Trump fed Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes' warlord fantasies by granting him 'an air of legitimacy': Jan. 6 witness
Jason Van Tatenhove, a former spokesman for the Oath Keepers militia who testified before the Jan. 6 committee, said Donald Trump encouraged the warlord fantasies of the anti-government group's founder.
Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes has been charged, along with some of his group's members and members of the Proud Boys militant group, with seditious conspiracy for their roles in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Van Tatenhove told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Trump granted those extremists "an air of legitimacy."
"They oftentimes were courting local politicians up in the Pacific northwest," Van Tatenhove said. "They wanted to be seen as aligning with these politicians because it did give them a sense of legitimacy that could have appealed to the base and the egos of Stewart Rhodes and other leaders. I think Trump kind of give them permission to continue doing what they're doing."
"I see it as much as they want to message that they're not a paramilitary group or not a militia, they really are," he added. "I think Stewart had always seen himself as being this clandestine paramilitary leader, and having a sitting president directly or indirectly messaging your group and other groups like yours really fed that."
Van Tatenhove said he couldn't predict the future for the Oath Keepers after the insurrection, but he warned that whoever replaced Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate, in the right-wing extremist world would probably be even more extreme.
"We're definitely in a kind of holding pattern," Van Tatenhove said. "We're seeing what the [Department of Justice] is doing, and either way, there's going to be some questions, if they're able to hold Stewart Rhodes to account. The real question is, who is going to rise up to fill that vacuum, and will they be a leader that's willing to -- you know, Stewart was really good at towing that legal line and not crossing it. If we have a leader that is willing to lead the charge, that might change the dynamic and make things even more dangerous than they already are."
Watch the segment below or at this link.
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