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It’s a consistent belief among the American right wing that democracy is only permissible if it does what they want. That pattern runs from the militia movement of the 1990s, to birtherism and the Tea Party during Barack Obama’s tenure, to the January 6 insurrection, to QAnon and COVID denialism under Biden. These movements mutate and change form, changing the face they show to the public, but the core underlying belief is always the same. They don’t accept that elections can ever go against them, and they deny the authority and legitimacy of any government that doesn’t obey their wishes.
With that said, I’m long overdue for an update on the Bundys.
The Bundys: episode 1
If you need a refresher: The Bundys, especially family patriarch Cliven and his sons Ammon and Ryan, are a clan of right-wing Mormon extremists living across the western states. They’ve been grazing their cattle on public land for years, illegally, without getting a permit or paying fees for the privilege. In their own homebrew sovereign-citizen ideology, they assert that the federal government has no power to own or manage land.
The courts repeatedly rejected that argument. But when the law wasn’t on their side, they resorted to force. In 2014, when federal law enforcement officers tried to impound their cattle, the Bundys and a mob of gun-wielding supporters forced them to back down.
In 2016, Ammon Bundy and some of his followers took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. What this amounted to, in practice, was squatting in unoccupied buildings in the dead of winter. It was hardly a bold blow against oppression. But they dreamed of being the spark that ignited a broader anti-government uprising.
They failed, of course. Rather than a blaze of glory, the occupation ended with a whimper of defeat. One member of the militia was shot and killed at a traffic stop, and the rest, including Ammon Bundy, were peacefully taken into custody.
That was where I left off last time, with Ammon Bundy facing trial on numerous charges. It seemed that justice would finally be done.
Alas, the justice system let us down. In a case of jury nullification, Bundy was acquitted of charges stemming from the Malheur occupation.
Even more disappointingly, the government also tried him and his father Cliven for the 2014 standoff, but they fumbled the ball. A judge ruled that the prosecution had withheld evidence and ordered the charges dismissed.
After all the chaos he had caused, Ammon Bundy was a free man. His slate had been wiped clean. A rational person would’ve taken this second chance and tried extra-hard to stay on the right side of the law from then on.
Needless to say, Ammon Bundy wasn’t such a person. Rather than realize just how lucky he’d been, he seemed to believe that his double acquittal made him invincible.
Ammon Bundy: episode 2
The newest episode began in 2022. An Idaho couple, Marissa and Levi Anderson, turned up at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise with a severely malnourished infant son. The hospital stabilized him, but when the Andersons skipped multiple follow-up appointments, the hospital called the police to make sure the baby was being properly cared for.
The Andersons were stopped by police and their son was taken into custody for a checkup. However, the couple had ties to Ammon Bundy’s militia network. They sent a message to Bundy begging for help, and he sicced a mob of his followers on the hospital:
Within an hour, a small crowd was blocking the ambulance bay, forcing the hospital to divert patients elsewhere. Protesters shouted that the hospital staff were kidnappers and child molesters. Some followed nurses to their cars as they left the building. Bundy himself was arrested for trespassing on hospital property, and Rachel Thomas, the lead doctor in the ER that night, feared that the crowd would break down the doors and try to take the baby.
In the early hours of the next morning, after getting out of jail, Bundy posted a video urging more of his followers to join the protest. “It’s just sickening, sickening, sickening,” he said. “These people believe they have the authority to take our little babies. They are wicked.”
“Ammon Bundy’s Last Stand.” Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 30 November 2023.
Taking a page from QAnon mythology, Ammon Bundy ranted that the hospital staff were child abusers and traffickers. He spread malignant and vicious lies, accusing them of snatching healthy babies from Christian families for no reason.
The baby made a recovery and was returned to his parents. But St. Luke’s doctors and nurses suffered lasting repercussions. Bundy’s followers doxxed them on social media and bombarded them with death threats. They were looking over their shoulders for months, fearful that some deranged person might try to exact vengeance. Some of them made plans to leave the country.
