about shooting guns or getting pussy, but I don't want to hear another word about Richard fucking Spencer.

I decided to drop it. Stuart Rhodes. Oathkeepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes was born in 1966 in California's second most cursed city, Fresno. He grew up across the southwest, and sometimes, living with his mom and sometimes with his migrant farm worker grandbearance. Stewart's mama was a minister with her own radio show and went by the name Dusty Buckel. As Rhodes' son Dakota Adams told me on Twitter, she did a crystal healing Jesus church, many multi-level marketing schemes,

numerous sketchy real estate ventures, and huge block parties. Her radio station handle was Blue Nunn, and her catchphrase was Good Beautiful Day. The block parties were probably plugged into the swinger scene, She was married to a hot dog eating contest world champion and a guy who traveled the country with an infrasound meditation trailer. Jesus Christ. You have been listening to a sample of a premium episode of QAnon Anonymous. We don't run any advertising on the show, and we'd like to keep it that way.

For five bucks a month, you'll get access to this episode, a new one each week, and our entire library of premium episodes. So head on over to patreon.com slash QAnonanonymous and subscribe. Thank you. Thanks. I love you. Jake loves you.