Oath Keepers Founder Secretly Backed Lawsuit for Government Based on 'Lord Of The Rings'

[Nevilledog]

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Roger Sollenberger found true love, suckers
@SollenbergerRC
SCOOP: Oath Keepers militia members, including founder Stewart Rhodes, continued efforts to overthrow the Biden administration after Jan. 6. They joined a lawsuit that sought to install a government based on The Lord of The Rings. Me @thedailybeast

thedailybeast.com
Oath Keepers Founder Secretly Backed Lawsuit for Government Based on ‘Lord Of The Rings’
Lawyers for the founder of the Oath Keepers are arguing their client stopped trying to overturn the election after Jan. 6. That’s not exactly true.
7:20 AM · Feb 18, 2022

https://www.thedailybeast.com/oath-keepers-founder-stewart-rhodes-secretly-backed-lawsuit-for-government-based-on-lord-of-the-rings

No paywall
https://archive.fo/TMEOW

After the violent Capitol insurrection failed on Jan. 6, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes had another idea for overturning the election—a truly epic one.

While Rhodes’ lawyers have claimed the leader of the far-right militia group did “precisely nothing” after his insurrection dreams were dashed, new details obtained by The Daily Beast reveal that isn’t quite accurate.

According to a source with inside knowledge of the case, just days after Jan. 6, Rhodes and multiple militia members joined a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election.
Unfortunately for Rhodes and his compatriots, the lawsuit he signed on to was, in a word, “insane.” It went off the rails almost as soon as it hit the courts, with the lead attorney citing The Lord of the Rings as legal precedent.

Eventually, the case dissolved amid a sea of ridicule. But it didn’t start out that way.

The full scope of the Oath Keeper’s shadow legal effort, largely spearheaded by the group’s then-general counsel Kellye SoRelle, stretched back well before the riot, according to multiple people involved. In fact, it ran on a parallel track alongside the paramilitary-style buildup that has defined the militia’s role, and it roped in a number of key Jan. 6 figures along the way—including people tied to the Proud Boys and First Amendment Praetorians.

*snip*

[underpants]

1. Oh god Jerome Corsi.

The legal framework stemmed from a pre-riot plan devised by right-wing radio host Jerome Corsi—a former confidant of Roger Stone, who received an Oath Keeper protective detail on Jan. 5 and 6.

Corsi’s proposal hinged on “overwhelming” evidence and a warped understanding of the Help America Vote Act, leading him to declare all of Congress illegitimate and demand an election “redo.”

It somehow got weirder. In its most absurd iteration—with Davis, not SoRelle, at the helm—the lawsuit asked a federal judge to put the government into a receivership styled after the mythical kingdom of Gondor from The Lord of The Rings.
“During the course of the epic trilogy, the rightful King of Gondor had abandoned the throne,” the lawsuit explained. “Since only the rightful king could sit on the throne of Gondor, a steward was appointed to manage Gondor until the return of the King, known as ‘Aragorn,’ occurred at the end of the story.”

[Fritz Walter]

2. Maybe he was thinking of this scene?

In which case there's an unmistakable similarity between Denethor and the world's SOREST LOSER (i.e. TFG).

Now, I'm going to have to watch the whole trilogy again!

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. More like Benelux from 'Bored of the Rings'

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=D8OPDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT139

Senile, disappointed in both his sons, and even called a "dotard"!

[Piasladic]

11. That book ticked me off when I was a kid.

The back blurb had a really sultry scene with Dildo and a hot elf. I read the whole dang book, and there was no hobbit-on-elf action!

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. It's in "Covers Always Lie" on "TV Tropes"

As are 2 of my other favourite humour books!

The first edition of Bored of the Rings included a rather erotic "excerpt" from the book as part of the front material. Naturally, nothing even remotely resembling the excerpt can be found in the actual text.

Alan Coren packaged a collection of humorous short stories and essays into a book titled Golfing for Cats, with a huge Nazi swastika on the cover. The reasoning, as stated in the foreword, is that people are interested in golf, cats, and the Third Reich, so putting them all together would be superb marketing.

The titular Meaning of Liff is "A book, the contents of which are totally belied by its cover. For instance, any book the dust jacket of which bears the words, 'This book will change your life'." Needless to say, most editions come with a "This book will change your life" sticker on the cover.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CoversAlwaysLie

[cos dem]

3. These people are insane

There is probably a model for their ideas of government contained in LOTR. But, it would live in Mordor, not Gondor.

[world wide wally]

4. Comparing Trump to Aragorn makes me want to puke

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. They didn't even get the LotR plot right

The king of Gondor didn't leave "during the course of the epic trilogy", he left 1000 years before. The Steward appointed to rule in his absence became a hereditary position. There was no-one claiming the throne - apart from, effectively, the Stewards, and this insane lawsuit wanted to create "Stewards". It was a request for the Judicial Branch to perform a coup, since Trump's had failed. Offensively, it tried to attach the name "Usurpers" to Congress and the President.

[0rganism]

7. because "stewardship" worked out so well for Gondor

even discounting the sheer stupidity of asking for this from the courts, the analogy is all kinds of stupid on its own

[Solly Mack]

8. The Uruk-hai did what?

Snort.

[dmr]

9. Those people are nuts!

I don't know anything about the Lord of the Rings, but after reading this thread the only conclusion I have is those people are nuts! Insane, even.

[hatrack]

10. Good thing they didn't invoke the Sixth-Level Elf Bag Of Holding Doctrine!

Or the now-legendary precedent of "Care Bears LLC vs. Dr. Coldheart".

[crickets]

13. coo coo ka choo

There's always another "wait, what? seriously?" moment with this crowd, isn't there?