Right Wing Militias are Prone to Crazy Drama

Bundy ranch militias are a danger to each other
Robert Beckhusen in War is Boring


You’re right if you think a bunch of armed men playing war in the desert is a recipe for a giant drama bomb. It all started with the armed standoff between the Bureau of Land Management and militia supporters of rancher Cliven Bundy regarding unpaid grazing fees in Nevada.

Bundy, who briefly attracted support from prominent Republicans before uttering racist comments about slavery, has spent weeks entertaining the militias—a loose confederation of different groups with some very itchy trigger fingers. But since the drama at the Bundy ranch receded from the headlines, the drama inside the ranch escalated to the point of rival militiamen drawing guns on each other. The breaking point appears to have been when the Oath Keepers—the most prominent militia group—withdrew after rumors emerged of an impending drone strike. This caused other militiamen at the ranch to call the Oath Keepers a bunch of traitors. In a video statement, the Oath Keepers responded by calling their rival militiamen “nutcases.”

“Sane armed people with a disagreement might be able to find common ground; crazy unarmed people might, too,” Gawker’s Adam Weinstein summed up. “But disagreements among crazy armed people have a weird way of not ending in a vocal consensus.” Aside from the guns, there was also some pushing and shoving. “That’s why we told them to get out of there,” Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers’ founder and leader, said. “We knew the situation was this close from being a gunfight, right there inside the camp.” Ryan Payne, a militia spokesman who stayed at the ranch, described the Oath Keepers as engaging in an act of “desertion” by leaving. “You’re lucky you’re not getting shot in the back because that’s what happens to deserters on the battlefield,” said Payne, who appears in the video below.

Read more and watch video at: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/b1db8d4c4e89