Shawn Vestal: Seim brothers have found a cause, but little effect, in the refuge standoff

The remaining nuthatches in the Oregon bird refuge are drawing supporters from every corner of End-times Western America, and who knows what may happen now that movement patriarch Cliven Bundy is on his way to join them.

But some folks have been offering more than their share of support from Eastern Washington. One contribution comes from Ephrata, where uber-patriot Gavin Seim and his brother, Nathan, are hectoring fellow “patriots” online for failing to ride to Burns with hammers cocked.

If the death of LeVoy Finicum – shot while reaching for his loaded gun, the FBI says – has given the patriots their martyr, the Seims have appointed themselves as official scolds.

“A great patriot is dead and many more are in prison,” Nathan Seim said in a video posted Feb. 5. “Where were you? … As soon as LeVoy’s body hit the snow, you should have been moving en masse, but instead you could not issue stand-down orders fast enough.”

Neither Nathan nor “Gav” rode out, either, but never mind that. The Brothers Seim had important stuff to do. Crazy videos ain’t gonna post themselves on Facebook.

Gavin Seim, in particular, has become a prominent online face of the far-right, anti-government extremism embodied by the Oregon standoff. Until recently, he was mostly busy needling local officials over petty matters while recording their interactions. The Oregon standoff has given him a meatier cause to preen over.

One of the remaining standoffers at the Malheur bird preserve has been in touch with him. David Fry, who has posted videos mocking the FBI and decrying “scumbags,” apparently phoned Gavin Seim last week. Seim posted an audio clip of a message from Fry, in which Fry urges Seim to let fellow zealots know that the occupiers need help and denying rumors they intend to shoot those who came to the refuge.

“Hey, Gavin, it’s David,” the message begins. “David Fry from the refuge, I’m here with the three others … We seriously need help. There’s a lot of lies going on.”

He adds, “We are not threatening people coming to this place. … We are not going to shoot our own team. We don’t plan on shooting anybody. We’re only planning to defend ourselves if the FBI tried to raid us or take us out.”

Seim and his brother, Nathan, are calling on thousands of righteous patriots to rise up against the tyranny and terrorism of government. Rise up how? They are often vague about this, but their message is built around a feverish death-dream, a fantasy of righteous martyrdom. They are criticizing extremist groups that have taken the not-extremist-enough position of staying away from Burns.

In one video, Seim says: “Right now, your government is telling you, ‘We will do what we want. We will kill who we want. We will cage who we want. We will violate the law however we want, and you will do nothing.’ And for most of America, the response is, ‘Yes master,’ and they bow down and they do nothing.”

On Monday, he posted a written statement: “Ask yourself. Have we not already passed the point that America’s patriots and militias said they would rise? Four patriots are standing alone at the refuge. Where are the Oath Keepers? Where are the organized groups?”

Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich has cited Seim in his community presentation on the threat of far-right anti-government groups in our region, saying he’s a key part of the “propaganda machine” that stokes an outrage that can easily turn violent. Knezovich cited a manipulated video Seim posted, purporting to show an Oregon fire set by the BLM that was, in fact, a lightning strike. Seim wrote that the video showed the BLM was “destroying property, terrorizing families and burning cattle.”

“That video is a lie,” Knezovich said. “That is a doctored video.”

The Oregon malcontents – their ideas, such as they are, as well as their militarized attitudes, paranoia and bafflement at the modern world – have roots and branches all around us.

Spokane Valley Rep. Matt Shea and a few other Western state lawmakers took a drive to Oregon last month to show support after declaring the BLM was engaged in “bureaucratic terrorism.” Don’t be surprised if they do so again, especially if Cliven Bundy goes to the bird refuge, as he says he will.

Others who identify as more moderate have taken this opportunity to argue generically against federal land ownership and management, part of the longtime effort to mine, drill and graze everything, and to feel victimized by the very concept of public land.

Seim falls the other way – more radical, less political. If you think Shea can whip up an angry, paranoid stew, you should listen in on Seim and associates. Here’s an example from a recent post, where Seim makes a garden-variety Nazi reference:

“It’s looking a lot like Germany in 34,” he wrote.

Germany in 1934. The Night of the Long Knives. The forced sterilization of people with “genetic defects.” Hitler’s consolidation of power as the Fuhrer.

Not everyone was buying it.

“The holocaust was a hoax,” one of Seim’s Facebook friends responded. Another insisted that people would be cursed for using the “holohoax to slander the innocent.”

It’s either happening again, or it never happened at all. These are the patriots Seim calls to action.

Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) 459-5431 or shawnv@spokesman.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vestal13.