A Rally for America on the U.S. Capitol Grounds Becomes A Rally for the Bundy Family
More than three years after cattle rancher Cliven Bundy, backed by heavily armed militias, stood down federal agents in Bunkerville, Nevada, the antigovernment movement has not forgotten that fateful day, especially as many of the defendants from the standoff are heading to trial.
In recent weeks, the murmur of anger and frustration over the federal government鈥檚 treatment of the Bundy family has grown into a loud chorus 鈥斅爁rom GOP political operative Roger Stone, a self-professed agent provocateur, to Larry Klayman, an attorney for the antigovernment movement 鈥斅燾alling on President Trump to pardon those charged in the 2014 standoff.
That much was clear last weekend on the lawn of the U.S. Captiol, where about 100 people gathered Saturday for the Rally for America. While the event served to聽showcase聽complaints the radical right has fostered for decades, the rally seemed to have one focus. There were聽angry diatribes about the power of federal agencies from the Department of Education to the Federal Reserve, and a few speakers lauding聽President Trump for tamping down the forces of political correctness. But聽the event was dominated by the saga聽of the Bundy family and the federal government.
鈥淭he persecutions and prosecutions that are going on right now in Nevada in the Bundy trial, or the continuations of [charges related to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge]聽have to stop,鈥� Stewart Rhodes, president of the Oath Keepers, one of the rally鈥檚 sponsors, said while calling on the White House to intervene. 鈥淚t鈥檚 as though Hillary Clinton had won the election.鈥�
As Bundy, his two sons Ammon and Ryan, and a host of supporters prepare to go to trial in Nevada on charges stemming from the April 12, 2014, standoff, Rhodes is not alone in expecting the president to intervene and help the Bundy family. Klayman, in fact, has argued that prosecuting the Bundy family shows the hand of the "deep state" at work in seeking retribution for racist comments made by the Bundy family patriarch.听
While many Americans view the Bundys'聽standoff in聽Nevada as radical right extremism or聽domestic terrorism, an angry cohort that argues the Bundy family did nothing wrong聽has intensified efforts to put聽the Bunkerville standoff and the Oregon occupation in a narrative聽alongside Randy Weaver鈥檚 1992 confrontation with federal agents聽in Ruby Ridge and the siege of the聽Branch Davidian compound聽in Waco, Texas聽a year later. These events inspired Timothy McVeigh鈥檚 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 and continue to motivate the antigovernment movement today.听
鈥淎ll of us were worried,鈥� Rhodes said of the events surrounding the聽standoff and later efforts to protect the Bundy family from the federal government, which abandoned its efforts to confiscate the Bundys' cattle as payment for more than $1 million in grazing fees and fines. 鈥淲e had seen Waco. We had seen Ruby Ridge. We had seen the abuse of power, and we had seen federal law enforcement murder people. And we were not going to let that happen again. That鈥檚 why we were there.鈥�
Putting the Bunkerville standoff and the Malheur聽occupation in聽that critical context is an聽effort that has been building on the radical right since聽January 2016, when FBI sharp shooters killed Malheur occupier Robert LaVoy Finicum after he charged a police roadblock, careened off the road into a snowbank and, while stumbling in the knee-deep drifts,聽appeared to reach for a pocket that contained a handgun.
Finicum鈥檚 wife, Jeanette, also spoke at the rally.
Flanked by signs that read, 鈥淲e are LaVoy,鈥� flags with her husband鈥檚 cattle brand and the Gadsden 鈥淒on鈥檛 Tread on Me鈥� flag,聽and choking back tears, Finicum聽said her husband was 鈥渕urdered by our government during an illegal roadblock known as a kill stop with no warrant.鈥�
鈥淗e was standing for property rights. He was standing for our disappearing liberties," Finicum told the audience.听"He was standing for you,鈥� Finicum said.
As much as the rally was evidence that the antigovernment movement has not gone away in the era of Trump, it also served as a stark reminder of a movement that remains dangerous despite a public appearance of being assuaged by the adminstration鈥檚 attention to the radical right. As Rhodes, with the Capitol steps rising behind him to congressional offices where he once worked for Rand Paul,聽quickly reminded聽those at the rally, it doesn鈥檛 matter who holds the levers of power. What matters, Rhodes said, is that they understand the power of the people.
鈥淚f we had wanted to kill all those federal agents that day,鈥� in Bunkerville, Rhodes said, 鈥淭hey鈥檇 be dead. The same goes for Malheur.鈥�
