The anti-government group Oath Keepers called on its members last week to form “incognito intelligence gathering and crime spotting teams” on Election Day to root out voter fraud. But the group’s concerns run even deeper. In a webinar last night hosted by Oath Keepers president Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers leaders counseled members on how to prepare for pre- and post-election “civil unrest,” which they said would almost certainly come from supporters of Hillary Clinton.
A man who goes by the name of Navy Jack, whom Rhodes describe as a lead intelligence officer for Oath Keepers and who is a frequent blogger on the group’s website, explained that Donald Trump is certain to win the election unless he is stopped by “large-scale voter fraud.” If Clinton’s allies think she won’t win, he said, they’ll find a way to cancel the election. If the election moves forward and she still doesn’t win, he said, America should be prepared for “provacateured post-election unrest and riots” or “false flag” attacks, the blame for which would be placed on right-wing extremists, thus deligitimizing Trump’s victory and justifying the invoking of emergency powers and preventing the smooth transition of power.
Navy Jack presented a slide laying out some of the various scenarios:
He also identified “major threat groups” that could perpetrate this election-related violence, including the Latino advocacy group National Council of La Raza, communists, Black Lives Matter, the tiny New Black Panther Party and another Black Panther offshoot called the Huey P. Newton Gun Club. Other threats he identified included foreign powers and terrorists, who in a recent blog post Navy Jack suggested could be provoked to violence by the U.S. government in order to justify imposing emergency powers:
He laid out his thinking in a couple more detailed slides:
Following Navy Jack’s presentation, Oath Keepers board member Joseph Santoro delivered a presentation on how to deal with IEDs, which he said could come from any number of groups that have the capability to produce them, including ISIS, Black Lives Matter, “illegals” and “fifth column groups.” He warned that what’s going on now in Iraq and Afghanistan is “coming to America.”
The name of James O’Keefe, the conservative provocateur who’s been trying to prove the existence of widespread voter fraud, came up a number of times during the call. Speakers John Kerriman and Greg McWhirter also cited the work of True the Vote, a Texas-based group dedicated to spreading fears of rigged elections.
Rhodes announced that the group will be holding an additional webinar on Monday night to prepare for the “worst case scenario” of the government imposing martial law after the election.
