The Oath Keepers are an anti-government militia who strongly and violently protest the U.S.A. government, including the transfer of presidential power. The group encourages its members to disobey any rules that violate the U.S. constitution. Don’t worry if you are confused, the point I want to prove is that they are extremist. Most people including many organizations that monitor terrorist groups agree on this fact with varying levels of intensity. Recently, founder of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years of prison on charges of many crimes committed last November when trump supporters stormed the capitol building.

While in court Rhodes described himself as a “political prisoner” but judge Amit Mehta replied with “You are not a political prisoner Mr. Rhodes…You stand convicted because 12 jurors in the District of Columbia…convicted you of sedition.” This conversation continued for quite a while with Rhodes repeatedly making the point that he and fellow Oath Keepers were innocent and had committed no violence during the events of the Jan. 6th attack. But there is clear evidence of how Rhodes and others working with him had planned violence, communicated with encrypted messages and radios and, celebrating the in aftermath.

In an ironic twist Rhodes himself had stated that “they wont fear us until we come with rifles in hand” then after the attack recorded himself saying, “we should have brought rifles”. Other evidence of Rhodes bringing planning to storm the capitol earlier were found but he did not go through with it. His defense attorneys later claimed that the Oath Keepers were a “volunteer organization” and that they were providing the nation with community protection.

All of this evidence seems to strongly support Rhodes being put behind bars but what do you think?