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These militias have seized on the words and policies of lawmakers, some of whom welcome their assistance, to further their cause. This campaign season will likely offer more of these opportunities for an entrenched network of far-right extremists.

鈥淲e see it the same as we saw the protesters in the wash at the Bundy Ranch,鈥� Eric Parker, leader of The Real Three Percenters Idaho, .聽Parker, an Idaho resident best known for aiming a rifle at federal agents during the 2014 Bunkerville standoff, was referring to 11 Republican state senators from Oregon who, on June 20, staged a walkout to avoid a quorum that would allow that state鈥檚 majority Democrat senate to pass a landmark environmental bill.

What should have been an unspectacular event escalated with just six words from one Republican senator.

鈥淪end bachelors and come heavily armed,鈥� Sen. Brian Boquist threatened upon hearing of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown hinting at dispatching state police to round up and return him along with the other missing legislators. 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon.鈥�

Boquist鈥檚 remarks imply that state police officers would be met with lethal violence and warn that only officers without spouses should be dispatched.

Militia members quickly mobilized on social media to offer support for the absentee public officials and circulated memes glorifying violence and war on Facebook. Paul Luhrs, a leader in the Oregon Three Percent, told the Daily Beast his group would do 聽to protect the senators.

Oregon鈥檚 Senate President Peter Courtney canceled the senate鈥檚 June 22 session after state police reported a 鈥溾�� at a planned rally at the Capitol that day, according to Senate Democratic caucus correspondence obtained by the Oregon Capital Bureau.

What took place in Oregon last month offers an example of the militia movement rallying behind the Republican Party and the MAGA platform it represents. What鈥檚 more, it offers a warning of the real-world effects on civil society聽when public servants echo extremist ideas.

The antigovernment extremist movement is three years into a process of radical change, where for the first time in the movement鈥檚 roughly 30-year history it sees an . And with the fear of the movement鈥檚 primary foe lessened, the militias have redirected their vitriol toward America鈥檚 political left and most vulnerable communities nationwide.

Stewart Rhodes, founder and president of Oath Keepers, which has claimed to have roughly 30,000 dues-paying members, embodies this evolving militia movement.

Rhodes, who once 聽of Sen. John McCain and boasted of his organization鈥檚 ability to wage battle with law enforcement officers, has for years been trying to appeal to Trump.

In 2016, as then-candidate Trump claimed voter fraud and a rigged election, Rhodes issued a call to action for Oath Keepers to form undercover intelligence teams and patrol voting stations聽to 鈥渓ook for and document suspected criminal vote fraud or intimidation activities.鈥� Rhodes then put out another order for Oath Keepers to provide security at Trump鈥檚 inauguration, and even extended that security to the 鈥淒eploraball,鈥� an inauguration party in Washington, D.C., organized by right-wing provocateurs.

After attending a number of far-right rallies under the guise of free speech, Rhodes announced in 2018 the creation of Oath Keepers鈥� Spartan Training Groups聽鈥� seemingly a rebrand of the Oath Keepers鈥� years-old Community Preparedness Teams聽but with the explicit purpose of combating 鈥渁ntifa and the far left.鈥�

Most recently, Rhodes has been imploring President Trump to send combat troops to the Southern border to serve as a bulwark against what he calls an invasion of migrants, which Rhodes sees as part of a leftist plot to聽change the voting demographics permanently in聽favor of the Democratic Party. For his part, Rhodes is offering Oath Keepers as a pool of militiamen-in-waiting that Trump could call for help.

Rhodes and his Oath Keepers鈥� support of Trump is no outlier in the militia movement.

Chris Hill, founder and leader of the Georgia-based antigovernment militia Three Percent Security Force, in the runup to the 2018 midterm elections that his group would protect President Trump with 鈥渦se of force鈥� if Democrats took control of the House and Senate and pursued impeachment.

鈥淚 [have] zero confidence in the government,鈥� Hill told a reporter from Denmark鈥檚 TV2. 鈥淚 love Donald Trump, but the government is corrupt. I pray for a revolution tomorrow morning.鈥�

Hill, a Georgia resident, also 聽Stacey Abrams in a video posted to Facebook. The Three Percent Security Force is one of the most well-known Three Percenter militias in the country and has twice been tied to instances of political violence聽targeting Muslims, immigrants and people of color.

鈥淲e want President Trump to kick the shit out of deep state / police state,鈥� Hill 聽as reported by the Daily Beast. 鈥淎nd Stacy [sic] Abrams for Governor in Ga, you flag burning, gun grabbing, socialist b----..we will defend our state from you, f--- 测辞耻.鈥�

Most recently, Hill has been attempting to organize nationwide, far-right rallies聽to support voting ID laws, making English the national language, ending regulatory agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and building Trump鈥檚 wall on the Southern border.

June鈥檚 Oregon senate walkout was far from the first time the state has seen the militia movement cozy up to the GOP.

In 2017, as anti-Trump protests swept through Portland and antifascist activists clashed with far-right extremists from Patriot Prayer and the hate group the聽Proud Boys, the Multnomah County Republican Party 聽Oath Keepers and Three Percenter groups for use as private security.

The move was spearheaded by Multnomah County GOP chairman James Buchal, who recently 聽Patriot Prayer鈥檚 leader, Joey Gibson, in a $1 million civil lawsuit.

As the events in Oregon show, the militia movement has, in the Trump era, shown remarkable flexibility and a desire to normalize their extremist worldview in the very center of power. And while no one knows exactly what Trump will say on his campaign trail, we do know that there鈥檚 a legion of militias across the country waiting to seize on his every word.

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