Once a spokesman for the far-right militia implicated in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Jason Van Tatenhove is attempting to make amends—and to sound an alarm.
The Oath Keepers operate under the assumption
Everyone in the car was convinced the calls were real, says Van Tatenhove, who immediately called his family to say he loved them. After scrambling to pass along the “intel” to Bundy, Rhodes fled to safety with the rest of his militia. When it all turned out to be a hoax, reports the Southern Poverty Law Center, Bundy’s remaining militants ridiculed the Oath Keepers as delusional and chicken-hearted.
Van Tatenhove resigned from his job. He was furious with the Oath Keepers and called Rhodes to complain. The militia leader, who needed someone with journalism experience, proposed a solution.Van Tatenhove shared the Oath Keepers’ concerns about government overreach. Stoking resentment online, Van Tatenhove was able to amplify the group’s reach. “I’d have articles that I put up in the late evening,” he recalls, “[and] I’d have, like, 120,000 views overnight.”
Van Tatenhove became something of a body man for Rhodes, fielding phone calls and driving him to rallies and standoffs. During their lengthy car trips, the two became close; eventually, Van Tatenhove felt comfortable enough to tell Rhodes he was bisexual. Following the attacks on the Capitol, Van Tatenhove came to view these weekend excursions more ominously. “It wasn’t just fun and games,” he says. “It was paramilitary training for causing violence.” At the time, though, he found them to be empowering and meaningful; as the men hiked through the woods and ate dinner by campfire, they developed an esprit de corps.
As Van Tatenhove watched Finicum’s young daughters break down in tears at their father’s funeral, he began to wonder what his continued involvement with the Oath Keepers might mean for his own family. “I got in too deep,” he says. “I was just feeling like I got into this situation that I’d convinced myself was cool and exciting, and now it’s just fucking turning ugly.”Antisemitism and what Van Tatenhove saw as a drift toward intolerance led him to leave the Oath Keepers.
Van Tatenhove now admits that during his affiliation with the group, he may have been blind to its members’ bigotry. “Maybe I didn’t want to see it,” he says. But when he overheard the senior Oath Keeper casually denying the Holocaust in public, he knew his days in the group were over. Van Tatenhove’s aunt and cousin are Jewish; he has fond childhood memories of celebrating Hanukkah and Passover with them.
But just when Van Tatenhove felt he’d managed to put the Oath Keepers behind him, he says Rhodes appeared at his door. Rhodes’s wife, Van Tatenhove says, had kicked him out and left him no place to go. “Can I stay for a few nights?” Van Tatenhove recalls Rhodes asking. Meanwhile, the Oath Keepers were undergoing their own transition. Back in 2016, Van Tatenhove says, Rhodes was so unmoved by Trump that he wouldn’t have voted in that year’s election had Van Tatenhove not driven Rhodes to a polling station and encouraged him to cast his ballot for the former reality-TV star. But once Trump took office, Van Tatenhove says, Rhodes came to see the 45th President as a “vehicle to realizing these fantasies of being a paramilitary leader in a dystopian America.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
EUR/USD: Weekly Forecast 2nd January - 7th JanuaryThe EUR/USD delivered a solid trading range for speculators the past week, and this coming week could see more consolidated price action because of the holiday
Leer más »
4WARN Weather Days issued for January 3 through January 4Looking back at Alabama Severe Weather Preparedness Week from back in February, Meteorologist Amber Kulick explains just how to program a weather radio for the area that impacts you. 4WARN WEATHER DAYS TODAY AND TOMORROW
Leer más »
The Best Comedies on Netflix Right Now (January 2023)It's a new year, so find a new comedy to watch. Or something you've already seen a thousand times. We won't judge. Here's our updated list of the best comedies streaming on Netflix right now.
Leer más »
The Best Kids Movies on Disney+ Right Now (January 2023) | Digital TrendsDisney prides itself on its extensive catalog of family-friendly titles, and these are the best kidsmovies available on Disney+ right now.
Leer más »
Fifth Dothan City Schools Capital Plan Community Forum set for JanuaryDothan City Schools announced on Monday that a new Capital Plan Community Forum date has been added for the month of January.
Leer más »
Dry January: Non-alcoholic cocktails for a month-long break from drinking alcoholMocktails have changed! Shannon Michelle, the lead bartender at Sidecar in Jacksonville, joined The Morning Show to discuss mocktails.
Leer más »