Leaving the Extreme Right, and a Marriage, Behind

Death, Sex & Money

Slate Audio

Careers, Sexuality, Business, Health & Fitness, Relationships, Society & Culture

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Anna and Micah Loewinger, correspondent for On the Media, travel to Montana to talk to Tasha Adams about her decades-long marriage with Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right Oath Keepers. Plus, Tasha sits down with Kelly Jones, ex-wife of far-right radio host Alex Jones, and they compare notes on their marriages, and reflect on their secret text exchanges from 2018, when Tasha was plotting her escape from Stewart with her six kids. Subscribe to On the Media to hear Micah's episode about testifying in the Stewart Rhodes criminal trial. That's out later this month. And for more Tasha, check out the podcast This is Uncomfortable from Marketplace. They did a series with Tasha, and her oldest child Dakota, that dropped last fall. Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter, and follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Anna.
0:02.0	We co-reported this week's episode with my colleague at On The Media, Micah Lowinger.
0:07.3	Hey, Micah.
0:08.3	Hey, Anna.
0:09.3	Micah is a star reporter here at WNYC.
0:12.8	And through the last few years, I have followed his accolades in the company chat about
0:17.2	as many scoops, many of which have focused on the digital platforms that right wing extremist
0:22.0	groups have used to communicate, including in the run-up and during January 6th.
0:27.4	He figured out ways to listen in and report on conversations that not many other journalists
0:32.4	were paying attention to.
0:34.4	And then at the WNYC holiday party, last December, Micah told me about another conversation
0:40.2	that he found interesting.
0:41.7	Do you remember what you told me, Micah?
0:43.1	Yeah, I think I was telling you about a source of mine, Tasha Adams.
0:48.2	She's the estranged wife of Stuart Rhodes, who's the leader and founder of the Oathkeepers,
0:53.6	one of the groups that broke into the capital on January 6th.
0:57.5	She had told me an intense story about what it took to leave their marriage.
1:02.1	And in fact, when she was planning her escape from Stuart Rhodes, the only person she told
1:08.1	was Kelly Jones, who used to be married to Alex Jones.
1:12.0	That Alex Jones?
1:13.0	Yes, that Alex Jones.
1:15.0	The two of them had messaged online, but they'd never spoken.
	...

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