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The image from nationwide rallies this past weekend seems quite clear: The country鈥檚 largest anti-Muslim organization with close ties to the Trump Administration, ACT! for America, is welding its bonds with armed militia and Patriot groups, including Oath Keepers.

Formed in 2009, Oath Keepers is聽a loosely knit band of former police officers and military veterans who believe their armed presence will save the United States from a broad-array of conspiracies.

Stewart Rhodes, its founder and president, is a Yale-educated attorney, who was disbarred for not being licensed to practice in Arizona.聽

In April 2014, Rhodes and a contingent of Oath Keepers showed up at the Nevada ranch of Cliven Bundy and were part of an armed standoff with federal agents attempting to round up Bundy's cattle for non-payment of grazing fees.

Later that year, Oath Keepers showed up in Ferguson, Missouri, during racial unrest there in the weeks following the death of Michael Brown on Aug. 9, 2014.聽Members of the group stood armed on the roofs of white-owned business, proclaiming they were protecting life and property. Oath Keepers, usually armed, also have shown up at other antigovernment disputes, including the

2015 standoff at the Sugar Pine Mine in Oregon.聽There, Oath Keepers and other militia-style Patriots said they were defending the mine operators who had failed to file an operations plan with the Bureau of Land Management.

The Oath Keepers declared "victory" when a judge issued an order stopping the BLM from taking action against the mine operators.

In latest turn, Rhodes issued a 鈥渃all to action鈥� last week after, he claims, ACT! for America, a hate group, asked for armed protection at events Saturday in more than two dozen cities in 19 states.

ACT! asked the Oath Keepers for 鈥渟ecurity鈥� help, even though the anti-Muslim organization calls itself the National Rifle Assocation 鈥渙f national security鈥� and the nation鈥檚 鈥渓argest non-profit, non-partisan, grassfoots organization with 500,000 members and 1,000 volunteer groups.鈥�

An informal survey of the ACT rallies in 28 cities showed a presence of either Oath Keepers, members of III Percent militia groups and other state-based militias or members of a pro-Trump, fight-club-mentality startup called the Proud Boys.

The Council on American Islamic Relations said the so-called 鈥渁nti-Sharia law鈥� rallies, with Oath Keepers doing guard duty, were nothing more than anti-Islamic bigotry.

聽CAIR, the nation鈥檚 largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said the anti-Islam rallies 聽鈥� posturing the notion that Islamic Sharia law religious tenets are about to swamp America 鈥� were 聽greatly overshadowed by counter-demonstrators.

聽鈥淭he anti-Islam rallies were a bust,鈥� CAIR鈥檚 executive director Ibrahim Hooper told the Washington Post.

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen a tremendous rise in the level of anti-Muslim bigotry in our society 鈥� and against minorities of all kinds 鈥� but we鈥檝e also seen a tremendous rise in support,鈥� Hooper said.

Oath Keepers and other militia and Patriot groups were center-stage in most of the 28 cities where anti-Sharia rallies were held.

Missing the action, it seems, was ACT鈥檚 founder, Brigitte Gabriel, also known as Brigitte Tudor, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump. The president鈥檚 embattled former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, now under FBI investigation, and current adviser Walid Phares, 聽are both advisers to ACT鈥檚 board.

While Gabriel claims she鈥檚 anti-sharia, not anti-Muslim, many speakers at Saturday鈥檚 rallies blasted Islam as the number one enemy facing the United States.

In the run-up to Saturday, Rhodes urged his Oath Keepers to make ACT鈥檚 anti-Muslim rallies a top priority. 鈥淚 also call on all Oath Keepers 鈥� to reach out to other local patriotic groups and invite them to participate as well.,鈥� Rhodes said. He answered the 鈥渃all to action鈥� himself, showing up at a rally in Dallas.

But there in Texas and in most other cities there was little or no violence and, mostly, ACT demonstrators were greatly outnumbered by opposing demonstrators including antifa activists. There were a handful of arrests in Seattle, St. Paul and San Bernadino.聽

On the fringes at some locales, capitalizing on the anti-Muslim fear-mongering, there were white nationalist and supremacists, including neo-Nazi Billy Roper. He held court at his own anti-Sharia rally in Batesville, Arkansas, after getting disinvited from being a host at an ACT-sponsored rally, thanks to an investigative report last week by this news blog.

