Over the years, this fake quote was passed around, but where it picked up the most traction was being a big piece of rhetoric put out by the militia of Montana. To quote D.J. Malloy's book, American Extremism, History, Politics, and the Militia Movement, quote, Not only does the militia of Montana's employment of these founding fathers typify the militia's arguments in respect to the Second Amendment and the importance of militias in resisting tyranny, it also provides another telling illustration of the extent to which the militias seek to identify themselves with the dominant tradition of American history. The militia of Montana's desire to receive the approbation of these founders seemingly overwhelms the demands of historical accuracy. Madison's words from the Federalist 46 are compressed and misquoted slightly, and those attributed to Washington and Jefferson are simply invented. Malloy goes on to make a really good point. There are a lot of quotes that militia folks use from this time period that are real, from people like Richard Henry Lee or George Mason or Patrick Henry. But what do all those dudes have in common that people like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, who the militia folk constantly make up quotes for, don't? Do you know what the difference is? Um, Washington and Jefferson knew how to read? No. Oh. The people who the militia community quote accurately are pretty much all anti-federalists. Or to put simply, they were the people back in the late 1700s who were opposed to the ratification of the Constitution. The anti-federalists are really who the militia people are most in line with, but they're largely not seen as the founders of the country by most people who have a basic view of the roots of America. People like James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, those are the people that people associate with the founding of the country, and they were all federalists. So, in order to associate themselves with the rightful lineage of the country's founding, these patriot militia folk make up quotes that mirror their beliefs and attribute them to Federalists.

You realize that I myself was one of the primary people in creating what was the militia of the patriot movement. And certainly not taking all the credit because there was a lot of people involved.

So, Fletcher was an early member and leader within the Militia of Montana, one of the first militia groups to form in the aftermath of the Waco standoff in 1993.

Previous to their formation, in response to the Ruby Ridge standoff, John Trochman, the actual guy who started the Militia of Montana, attended a meeting at a YMCA in Estes Park, Colorado, that would go on to be known as the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous, a conference where the modern militia movement was born.

Larry Pratt, head of gun owners for America. Someone who Alex had on his show as a guest twice in the week after Sandy Hook. Pratt is said to have been the strongest proponent of the strategy moving forward being the formation of, quote, unorganized militias, which followed Beam's leaderless resistance ideology, thus making them almost impossible to infiltrate.

The short answer is that Timothy McVeigh happened. Timothy McVeigh happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. McVeigh's actions completely derailed the militia community, in no small part because he was an embodiment of exactly what they had preached needed to happen. But as soon as he actually existed, all the militia heads started making excuses and blaming everyone else. The head of the Michigan militia tried to concoct a conspiracy blaming the Japanese as retaliation for... Pearl Harbor? No. Oh, no. Another terrorist attack. The gassing of the subway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We talked about what that cult did. That conspiracy theory was deemed so ridiculous that he was forced out of his own group. He was kicked out of the Michigan militia because he was perpetuating those dumb ideas. You've got to be real dumb to be kicked out of a dumb organization like that. Somewhat, but it also is indicative of the level of identity crisis that Timothy McVeigh had introduced into the... The real face of what right-wing extremism was about had been revealed, although the attendees of Rocky Mountain Rendezvous tried so hard to conceal it.

So here from the second paragraph, quote, academics contend that female and minority empowerment in the 1970s and 1960s caused a blow to white males'sense of empowerment. This combined with a sense of defeat from the Vietnam War, increased levels of immigration and unemployment spawned a paramilitary culture.