with federal and state mandates regarding social distancing, advertised for lockdown protests, and spoke out against social media figures20 censoring lockdown protest events.
Moreover, they disparaged local actors who implemented lockdown orders as puppets for globalist elites.
While this is in line with anti-government ideology overall, it is curiously pro-Trump. That is, when Trump did not act strongly enough in the face of COVID-19, this was perceived not as his inadequacy but rather as a complot by deep-state actors feeding him bad information about the virus’s banality. Similarly, when Trump supported increased government regulation (maligned by Oath Keepers) this was again not due to Trump’s mal intent but rather yet another deep-state plot to strip individuals of personal freedoms.
Although Trump is not blamed per se there are calls for him to intercede on behalf of citizens by removing the “deep-state elites” and changing the regulations he “let happen”—a passive framing as opposed to was actively seen as creating.
In the face of changing “facts”, the narrative remains consistent
In sum, throughout ideological contradictions and changing perception of events on the ground, the consistent thread within Oath Keepers messaging is that Trump’s positive actions– i.e., those consistent with the ideology of Oath Keepers—are a result of his personal attitudes and behaviours, while his negative actions are the consequence of deep-state plots to undermine him. Overall, Trump is praised as being the only US president not to take advantage of a crisis to centralize power21 but rather to de-regulate and de-centralize as response. While the future of COVID-19 remains uncertain, an Oath Keeper re-tweet from the end of April 2020 summarizes one individual’s views:
Jaclyn Fox is a Doctoral Fellow at CARR and doctoral candidate in international relations at American University, Washington, D.C.
1 “Oath Keepers,” Southern Poverty Law Center, https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/oath-keepers.
2 At the time of publication, the Oath Keepers website was de-platformed by its server provider. The group states that they intend to re-build the website, however, the articles referenced below are not currently hosted online. Citations and URLs were accurate at time of initial writing (May 2020).
3 “Oath Keepers”.
4 Stewart Rhodes, “Oath Keepers Emergency Open Letter to the State Governors on Fighting the Coronavirus,” Oath Keepers, March 11, 2020, https://oathkeepers.org/2020/03/oath-keepers-open-letter-to-the-state-governors-on-fighting-the-coronavirus/.
5 Rhodes.
6 Rhodes.
7 Rhodes.
8 Stewart Rhodes, “Oath Keepers Coronavirus Warning and Advice on How to Protect Yourself,” Oath Keepers, March 5, 2020, https://oathkeepers.org/2020/03/oath-keepers-coronavirus-warning-and-advice-on-how-to-protect-yourself/.
9 Stewart Rhodes, “Coronavirus Is AIRBORNE! You Are Not Being Told the Full Truth,” Oath Keepers, March 12, 2020, https://oathkeepers.org/2020/03/coronavirus-is-airborne-you-are-not-being-told-the-full-truth/.
10 Nancy Oakley, “Doctor’s Blunt Speech About COVID-19 Hits Home,” Oath Keepers, March 23, 2020, https://oathkeepers.org/2020/03/doctors-blunt-speech-about-covid-19-hits-home/.
11 Rhodes, “Oath Keepers Emergency Open Letter to the State Governors on Fighting the Coronavirus.”
12 Nancy Oakley, “Gun Control End Game—Bloomberg Groups Launch Campaign to Close Gun Stores,” Oath Keepers, April 6, 2020, https://oathkeepers.org/2020/04/gun-control-end-game-bloomberg-groups-launch-campaign-to-close-gun-stores/.
13 Nancy Oakley, “Too Bad You Couldn’t Get a Gun to Protect Yourself,” Oath Keepers, March 24, 2020, https://oathkeepers.org/2020/03/too-bad-you-couldnt-get-a-gun-to-protect-yourself/.
14 Nancy Oakley, “Facebook Shuts Down ‘Open New Jersey’ Protest Page for ‘Promoting Crime,’” Oath Keepers, April 20, 2020, https://oathkeepers.org/2020/04/facebook-shuts-down-open-new-jersey-protest-page-for-promoting-crime/.
15 Nancy Oakley, “Mark Zuckerberg: Lockdown Protests Are ‘Misinformation,’ Facebook Will Ban Organizers,” Oath Keepers, April 20, 2020, https://oathkeepers.org/2020/04/mark-zuckerberg-lockdown-protests-are-misinformation-facebook-will-ban-organizers/.
16 Rhodes, “Oath Keepers Emergency Open Letter to the State Governors on Fighting the Coronavirus.”
17 Nancy Oakley, “Dr. Graves Slams Dr. Fauci & Attack on Liberty Amid COVID19,” Oath Keepers, April 23, 2020, https://oathkeepers.org/2020/04/dr-graves-slams-dr-fauci-attack-on-liberty-amid-covid19/.
18 Nancy Oakley, “Detroit Rep Says Hydroxychloroquine, Trump Helped Save Her Life,” Oath Keepers, April 8, 2020, https://oathkeepers.org/2020/04/detroit-rep-says-hydroxychloroquine-trump-helped-save-her-life/.
19 Nancy Oakley, “Sheriff: I Won’t Assist in Destruction of Businesses or People’s Constitutional Rights,” Oath Keepers, April 20, 2020, https://oathkeepers.org/2020/04/sheriff-i-wont-assist-in-destruction-of-businesses-or-peoples-constitutional-rights/.
