Attending todays Trump Minneapolis rally sounds like a really scary time.
So Republicans will be escorted to and from their cars. That duty will fall to Oath Keepers, a “patriot” group whose members fancy themselves as “guardians of the republic.” Or as the Southern Poverty Law Center calls them, “one of the largest radical anti-government groups in the U.S. today.”
They are not the kind of people you want entering your city. Especially since they tend to be heavily armed.
The group was launched in 2009 after—not coincidentally—we elected a black president. Its beliefs roughly mirrored the conspiracy theories of the day: that the black guy was preparing to invoke martial law. That he would take away your guns. That he would relegate patriots to detention camps.
A decade later, it appears Obama forgot to execute his plot, likely because he never entertained it in the first place. Yet the Oath Keepers carry on, raising “Citizen Preservation” militias to defend against “global elitists” and fight the imaginary forces arrayed against them.
Local PD warns people to take care:
In the meantime, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo seems prepared for the worst. He’s urging residents to not just avoid bringing firearms, knives, and sharp objects, but such innocent items as backpacks, coolers, and strollers.
