Political Prisoner in the USA
A View from the Bunker
Derek Gilbert
4.8 • 528 Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2026
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Imagine volunteering at an event approved by the government, and a year later you're arrested, charged with sedition, convicted, and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
That's what happened to Stewart Rhodes (OathKeepers.info), the founder of Oath Keepers. His sentence was commuted after three years by President Trump last January, but the conviction remains on his record. This means that as a disabled veteran, he is denied the disability benefits he should be receiving comma, nor will he be allowed to be buried in a veterans cemetery when he is called home.
In addition, he is not allowed to vote in his home state of Texas, a better pill to swallow for a man who describes himself as a Ron Paul constitutionalist.
Stewart describes the treatment he received at the hands of the Department of justice for his presence at government approved demonstrations in Washington DC on January 6, 2021. And, as you probably know, Stewart was not the only one tracked down, arrested, charged, and imprisoned for the audacity of protesting against the deep state.
He tells us how he survived more than a year in solitary confinement, how he plans to rebuild Oath Keepers, and his mission to train other veterans to organize and strengthen their local communities.
Stewart is one of the featured speakers at the stay awake America event in Port St. Lucie, Florida this coming Friday and Saturday, March 20 and 21st, 2026. Information and registration for the event is available at stayawakeamerica.com.
Follow Stewart Rhodes:
- X: @realoathkeepers
- Online: OathKeepers.info
You can support Oath Keepers givesendgo.com/oath.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The discussion you are about to see is not a fanciful tale of conspiracies. |
| 0:09.0 | Cover-ups. |
| 0:11.0 | Or secret societies, it is a work of fact based on the accounts of the men and women who did the research, |
| 0:20.0 | or experienced it, and live to share their stories. |
| 0:25.6 | This is a view from the bunker. |
| 0:34.6 | Imagine you're volunteering at an event that's been given permission by the government |
| 0:40.0 | and for the thought crime of daring to ask questions about your government. |
| 0:45.8 | You wind up sentenced to prison for 18 years. |
| 0:48.8 | Welcome to a view from the bunker. |
| 0:50.8 | I'm Derek Gilbert, our guest. |
| 0:53.0 | That is his life story. Had his life ripped |
| 0:55.5 | from him. He served three years, and we will talk more about that. His background is diverse. |
| 1:03.2 | U.S. Army paratrooper, a disabled veteran, served as a volunteer firefighter in Montana. |
| 1:08.4 | Also a graduate of Yale law in 2004, a Yale Law Research Scholar also |
| 1:13.7 | assisted teaching U.S. military history for the Yale History Department, so he is a thinker |
| 1:18.5 | as well as a doer, worked on the Washington, D.C. staff of Congressman Ron Paul in 9899, |
| 1:24.5 | clerked for the Arizona Supreme Court, 2004, 2005, and then in 2009, founded |
| 1:30.3 | Oathkeepers, which is what got him into trouble. He is now rebuilding oathkeepers. |
| 1:37.1 | The new website is Oathkeepers. Info, Oathkeepers. Info, and if you want to help with the mission |
| 1:42.5 | of rebuilding that organization, please go to give-sendgo.com slash oath. That's give-sendgo.com slash oath. And there'll be a link to that in the show notes wherever you're watching or listening. He was, in effect, a political prisoner for the events of January 6th, 2021. |
| 2:01.9 | I would let him tell that story. |
| 2:03.7 | Again, sentenced to 18 years served three, including a year in solitary confinement. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Derek Gilbert, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Derek Gilbert and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.