The far-right organization "Oath Keepers" membership list includes law enforcement officers, military members and elected officials according to a recent analysis by the ADL.
The ADL had analyzed the leaked membership list of the far-right group "Oath Keepers," and after careful cross-referencing had identified hundreds of individuals currently serving in law enforcement agencies, of whom at least ten are serving as chiefs of police and at least eleven are serving as sheriffs.
The Oath Keepers' popularity within the armed forces and law enforcement is perhaps not surprising, as they are known for targeting those groups in their recruitment efforts.
Alarmingly, according to the ADL analysis, there are no less than 81 individuals who are either currently holding or running for office in 2022. Among them is Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers who takes pride in her membership in the group, even after their involvement in the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said: "To know that members of this group have permeated key aspects of civil society should serve as a wake-up call to people of all political persuasions that extremists hell-bent on destroying our democratic norms are making in-roads across the country."
"To know that members of this group have permeated key aspects of civil society should serve as a wake-up call to people of all political persuasions that extremists hell-bent on destroying our democratic norms are making in-roads across the country.”
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt
Who are the Oath Keepers?
The founding member of the Oath Keepers is Stewart Rohedes, a veteran and political activist, who had been charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6 Capitol Insurrection. Rohedes has refused to accept the Biden administration as constitutional according to an archived statement documented in Media Matters for America.
A significant amount of the Oath Keepers' ideology and rhetoric is infected by antisemitism, but the ADL had previously stated that while they see the organization as a right-wing anti-government extremist group, Antisemitism is "not a foundational issue for the Oath Keepers." However, antisemitic tropes are still noted as being present in the group's rhetoric, especially regarding a so-called "New World Order."