After Trump’s Pardons, Are Far-Right Militias Gearing-Up to Influence the 2026 Midterm Elections?
On September 29, 2020, during the first 2020 presidential debate with the Democratic Party’s candidate Joe Biden, moderator Chris Wallace asked then-President Trump if he would condemn white supremacist and militia groups and tell them to “stand down” amid ongoing violent protests. Trump responded by asking which group to name, and when Joe Biden said the Proud Boys (a far-right paramilitary group), Trump replied: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” a remark widely interpreted as a refusal to disavow—and a possible signal of approval.
In addition to Trump having the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border patrol agents as his enforcers within the federal government, “he surely hasn’t forgotten that he has paramilitary forces outside of the government available to him if he decides he needs them,” Zeteo’s Thor Benson recently reported.
“With ICE rapidly expanding its ranks, offering large signing bonuses and recruiting widely, the vetting process could be stretched beyond its capacity, making it harder to screen out individuals with extremist connections,” Brewminate’s Matthew A. McIntosh recently noted. Thereby opening ICE up to recruits from right-wing militia organizations.
After Trump pardoned hundreds of people convicted in the January 6 Capitol attack, including top leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, there have been months of relative silence. Now, there are new rumblings on the far right.
While Trump’s NSPM-7, a 2025 national security memorandum titled “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” directs federal agencies to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle politically violent groups — including domestic extremist groups — many observers believe the policy focuses more on left-wing activists than on right-wing militias.
Zeteo’s Benson noted that “Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes – who was convicted of seditious conspiracy before Trump commuted his sentence – recently announced that he’s ‘rebuilding’ the white nationalist militia group, in what could be a sign of things to come.”
“They tried to take us out after January 6 but what man means for evil, God will use for good,” Rhodes told the Gateway Pundit podcast. “I came out stronger after it, and so my goal is to rebuild the organization stronger than ever because it’s an essential mission. Absolutely.”
In the interview, Rhodes said he wanted to let Trump know that “we’re ready to serve, encourage him to do that, call us up as a militia,” and “order us all to come together in our counties under his command.”
As The New Republic’s Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling reported, “This new chapter of the Oath Keepers will maintain the original organization’s mission—to ‘protect people against radical antifa and other leftist violence in the streets,’ according to Rhodes—but will be built to outlast its creator.”
Rhodes added that he wants “to make sure its got resilience and redundancy built in that it can drive on strong. I mean, I have to make sure that if I’m ever taken out again or when I’m taken out again, that the organization can drive on without me. That’s not what happened last time.”
Trump’s pardons and commutations certainly sent a strong signal to paramilitary groups that political violence would not necessarily be punished, and might even be rewarded. Clearly some extremist groups, like Stewart Rhodes’ Oath Keepers, are getting ready to get back into the fray, as pardoned leaders regain influence, up their recruiting efforts, and become more active publicly.
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