Democrat Dakota Adams is mounting an uphill battle for a seat in the Montana Legislature in a deep red corner of the state. But even if his campaign fails, he expects a lifelong future in politics—drawing a stark divergence from his father, who founded the far-right Oath Keepers and is serving an 18-year sentence for conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Adams revealed his abusive upbringing at the hands of Stewart Rhodes, and the new path that he seeks to chart.
He said living with Rhodes was a constant process of moving around and starting over, as the Yale-educated militant convinced his family the government was spying on them and the end of days was imminent.
“We lived in extreme isolation in one particular cultural bubble in increasingly paranoid and militant right-wing political spheres everywhere we moved in the country, until eventually we ended up in Montana,” Adams said.
Also recognizing that you don’t know everything or don’t know enough is the path to learning, I’d rather that than someone who thinks they’ve got it all figured out because they went to Princeton.