'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Elmer Stewart Rhodes's 27-year-old son, Dakota Adams, has decided to run for legislature in the state of Montana as a Democrat. This marks a significant departure from the motivations and beliefs of his infamous father, who is the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers.
Stewart Rhodes was married to Tasha Adams in 1994, and the couple had six children before Adams filed for divorce in 2018. Currently, Rhodes is serving an 18-year seditious conspiracy prison sentence for his role in the January 6, 2021, United States Capitol insurrection. Tasha was thrilled when Rhodes' sentence was announced.
"I am thrilled that he's finally facing justice": Tasha Adams reacts to Stewart Rhodes' sentencing
In 2009, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, an award-winning Yale Law School graduate, founded the far-right anti-government militia known as the Oath Keepers. However, in November 2022, Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges relating to his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
Last year, in May, Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years of prison time along with three years of supervised release. In an interview with Insider at the time, Stewart Rhodes's estranged wife, Tasha Adams, openly expressed her satisfaction with the sentencing. She stated:
"I am thrilled that he's finally facing justice."
Tasha Adams and Stewart Rhodes met in Vegas in 1991, when Stewart, a 25-year-old college student, took classes at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio, where 18-year-old Tasha worked as an instructor. Their connection led to their marriage in 1994.
In an interview with On The Media, Tasha revealed that Stewart Rhodes even convinced her to start stripping to pay for his college education. She successfully funded Stewart's education, and he landed a Yale degree but simply could not keep any jobs.
Tasha Adams was initially involved in the creation of the Oath Keepers but later decided to distance herself from the group. She and Stewart Rhodes had six children together. She recalled feeling isolated and trapped in a remote area of Montana along with her children. Regarding Stewart's behavior, she revealed:
"He would never outright punch you, but he would do other things to hurt you. Most commonly he would want to do martial arts with you, and then you would just get beat up [beep] really with sticks or whatever and just, "Oh, sorry about that."
She continued:
"How often and how hard you got hurt correlated directly to how upset he was with you over something. I was physically afraid of him. I was afraid he was going to kill us all."
Tasha Adams filed for divorce in 2018, and after a long legal process, she was finally granted the same only a few days before Stewart Rhodes' sentencing. The couple was together for 27 years.
Dakota Adams reflects on childhood of extreme isolation
In an unprecedented move, Stewart Rhodes' eldest son, Dakota Adams, has decided to run for Montana's House of Representatives as a Democrat candidate. In an interview with AP, Dakota opened up about his chaotic and toxic upbringing.
Dakota revealed that his father made everyone live in a constant state of fear regarding the apocalypse and government spies. He even sabotaged the home-school lives of his kids. He described Stewart as an erratic leader of the Oath Keepers who was lazy, paranoid, and constantly burned bridges, forcing the family to be on the move at all times. Dakota recounted:
"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."
Dakota asserted that the January 6 riots and his father's involvement in them acted as a wake-up call to him and forced him to re-evaluate his beliefs. A large part of his early adulthood was filled with catching up on the education he lost, attending therapy on the long-term effects of living in a toxic household, and trying to figure himself out. He asserted:
"I don’t think I’ll ever be fully caught up to where I would have been in life if I’d had a semi-normal childhood."
Reportedly, Montana Democrats were happy to have Dakota on the ballot, and the 27-year-old had even met Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. Unlike most hardcore Democrats, Dakota opposes gun control laws but states that American gun culture should change. He stated:
"American gun culture needs to be rehabilitated from an egotistical and vanity-based, hyper-individualist ego trip culture to civil service and solemn responsibility to the community."
While campaigning, Dakota found out that he was a decent talker but decided not to change up or tone down his metalhead appearance for the sake of politics. He campaigns while sporting a skull ring with a bunch of chains, a band T-shirt, and a leather jacket. He said:
"I spent so long as a child conforming to a little character to enhance my father’s political ambitions and image that I refused to do it ever again for any reason."
He added:
"I feel like being an honest weirdo is a lot better to a lot of people than being a Spirit Halloween cowboy when you’re asking for their vote."
However, the northwest corner district of Montana, from where Dakota Adams intends to run for the legislature, is an intense Republican stronghold, with former President Donald Trump amassing 74% of their votes in the 2020 elections. Despite the challenge and regardless of what happens in the upcoming elections, Dakota still plans to stick with politics as a "lifelong thing."
