Stewart Rhodes announced last week that he is relaunching the Oath Keepers, his anti-government militia which virtually disappeared after dozens of its members—including Rhodes—were arrested for their roles in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Rhodes, speaking to the Gateway Pundit this week, says that he sees the relaunched group as playing a role in combating what he labeled an “insurrection by the left” on the streets of US cities. “Right now, under federal statutes, president Trump can call us up as the militia if he sees it necessary, especially for three purposes: to repel invasions, to suppress insurrections, and to execute the laws of the union,” Rhodes said.
But in the days since Rhodes announced their return, experts, former members, and online chatter suggest there is little to no interest in restarting what was, at one point, one of the largest militias in America with a leaked database listing 38,000 supposed members in 2021. This hasn’t stopped Rhodes from asking potential new members and supporters to send money in support of the cause.
But even former Oath Keepers are uninterested. Janet Arroyo, who ran an Oath Keepers chapter in Chino Valley, Arizona, with her husband Jim Arroyo prior to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, says they have not heard from Rhodes in six years and had no plans to rejoin his group.
“He hasn’t reached out during his incarceration, nor since being released,” says Arroyo. “No hard feelings, but we are doing what we do and don’t spend a lot of time wondering what he’s up to. The dumb DC stunt has scared a lot of great patriots into hiding. My guess is he won’t be successful.”
Another former Oath Keeper, Jessica Watkins, an army veteran who was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for her role in the Capitol attack, says she hadn’t even heard about the relaunch when WIRED contacted her this week. “I have not heard of a relaunch, but most J6ers I know are trying to rebuild their lives,” says Watkins, who added that even if she wanted to rejoin, she would be unable to do so as she had her sentence commuted rather than being pardoned. “Felons are not allowed to be in the Oath Keepers or work with them.”
Kelly Meggs, who headed up the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers and was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his part in the attack on the Capitol, says he won’t be joining the relaunched Oath Keepers, as he is concerned about being targeted again when Democrats return to power. “I am more worried about the future,” says Meggs. “I think four and five years from now, eight years from now, 12 years from now, whenever it is, anyone that is a member of these organizations stands at risk of what I went through.”
