conspiracy theorists like finchem. who have ties, or even are official members of extremist groups like the oath keepers. and the oath keepers have been very successful since they were founded in 2009. in recruiting law enforcement, military and state legislators. so this has been a very troubling, sort of a troubling pattern, that i think the relationship between politics and extremism seems to have gotten stronger since january 6th, not weaker. yeah. we are seeing that in places like wyoming, where liz cheney is one of the people trying to replace her, is supposedly an oath keeper member as well. elaine, i want to play you a clip of trump endorsed arizona governor candidate, kerry lake, from that rally, have a listen. come to think of it, there are a few other people i d like to send down to the prison right here in florence. anybody who was involved in that corrupt, shady, shoddy election of 2020. lock them up. you have candidates for office who are oath keepers.
it just felt very sinister. tess, you ve been reporting on the oath keepers organization, which is a very sinister organization. how big and widespread is this group? how surprising is it to see a trump-endorsed oath keeper candidate for elected office? thanks for having me, medhi. in terms of membership numbers that s something that s a bit difficult to say because i always take membership numbers quoted by the leaders as inflated because they tend to inflate them. this is a rally behind trump s election lies and many people rallying between trump s election lies are conspiracy theorists like finchem who are members of extremist groups like the oath keepers. the oath keepers have been very successful since they were foundinged in 2009 in recruiting law enforcement, military and