They are the darkest and most violent face of the pack of Donald Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday January 6.
A group of extremists who prefer military fatigues and combat helmets to the more folkloric outfits worn by some of the rioters.
Their role in the sack of this hotbed of American democracy seems to gain importance as the reality of the readiness and determination to wreak havoc on these paramilitary-looking militants emerges.
"Largest anti-government movement in the United States"
"A large number of those arrested have links with these far-right militias who had brought weapons and even explosives," notes the ABCNews site, which looked at the profile of the first 68 rioters arrested for a week.
One of the groups of this movement has particularly caught the attention, because its members were among the first and most determined to force the passage to enter the Capitol.
They are called the “Oath Keepers” and can be seen in several videos making their way through the crowd to reach the front door of the Federal Building, advancing in a very disciplined and military manner.
NEW FOOTAGE: a long, disciplined line of men in body armor moves as a unit up the #CapitolBuilding steps.
We need to identify this group.
Grateful to @lehudgins for the find.
Source: https://t.co/1CQlT5Sqa7 pic.twitter.com/Omdva2SiUS
- John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) January 10, 2021
Easily recognizable - they display the name of their group on their jackets or on the back of their helmets - they are then found in several photos taken inside the federal building.
Their leader, Stewart Rhodes, had preferred, meanwhile, to stay outside where he harangued the crowds by calling on them to "stop" the elected officials who were going to vote to certify the electoral victory of Democrat Joe Biden.
The "Oath Keepers" are not just yet another radical movement which, like the Q-Anonists, "Boogaloo boys" or "Proud Boys", gained visibility during Donald Trump's tenure.
Because of its history, the profile of its members and its ideology, it stands out in the overcrowded landscape of extreme right-wing groups in the United States.
Founded in 2009 in response to the election of Democrat Barack Obama as president, this militia has established itself over the years as "the largest radical anti-government movement in the United States", underlines the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), one of the leading NGOs monitoring the far right in the United States.
The Oath Keepers officially claim more than 30,000 members, but the SPLC estimates that there must be between 2,000 and 3,000 active members.
From Yales to conspiracy
A success which owes a lot to the personality of its founder, Stewart Rhodes, a former soldier, passed by the very prestigious law university of Yale and who supported, in 2008, the libertarian candidate Ron Paul before falling into the extremist pot and conspiratorial.
This gun fanatic, who lost an eye in the 1990s while handling a pistol, saw his organization as a haven for law enforcement members frustrated at not being able to openly defend their extremist ideology within institutions. .
What distinguishes the "Oath Keepers" from other far-right militias "is the strong propensity of representatives and ex-members of the various armed bodies", summarizes The Atlantic in a survey devoted to this movement, published in November 2020. The group includes, among others, police officers, border guards, at least one agent of the Secret Service, several members of SWAT (the rapid intervention force of the police) and a sheriff, recorded the site which was able to put the hand on a file of members and sympathizers of the "Oath Keepers".
To integrate this movement, it is also necessary to take an oath "to defend the constitution" (hence the name "Oath Keepers") during a ceremony modeled on that of entering the police.
But for Stewart Rhodes and his henchmen, the constitution boils down, more or less, to the famous Second Amendment which establishes the right to own a firearm.
And the enemy against which we must defend this sacred text is the government, suspected of seeking to confiscate all the weapons in circulation in order to be able to more easily establish a dictatorship.
A conspiratorial delirium which is also part of the DNA of the "Oath Keepers".
They are strong supporters of the "New World Order" conspiracy thesis that most countries of the world are already under the yoke of a "socialist" inspired global government and that the United States is one of the last bastions of "freedom".
The "Oath Keepers" have applied their precepts on several occasions from 2013. Their specialty: coming in numbers during natural disasters or social disorders to "rescue" the population or "protect" businesses, arguing that it do not trust the authorities.
It was during the Ferguson riots, following the murder of a young black boy by a police officer in 2014, that they first took center stage in the media.
The images of these militiamen posted, weapons in hand, on the roofs of buildings in the city and threatening to shoot at the demonstrators have been around the world.
Defend Donald Trump at all costs
With the arrival of Donald Trump to power in 2016, the Oath Keepers "thought they had finally one of their own in the White House", analyzes the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), another American organization fighting against the 'extremism.
Members of this militia then systematically accompanied the president to his main meetings, improvising themselves into a kind of security service twice.
They believe, in their alternate reality, to be the only ones able to protect it against "the enemy from within" who considers Donald Trump as an obstacle to the establishment of this "new world order".
For them, the Black Lives Matter movement was orchestrated by the "Marxists" to destabilize the president, and the "antifa" are agents of the "new world order".
No wonder then that the "Oath Keepers" were among the quickest to take the Capitol by storm.
In 2016, Stewart Rhodes had already indicated that his movement was ready to participate in a "second civil war" if the Democrats had "stolen" the presidential election, recalls the Anti-Defamation League.
In their minds, the defeat of their champion in 2020 is akin to a stunt by these shadow forces and the Trump camp's delusions about electoral fraud have only fueled their fantasies.
No wonder then that the FBI was worried on Monday about further outbursts of violence between now and Democrat Joe Biden's inauguration as new president on January 20.
For groups like the "Oath Keepers", who have weapons and military know-how, the stakes are high.
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