On behalf of its harassed and frightened workers, St. Luke’s Hospital sued Ammon Bundy for defamation. Bundy refused to appear in court or participate in the trial. Perhaps he thought he was invincible. Or, perhaps, he believed his self-declared willingness to unleash violence would make the legal system afraid to touch him:
“I feel like I’m not supposed to yield,” he told me at one point. If he were killed, he said, his friends and followers would avenge him: “They’ll go take the life of the judge and the sheriff and St. Luke’s CEO and the head attorney and all the most culpable people.”
…In addition to the protest at St. Luke’s and other instances of potentially dangerous intimidation, one member got into a shootout with police after a traffic stop in 2020. And its leaders have stated plainly that bloodshed is not only justified but necessary for resisting tyranny. “There is no silver bullet to securing liberty,” Bundy himself wrote on the People’s Rights website. “It is going to take unity, suffering and the willingness to use violence in defense.”
“Ammon Bundy’s Last Stand.” Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 30 November 2023.
He went so far as to send veiled threats to the judge herself:
In a July 9th open letter posted online, Bundy directly addressed [Judge Nancy] Baskin, alluding to potential violence should she rule in favor of St. Luke’s.
“Please do not sanction a war that may end in innocent blood and require others to bring justice upon those who are responsible for shedding it,” he wrote.
“Threats to judges remain a concern in Idaho.” Ruth Brown, Idaho Reports, 21 July 2023.
But, this time, Bundy’s terror campaign didn’t work. The court didn’t back down in the face of his threats. A jury found him liable and returned a $50 million verdict against him.
When Bundy refused to obey a court order to take down the defamatory statements, he was hit with a contempt charge. Police arrested him, and unlike in the past, he notably failed to get any support:
The officers marched into the hall just as people were finishing dinner. Bundy did not resist. He just put on his cowboy hat and placed his hands behind his back. Some people shouted and booed as the officers led him outside. Some sat quietly and looked away. “Nobody knows what they’re going to do to him!” his wife yelled. “They will abuse him!” Her voice broke. “This is our son! We’re here to support our boy! Come on! Come on, you guys, rally together! Help us!” She was sobbing now. Nobody moved.
“Ammon Bundy’s Last Stand.” Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 30 November 2023.
Bundy bailed himself out of jail. In a last-ditch attempt to escape the law, he tried to “sell” all his property to a friend so it wouldn’t be seized to pay the verdict. He didn’t get away with that, either. The court was unamused and reversed the sham transfer.
With both civil and criminal consequences about to come crashing down on him, Ammon Bundy’s threats and chest-thumping proved to be empty bluster. He’d said all along that God wanted him to fight the government and promised him victory, but when that was revealed as self-delusion, he couldn’t bear it. When friends came to visit, they discovered that he was gone:
One morning a few weeks ago, Scott Malone arrived at the Bundy property to find it deserted. He’d come to pick up some pots and stoves he’d lent to Ammon for the apple harvest, and he found those in the driveway. Otherwise there was nothing. The trucks were gone. The house was cleaned out. The workshop was stripped.
He’s now a fugitive from justice, with a warrant out for his arrest. There’s no telling how long he’ll hide out, or how hard law enforcement will search to find him. Either way, he’ll no longer be a leader of the anti-government movement. His rebellion fizzled, and he’s turned tail and fled from the fight he once proclaimed to be a divine mission.
READ: Ammon Bundy knows why Republican politicians lie: It works like a charm
Not by coincidence, Bundy’s behavior is very reminiscent of Donald Trump’s courtroom tactics in his multiple indictments. Both of them read from the same playbook: insult and sneer at the court and the law; make every frivolous objection they can think of; launch personal attacks on the people overseeing the trials; issue barely-veiled threats in an unsubtle hope of getting others to commit acts of violence on their behalf. It’s a plan not to win on the merits, but to create as much chaos as possible, hoping that prosecutors and judges will consider it too much trouble to try bringing them to justice.
When those tactics didn’t pan out for Ammon Bundy, he went on the run. It’s a lesson and a warning about what Trump might do if he’s found guilty.
Both of them believe they’re above the rules and that they can do as they please. Both of them, like the January 6 insurrectionists, are happy to break the law as long as they believe they’ll get away with it. But like all bullies and cowards, when that belief is proven wrong, they run and hide from consequences.