A right-wing talking point about Jan. 6 just completely collapsed after indictment of the Oath Keepers
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers, has been charged with seditious conspiracy as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s probe of the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Washington Post reporters Spencer S. Hsu and Devlin Barrett have described the 56-year-old Rhodes as “the most high-profile person charged in the investigation so far.” And according to Never Trump conservative Amanda Carpenter, Rhodes’ arrest explodes a MAGA talking about the violence that occurred during the Capitol riot.
Ten others were charged along with Rhodes.
BIG NEWS. WaPo: Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes arrested, charged in Jan. 6 conspiracyhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/stewart-rhodes-arrested-jan-6/2022/01/13/558ecc42-7414-11ec-8b0a-bcfab800c430_story.html\u00a0\u2026— Amanda Carpenter (@Amanda Carpenter) 1642098861
Carpenter, who is known for her commentary on CNN and her articles for The Bulwark, notes that “Trump defenders” have been claiming that the January 6, 2021 violence wasn’t an insurrection “because people like Rhodes had not been charged yet.”
“That talking point is out the window now,” Carpenter emphasized in a Twitter thread. “Sedition is being charged.”
It's worth noting a lot of Trump defenders were pointing out there was nothing serious because people like Rhodes had not been charged yet. That talking point is out the window now. Sedition is being charged.— Amanda Carpenter (@Amanda Carpenter) 1642099117
Carpenter, who once served as communications director for Sen. Ted Cruz but now criticizes him for being a Trump apologist, observed:
There is a lot of work going on and prosecutors have to work thru hundreds of low-level riot cases before working up to stuff like this. I think they are moving much faster than expected.— Amanda Carpenter (@Amanda Carpenter) 1642099227
Insane details in the charging docspic.twitter.com/tptoM4NJxj— Amanda Carpenter (@Amanda Carpenter) 1642099885
The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel also believes that Rhodes’ arrest totally discredits a flawed MAGA talking point. Weigel tweeted:
Time to pivot to something about how Garland and the deep state are trumping up their charges to take the heat off Biden.— David Weigel (@David Weigel) 1642100750
Fox News’ Brit Hume has argued, “Let's base our view on whether 1/6 was an ‘insurrection" on whether those arrested are charged with insurrection. So far, none has been.” And blogger Marcy Wheeler explained why Hume’s reasoning doesn’t hold up:
40+ people were charged with crimes of terrorism, including 4 people just 2-degrees from Trump, though, so @brithume must feel very strongly that we all start calling it a terrorist attack.https://twitter.com/brithume/status/1481649782841962500\u00a0\u2026— emptywheel (@emptywheel) 1642097089
Christian Vanderbrouk likewise noted that the lack of sedition charges had been a popular right-wing, Jan. 6 apologist talking point:
pic.twitter.com/AWTyUMIewh— Christian Vanderbrouk (@Christian Vanderbrouk) 1642099101
Here are some more reactions to Rhodes’ arrest for seditious conspiracy:
now we're talkinghttps://twitter.com/fordm/status/1481697099888664578\u00a0\u2026— ryan cooper (@ryan cooper) 1642099623
The Stewart Rhodes indictment alleges that he "conspired with his co-defendants...and other co-conspirators, known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power." https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1462481/download\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/OyjM6bUBQf— Matt Ford (@Matt Ford) 1642099344
Ben Shapiro\u2019s main talking point in downplaying Jan 6 is that no one has been charged with sedition. So yes - now he has to come up with different BS to keep grifting off the rubes.— Kevin (@Kevin) 1642101712
Seditious Conspiracy is a more serious charge than Insurrection.pic.twitter.com/X4MDXlmlMe— Ron Filipkowski (@Ron Filipkowski) 1642101539
"seditious conspiracy" -- now we're getting somewhere, maybe— Jim Sylvester (@Jim Sylvester) 1642099221
