Militia

An anti-extremist expert is warning Idaho’s top legislators that a bill under consideration would repeal the state’s main law banning private militias.

Way up in the Northern Rockies there’s a sort of mythical 51st state. It’s called the American Redoubt and it encompasses Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and parts of Oregon and Washington. Adherents to its philosophy believe in a kind of theocratic limited government utopia, one with lots of guns. Alex Barron is the movement’s self-appointed “bard” and his rhetoric has all the violence of a Shakespearean tragedy.

J.R. Majewski was in Washington D.C. the day of the Capitol insurrection, hoping to see millions of U.S. votes thrown out to overturn the presidential election of Joe Biden. Now he wants your vote, at least if you live in Ohio between Cleveland and Toledo.

Today on Idaho Matters, podcast host Heath Druzin gives us a close-up look at the story of a well-known figure in the movement: Ammon Bundy.

When Idaho Gov. Brad Little left the state in April 2019, his second in command wasted no time asserting her authority as acting governor. Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin gathered members of a prominent militia outside the Idaho capitol and administered an oath similar to one taken by new U.S. troops. This was just the latest move for the far-right, militia-adjacent politician.

People's Rights started as a poorly-attended meeting in a drafty Idaho warehouse. But anti-government activist Ammon Bundy has grown his network to more than 30,000 people nationwide, ready to mobilize and fight the government on a moment’s notice — a kind of militia on-demand.

Today Idaho Matters is headed to a usually liberal part of Washington state where the patriot movement is taking hold. South Whidbey Island is perhaps an unexpected place to find a growing militia presence, but far-right activists there are taking aim at local elections.

The federal government has charged Stewart Rhodes and 10 others with seditious conspiracy in the most serious case to emerge from its investigation into the Capitol riot.

The modern militia movement started, in part, in Lee Miracle’s living room. In 1994, a bunch of guys incensed about the deadly government sieges at Ruby Ridge, Idaho and Waco, Texas gathered there. They talked about what they would do if the government came knocking on their door and agreed, they’d want backup. In this episode, Heath goes to Michigan, where Lee Miracle still runs his Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia nearly 30 years later.

Idaho Matters presents the second episode of "Extremely American," a podcast hosted by Idaho-based journalist Heath Druzin.