Ammon Bundy has amassed an army of over 50,000 as he looks for his next battle in a religious war

[turbinetree]

By History News Network
Published March 29, 2021

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Ammon Bundy, right-wing malcontent behind the 2016 armed takeover of Oregon's Malheur Wildlife Refuge and now a western anti-mask movement, believes he's doing God's work.

Coming from a long line of religiously inspired men who have been "called" to defend the US Constitution, Bundy has varied in his focus, from rebelling against public land ranching regulations to protesting COVID-19 safety protocols. But in his view, these are all forms of government tyranny and affronts to constitutional rights. Arrested for the fourth time on March 15, 2021, Bundy was taken into custody for failing to appear at his hearing on past trespassing charges. Because he refused to wear a mask into the courtroom, thereby missing his trial, he was apprehended outside amid of a throng of other protesters.

Bundy's crusade has been a long time in the making, but in the last year he successfully established a coalition of supporters that is broad, diverse, and a serious threat to federal law. His group is called the People's Rights Network. Like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, it includes members who see the current government as a threat to perceived rights and are committed to defend their ideas of personal liberty, by force if necessary.

Betsy Gaines Quammen, PhD is the author of American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God and Public Lands in the West.

https://www.rawstory.com/ammon-bundy/

[lagomorph777]

1. Why are so many Bundies so unloveable: Ted, Al, Craven, Ammonia...?

[LonePirate]

2. It amazes me how COVID kills people protecting themselves but completely bypasses assholes like him.

[samsingh]

3. seems to be true

[wnylib]

5. They're too putrid for even the covid virus

to hang around with them.

[Under The Radar]

4. A religious war? Against the United States?

[Eyeball_Kid]

6. Please, folks. Do NOT believe that Bundy amassed an army of 50k. That's nonsense.

Bundy has a mailing list. He has "supporters", but he doesn't have an army. RawStory provides a lot of news, some of it well sourced, but not all the time. There is NOT an army of 50k. This article was published by History News Network, not AP, not CNN, not WP...
and the number comes from... Bundy's own network. It's not an independent, verifiable source. AND... there are no indications that any kind of army has been formed. None. It's all made up.

RawStory sometimes prints stuff that can cause needless worry and anxiety. This is one of them.

[msfiddlestix]

8. Thank you for point that out. I was just going to post the same theme.

It astounds me to see articles like this posted here.

There's ample enough to be seriously concerned about, and brazen white supremacist militia groups are certainly one of them. but we don't need inflated numbers of actual support defined as an army.

[FSogol]

9. +1 This n/t

[MineralMan]

11. +1000

[PortTack]

13. Agree! And..what ever cult members he has signed on, look at the photo

Military hardened, trained..laughable!

What comes to mind is his rant after taking over a federal bldg in OR, we’re here until the end, even if it means our death. Just a few days in they were calling for ppl to bring them supplies...especially toilet paper??!! Really you’re rough and ready, but can’t do without TP??!!

[Iggo]

14. With Raw Story, i tend to ignore the verbs and adjectives in the headline.

Then I read the story. It almost never matches up to the sensationalistic language in the headline. There are no bombshells. No one gets demolished, destroyed, or burnt down. For the most part, it’s just little blurbs about news they grabbed from somewhere else.

[Mme. Defarge]

15. +1000!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

18. Hence why I no longer click on Raw Story articles.

They're little better than click bait these days.

[BGBD]

22. But how many do they actually need?

A group of 50 people could cause unimaginable chaos in a US city. For evidence look at what happened during the sniper attacks in DC and LA. In those cases one or two people had an entire city in panic-mode. Imagine that times 10 with bombs going off as well.

[underpants]

7. Okay so they claim 50,000 supporters

They may well have a lot of supporters but that number could very well be a means of recruiting- nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd.

[FSogol]

10. LOL, He has 50k people who will send him boxtops. That's hardly an army. n/t

[MineralMan]

12. This "Army" Is a Figment of Rawstory's Imagination

Wrong word. Wrong conclusion.

[Iggo]

16. More like 50k subscribers to his newsletter.

[NotASurfer]

17. Impressive collection of plastic green toy soldiers? n/t

[IcyPeas]

19. cnn had this investigative report on a couple of weeks ago during Don Lemon's show:

(6:00 minutes long)

Bundy's group even have an App to organize people for different "gatherings". I found this report quite frightening.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/03/20/ammon-bundy-group-movement-santoro-pkg-ctn-vpx.cnn

[Midnight Writer]

20. I doubt he has 50,000, but he had enough armed men to back down Federal Law Enforcement.

I'll never forget seeing those fuckers with their guns trained on the Feds, and the Feds basically saying "Never mind. Sorry to have bothered you, Mr. Bundy."

[dalton99a]

21. .