Undeterred by being booted by ACT honchos, and piggy-backing on the anti-Islam theme, Roper posed at his rally on Saturday, holding a sign that said, 鈥淒iversity=White Genocide,鈥� 聽implying聽 that racial separation, not Islam, is his message.

Racists also crept into ACT rallies elsewhere.

In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a group called Vanguard America said it wants all Muslims removed from the United States, according to media reports.

Meanwhile, in Roseville, California, white nationalist Nathan Damigo, the founder of Identity Evropa, used the anti-Sharia rally there to garner attention for his racist organization. A reported dozen members of the same organization, which seeks a whites-only state,聽 showed up at a rally New York City

The white supremacists, it appears, weren鈥檛 going to be excluded from the anti-Islam demonstrations or let the gun-toting Oath Keepers capture all the chest-pounding bravado.聽

With the less-than-subtle suggestion that local police couldn鈥檛 possibly keep the peace without 鈥渧olunteer security鈥� from Oath Keepers, Rhodes鈥� organization called upon support from its allies, Bikers for Trump, Two Million Bikers, American Civil Defense, various Three Percenter organizations, The Proud Boys, and other Patriots who volunteered at the anti-Sharia rallies.

聽鈥淓xpect to work with them as a 鈥榗ombined arms鈥� effort, just as we have successfully done numerous times now at free speech rallies and marches across the nation, such as in Berkeley, California, Boston, Massachusetts, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Portland, Oregon,鈥� Rhodes said.

Rhodes said his Oath Keepers 鈥� mostly with law enforcement and military backgrounds 鈥� were there to protect ACT rally speakers 鈥渨ho feared for their safety because they had taken a hard stance against Sharia law and specifically against female genital mutilation, honor killings, persecution of homosexuals, and so forth.鈥�

Of course, the ACT-sponsored rallies gave Oath Keepers another chance to wave its banner on the national stage, recruit new members and 鈥� perhaps most importantly 鈥� solicit funds from guilty-feeling sympathesizers would couldn鈥檛 show up at any of the rallies.

鈥淩emember, nearly anyone can help in some way, regardless of your age or physical limitations,鈥� Rhodes said on the organization鈥檚 web site, pleading,聽 鈥�If you cannot make it to help us with security, please donate to help us cover the costs of this nationwide operation.鈥�

It clearly seemed like a renewed image-making campaign for Oath Keepers.

Rhodes urged his Oath Keepers to leave their camo-clothing at home and to not wear all-black gear, 鈥渨hich is what Antifa tends to wear.鈥� He also told his followers to 鈥渘ot wear masks 鈥� [or] brown shirts to help avoid giving the leftist media an easy way to attack us all as somehow being fascists just because of the color of our clothing.鈥澛�

Adding a bit of drama, he told he followers to 鈥渨ear body armor鈥� and even be ready for suicide bombers, radical jihadists and active shooters using vehicles as weapons.

None of those events occurred, but Rhodes undoubtedly will claim that鈥檚 only because of the unmatched protection provided by his Oath Keepers.

, a doctoral candidate studying the Patriot and militia movements at Syracuse University, watched the anti-Sharia demonstrators and counter-demonstrators scream at each other, but generally avoid contact, at Saturday鈥檚 rally in that New York city.

鈥淭his seems to be another way for the Patriot-militia movement to depict the nation as under some sort of existential threat that requires a paramilitary force,鈥� he said of the role that Oath Keepers attempted to fulfill.聽

Oath Keepers, he said, 鈥渄escribe a situation where the government is not up to the task of defending the nation from radical leftists or jihadist terrorists, and that, somehow, armed citizens can improve security.鈥�

聽鈥淲hile Oath Keepers call for 鈥榪uiet professionals who are level headed, calm under pressure, and competent,鈥� video footage reveals that some of their members act in ways that encourage violence rather than preventing it,鈥� Jackson said.

鈥淚t is provocative, to say the least, to have civilians dressed up in tactical gear with long rifles who claim to be defending free speech.鈥