Greetings, MilitiaWatch reader! Another year in the books, and so we’re offering another round-up of what we’ve observed from within this movement in the news this year. We have roundups from the past few years if you’re interested in the time capsules these represent: 2024 | 2023.
This is MW signing off for 2025. See you in 2026, and happy new year, btw.
Common Threads
As mentioned the last few years, stories from within the Patriot Movement often don’t neatly fit within the container of a single month, so here are a few of the multi-month trends we’ve observed this year:
- First Year of Trump 2: The real headline of this year is a whirlwind of a year under Trump’s second term, which kicked off with mass pardons/commutations of J6 participants and has involved wave after wave of authoritarian mobilization.
- Rhodes Tries to Recoup His Losses So Hard: The Oath Keepers founder has tried several avenues to become relevant again, to mixed success.
- Militia Guys Run for Office: This extends well before 2025, but another wave of Patriot candidates has appeared both this year and ahead of next year’s midterms/state elections.
First Thread: First Year of Trump 2
Trump Trend One: J6 Pardons and Related Happenings
After Trump’s pardons of literally hundreds of people who allegedly (or evidently) took part in the violence of January 6, 2021, some of those involved got into trouble related to the reasons they went to violently support Trump in the first place.
- January: Upon his inauguration, one of the first (of many) executive orders that President Trump signed gave pardons or commutations to nearly 1600 J6 participants. Unsurprisingly, many of these included militia members. Also, unsurprisingly, some immediately took the opportunity to get active or get in trouble. [link]
- February: Tons of J6 pardon recipients flooded CPAC, leading to some hijinks after a couple of them had their registrations briefly revoked. [link] After a joint press conference with Oath Keepers, Enrique Tarrio threw a protester’s phone, resulting in his arrest at the Capitol (again). [link]
- March: Trump pondered making a fund to pay J6 pardon recipients — whom he called “patriots” — restitution for lost wages. [link]
- July: A judge sentenced J6 participant Edward Kelley to life in prison after a jury convicted him the previous November for planning to murder federal employees and federal agents. [link]
- September: After months of going on speaking tours after his release, Stewart Rhodes had to reschedule an Elgin, Illinois appearance multiple times due to local outcry. In this instance, he was hosted by a local Republican leader. [link]
Trump Trend Two: Massive mobilization of ICE and National Guard
Authoritarian mobilization has had a number of impacts on the militia world. First, it seems like militia mobilization is down in part because the state is taking up many of their causes. Second, hypervigilance about the far-right has intersected with fears over ICE, as people worry about crossovers between the two. Third, militia groups have occasionally mobilized against protests against ICE and the National Guard, but often to little effect when compared to years past.
- April: With the massive wave of ICE mobilization across the US, people have (understandably) been on high alert for militias getting in on the violence. One such rumor went viral, and stuck around well after it was disproven. [link]
- June: Members of the This is Texas Freedom Force militia mobilized at a counter-demonstration against local anti-ICE protests in San Antonio. [link]
- August: Trump escalates his occupation of DC. While it doesn’t exactly fit under the militia purview of this blog, authoritarian mobilizations like this have worrying normalization effects. Thankfully, many came out to protest such mobilizations. [link]
Second Thread: Rhodes Tries to Recoup His Losses So Hard
Rhodes Trend One: Rhodes Reboots Oath Keepers
It was inevitable, tbh, but Rhodes finally announced he was rebooting his militia group late this year. In November, he announced this reboot on a podcast. He even launched a new website and a place to send checks made out to him personally. Other Oath Keepers seem wholly disinterested. [link]
Rhodes Trend Two: Insurrection Act Spam
One of the things about Stewart Rhodes is that he’s been consistent on talking about the Insurrection Act forever. He seems to not quite understand what it is for and what powers it gives to the president of the United States, but his calls to rebuild the militia movement are often tied to appeals to invoking this law.
- June: Stewart Rhodes goes on Coach Dave Live to ask Trump to “revitalize the militia” by invoking the Insurrection Act. [link]
- November: As part of his announced Oath Keepers reboot, Rhodes once more called on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, as Stewart himself (mis)understands it. [link]
Third Thread: Militia Guys Run for Office
- July: San Francisco County Sheriff Paul Miyamoto got into hot water over his 2026 gubernatorial endorsement of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who previously admitted to having been a member of the Oath Keepers. [link]
- (also) July: CSPOA founder and militia-friendly Richard Mack endorsed Josiah Roise for mayor in Minot, North Dakota. Roise allegedly made bombs in his home and is presumed to be a sovereign citizen. Tig Tiegan, the founder of the United American Defense Force, also announced his run for mayor of Colorado Springs again. [link]
- November: Both Whitmer plot acquittal recipient William Null and “special deputies” hopeful Bruce Blakeman announced their gubernatorial runs in their states (Michigan and New York, respectively). Null faces a crowded primary, and Blakeman faces another Trump favorite in his GOP primary. [link]
Month by Monthly
Now, just a repeat of some of the stories from each month this year that were covered on the blog but didn’t make it into the threads above:
January: In addition to the obvious (the pardons), Joshua Kaplan with ProPublica also put out a great article on the American Patriots III%. [link]
February: In addition to the CPAC hijinx and other J6 happenings, researcher Teddy Wilson compiled an invaluable resource on J6 pardon recipients. [link]
March: One of the first big waves against the Trump admin kicks off with the #TeslaTakedown protests, which brought a minimal but still noteworthy counter-mobilization by a handful of figures from the right, including some militia folks. [link]
April: It was revealed that Ed Martin, Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, had been emailing a literal Nazi, whom Martin had called an “amazing guy” and “great friend.” [link]
May: A judge sentenced Pennsylvania Citizens Militia leader Ronald Hertzog for his second bout of weapons charges. He pleaded guilty last December. [link]
June: Feeding into paranoia over federal agents and militia members crossing into each other’s fields, this month saw a notable spike in such agents covering their faces and/or wearing sketchy insignias. [link]
July: Trump tune shift on Epstein creates (temporary) wedge between him and members of his base, including Oath Keepers who attended J6. [link]
August: A judge sentenced two militia activists from the 2nd American Militia after a jury convicted them of attempting to murder Border Patrol and FBI agents in November 2024. [link]
September: After Charlie Kirk was murdered, rumors of a militia on campus at UNC-Wilmington led to local chaos, including cancelled classes and a brief lockdown on part of campus. [link]
October: Members of the Cottonwood Militia showed up to watch a protest in Redding, California. They didn’t show up with visible firearms. [link]
November: Key items covered above, but reposting a reminder to interrogate claims made by militia actors who claim to be more moderate than some other member of their milieu. [link]
December: No MW Monthly, but here are some bonus trends (that either aren’t in the news or are more based on vibes than significant data):
- The move towards more emphasis on irregulars-type militia formation within the patriot movement, especially among post-Boogaloo “operator” types, who are usually younger and more online. (you can read some of Calum’s writing on this)
- The continuing (but deeply varied) successes of Virginia county militia organizing, mostly in terms of being able to boast a new formation every few months. However, many do not make it to a second muster, so it remains unclear how much staying power they have. (you can read SPLC’s reporting on a National Guard investigation that seems to have not stopped such organizing)
- The fifth anniversary of January 6 is this coming year. What a lovely milestone to hit! 2026 is also, as Trump mentioned multiple times in his prime time address this past week, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Trump is being normal and has announced “Patriot Games” to mark the occasion.
Thanks for being a reader, and hope your 2025 ends with warmth and love. See you in the new year.
