The Oath Keepers are coming back

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Salon

Published December 30, 2025 6:00AM (EST)


Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia, announced in November 2025 that he will relaunch the group after it disbanded following his prison sentence in 2023. Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other crimes committed during the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

In January 2025, President Donald Trump granted clemency to the over 1,500 defendants convicted of crimes connected to the storming of the Capitol. Trump did not pardon Rhodes – or some others found guilty of the most serious crimes on Jan. 6. He instead commuted Rhodes’ sentence to time served. Commutation only reduces the punishment for a crime, whereas a full pardon erases a conviction.

As a political anthropologist I study the Patriot movement, a collection of anti-government right-wing groups that include the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Moms for Liberty. I specialize in alt-right beliefs, and I have interviewed people active in groups that participated in the Capitol riot.

Rhodes’ plans to relaunch the Oath Keepers, largely composed of current and former military veterans and law enforcement officers, is important because it will serve as an outlet for those who have felt lost since his imprisonment. The group claimed it had over 40,000 dues-paying members at the height of its membership during Barack Obama’s presidency. I believe that many of these people will return to the group, empowered by the lack of any substantial punishment resulting from the pardons for crimes committed on Jan. 6.

Read more: https://www.salon.com/2025/12/30/the-oath-keepers-are-coming-back_partner/

[The Wizard]

1. The Klan by any other name..... Trump's

Brownshirt enforcers.
The Klan has supported only one candidate for president since its inception, Trumple Foreskin.

[orangecrush]

2. Thanks, Merrick

[ancianita]

22. Thank the felon for undoing what rule-of-law Merrick did.

Under Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Department of Justice secured seditious conspiracy convictions against a total of 10 individuals connect3ed with the January 6th Capitol attack.
These convictions came from two major cases against the leaders and members of far-right extremist groups: the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.

Oath Keepers: Six members of the Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, were convicted of seditious conspiracy across two separate trials. Under Merrick a jury convicted Rhodes of Seditious conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 2384),
Obstructing an official proceeding (18 U.S.C. § 1512), and Tampering with documents and proceedings (18 U.S.C. § 1512)
in November 2022. Each member was sentenced to 18 yrs in prison.
Commutation and Release: Rhodes' sentence was commuted to time served by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025. As a result, Rhodes was released from prison on January 21, 2025.
However, following his release, a federal judge issued an order barring Rhodes from entering Washington, D.C., without the court's prior approval.

Proud Boys: Merrick's DOJ convicted four leaders of the Proud Boys for seditious conspiracy, including former national chairman Enrique Tarrio (who was sentenced to 22 years in prison) convicted on multiple charges. He got 22 years in prison in September 2023, the longest sentence handed down to any Jan. 6 defendant. The judge applied a "terrorism enhancement" to his sentence
The charge of seditious conspiracy can carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years. Garland's DOJ secured these convictions as part of its commitment to holding accountable those criminally responsible for the assault on American democracy.

Put down the haterade.

[2naSalit]

32. And he did little...

To deal with the head of the snake, that being the orange thing, and waited and waited and waited to even put Jack Smith to work. He wasted too much time and now all he actually did accomplish has been undone. I wonder how many $million$ of our tax dollars were wasted there.

I was a defender of Garland until it was clear he wasn't going to do his job completely. Now, I am so disgusted because look where it got us... here.

[ancianita]

36. I hear you

and appreciate that you've given a more thoughtful opinion than is common around here.

[orangecrush]

33. All that

For.a 2 word post?

I'm not getting older, I'm getting better!

[ancianita]

35. So you admit it was all that.

With
-- 1,200 Capitol attack convictions, the largest in DOJ history
-- 61 convictions out of 87 people charged in Covid fraud schemes
-- clawing back $12 billion from financial fraud convictions
-- securing over $150 million in relief for communities of color facing lending discrimination
-- Garland's Civil Rights Division identified evidence of persistent unconstitutional police practices in using excessive force by
------ the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) used excessive force (including neck restraints), unlawfully discriminated against Black and Native American residents during stops, and violated the rights of protesters.
------ the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) used unjustified neck restraints, conducted searches with invalid warrants, and engaged in discriminatory policing against Black residents.
------ the Phoenix Police Department used excessive force, unlawfully detained homeless people, and discriminated against minority communities.
------ evidence of systemic misconduct in Trenton (NJ), Memphis (TN), Worcester (MA), and Mount Vernon (NY).
-- according to Pew Research, in any given fiscal year during Garland's tenure (e.g., 2022), 99.6% of federal defendants who reached a case conclusion were convicted.

It's unbecoming of Democrats to impulsively scapegoat and mock effort posts.

[orangecrush]

37. But wait ...

There's more!

[Roy Rolling]

3. "A full pardon erases conviction"

I don’t think this is accurate.

I understand that a pardon keeps the criminal record but restores voting rights, etc.

[marble falls]

4. I think you're right. ...

... He's trying to become relevant. He's Chalkie Birk with weapons. His 15 minutes is up. No TACO, no Oaf Keepers.

He needs to brush up on his Nazi history and remember what happened to Ernst Röhm and the Brown Shirt leadership June 30 to July 2nd 1934.

[drmeow]

29. Nah - let him stay ignorant

think of how much more fun it will be for him when his dear leader turns on him unexpectedly!

[JustAnotherGen]

17. That's why

We can't return to the status quo when this ends.

We didn't take away their right to vote in 1865, molly coddled them in 1877, and their descendants "rose again". Nope.

All 1500 need to lose the right to vote for the rest of their lives. We do this via Citizen Tribunals as opposed to the Status Quo Justice system that leads up to the Supremes. We only have 3 good people on it - so it's of low value.

[tanyev]

5. I'll wager a lot of them are now getting paid by ICE to do what they wanted to do as Oath Keepers.

😒

[OldBaldy1701E]

14. I would not want to take that wager! (n/t)

[awesomerwb1]

18. Yep. A lot of them. No doubt about it

I think that's pretty obvious.

[LastDemocratInSC]

6. Surgeon reimplants dangerous tumor that was recently removed from patient.

[nuxvomica]

7. Probably a lot of those thugs are ICE agents now

It's interesting that while TSF insisted the J6ers were only "tourists", he stopped short of full pardon for some of them. Why make that distinction if you aren't tacitly admitting they were the bad guys?

[3Hotdogs]

8. He felt sorry for 'em.

It was near Christmas and their kids were home without no toys under the tree and nothing but gruel to eat for Christmas breakfast.

[Rhiannon12866]

42. Those Republicans who insist that the J6 insurrectionists were "just a normal tourist visit" forgot one thing

The Capitol and other government buildings were closed to visitors at the time due to Covid.

[J_William_Ryan]

9. "...empowered by the lack of any substantial punishment resulting from the pardons..."

Empowered also by a fascist Trump regime tolerant of rightwing lawlessness and violence.

[odins folly]

10. I think I read somewhere

Don’t remember where, that he was restarting the group to act as something something when the shitbag needed to call up the militia to watch for voter issues or some such nonsense…

Fuck those guys…

[liberalgunwilltravel]

12. Don't fuck them

You'll get a nasty disease. But if the try and harass voters, they should be at least arrested if not worse.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

11. Good

Identify yourself as traitors and threats to our republic. It will make it easier to bring you to justice when the felon is removed.

[OldBaldy1701E]

15. I would be very amused if someone leaks the client list after they get started again.

You know... just to have an idea of who feels that way.

[lark]

13. Trump wants them active for the midterms!

Bet he asked them to reconstitute to help steal the election.

[Hieronymus Phact]

16. Missing the forest through the trees.

Last edited Tue Dec 30, 2025, 01:39 PM - Edit history (1)

"As a political anthropologist I study the Patriot movement, a collection of anti-government right-wing groups"
Than you're studying it wrong.
They aren't anti-government in the first place.
They're Fascists, they love big government as long as it's used against their opposition.
As fascists do, they lie a lot. Claiming to be anti-government was just a scam.

Please update your approach.

As always: Never trust anyone so stupid he shot his own eye out.

[Joinfortmill]

23. Jeezus, so rude. Discourages folks from posting

[drmeow]

31. "Alexander Lowie, Postdoctoral associate in Classical and Civic Education"

"anti-government right-wing groups" is most likely an academic classification. It includes anti-government fascist right wing groups and anti-government libertarian right wing groups. I think a Postdoc knows that he studies.

[ChicagoTeamster]

19. Stewart Rhodes founded Oath Keepers because Barack Obama was elected president. It's white supremacy not Patriotism.

[Fla Dem]

20. I wondered how many of the far right militants who belong to Oath Keepers, Proud Boys etc

are the ones who answered Trump's call to join ICE.

Inside the facility where ICE is training recruits to take on Trump's deportation goals
Nation Aug 22, 2025 9:37 AM EST

Ramping up hiring, training
ICE is getting $76.5 billion in new money from Congress to help it meet Trump's mass deportation goal. That's nearly 10 times the agency's current annual budget. Nearly $30 billion of that money is for new staff.

They're hiring across the agency, including investigators and lawyers, but the numbers they're hiring in those areas pale in comparison to how many deportation officers are coming on board. Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, was at the training demonstration Thursday. He said the agency currently has about 6,500 deportation officers and is aiming to hire 10,000 more by the end of the year.

With that hiring surge has come concerns that vetting or training of new recruits will be shortchanged. The Border Patrol went through a similar hiring surge in the early 2000s when hiring and training standards were changed; arrests for employee misconduct rose.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/inside-the-facility-where-ice-is-training-recruits-to-take-on-trumps-deportation-goals#:~:text=Ramping%20up%20hiring%2C%20training,the%20end%20of%20the%20year.

[SpankMe]

21. This is literally a terrorist group

But, by all means, let's focus on antifa instead!

[AllaN01Bear]

25. ding. this .

[AllaN01Bear]

24. oaf keepers ? hem

[alterfurz]

41. aka/dba...

[AllaN01Bear]

43. lol.

[Deep State Witch]

26. Aren't They All ICE Now?

I mean, there's a reason why the ICE goons are keeping their faces covered. They know that facial recognition will peg them as Oaf Creepers and J6ers.

[Evolve Dammit]

27. Why not? They're criming all forgiven by mob boss leader.

[bluestarone]

28. Got to ARREST him as soon as possible. (STATE CHARGES of course)

[Initech]

30. These fucking psychopaths belong in prison and should be shunned from society.

Fuck the Proud Boys, fuck the Oath Keepers, fuck the III%ers, and fuck their shitty worthless president.

[BradBo]

34. I knew that scum would return.

[Blumancru]

38. Oh no, not the Oaf Queefers!

The genital herpes of RW Neonazi groups. Just when you think they are gone, there is another outbreak.

[live love laugh]

39. Great 👍🏽

[Deminpenn]

40. Good, setting themselves up

to commit new crimes for which they can be tried, convicted and imprisoned again by a Dem AG who is not afraid of his or her own shadow.