Scott Kesterson, Convicted Fraudster and Christian Nationalist
This guy has to be heard to be believed.
Scott Kesterson is another of my favourite Christian Nationalist lunatics. This weird-ass dude gained respectability, and even an Emmy, as an embedded photojournalist in Afghanistan. After his return he pled guilty to stealing donations from a woman dying of cancer, so a real hero. I have listened to his podcast where he clearly describes his radicalization: after being released from jail, he describes literally standing in the street and realizing, and I quote, “I’m never going to work again.”
Previous to this admission, in another episode he describes his return from being in the shit in Afghanistan to one of the U.S bases, where his commanding officer takes one look at him and told him to have a week off. Although Kesterson missed it, reading between the lines I think the officer saw the danger of radicalization in this person, that cold thousand-yard stare. This is the most fascinating thing for me, being able to pinpoint the exact moment when someone is pushed over the edge into belief-based insanity, off the end of the spectrum (see my book for more on this). Kesterson himself realized he had given the game away on the podcast and pulled himself up, he does that sometimes.
That officer was right.
Unfortunately I don’t have those exact clips, I need to find them. The problem is the sheer volume of Kesterson’s output. I have been listening for about three years and can’t keep up with it. Sometimes he puts out three hour-long podcasts a day, chock-full of thinly-veiled threats of violence, ‘prayers’ loaded with hate and the usual bashing of anyone not white, straight and evangelical. I’m not sure how large his audience is, but its significant, I hear his message in other right-wing outlets.
He is now holed up in some compound in Oregon churning out vast amounts of Christofascist violent rhetoric, and he ain’t subtle about it. He hosts podcasts on BARDS FM, called such because of ‘Bards of War,’ which I don’t think is a Bible quote, but you get the message. He may as well have called it ‘Info Wars.’ He sells coffee, My Pillows and the Founders’ Bible from notorious Christian unhistorian David Barton, which says it all about his grift. In 2021 his rally Bards Fest was a COVID super-spreader, even laying Dave Daubenmire low, yet the spin is an anthrax attack or some such nonsense. Where Dave Daubenmire has some restrictions on his conspiracy, there is nothing off the table for Kesterson. Every possible COVID lie has passed through his platform, and he’s all about the Great Reset and the Jewish globalist cabal.
Although he’s had to reverse himself on stupid predictions all the COVID-deniers make, like claiming everyone is going to die of the vaccine, he’s smarter than most about it. When no one dropped dead of the vaccine, he changed tack, claiming that the vaccine had nanobots in it which are controlling the populace. Then he just let it go. Notably he did not mention the Ohio FBI shooter, this omission is telling because he talks about everything else, and it may have been too close to home for the type of action he promotes.
He is immensely dangerous because he is well-spoken, very smart, and knows how to communicate. He barely pauses during an hour’s speech, doesn’t say ‘um,’ and talks in this creepy monotone. Unlike Dave Daubenmire, Kesterson has formulated a plan for overthrow of the government, starting with the classic right-wing grassroots school board bothering, but also separation from The System economically. He’s had to double-back recently to instruct his followers to vote in the midterms, which is a big ol’ tell and means his anarchist rhetoric is not as watertight as he would like people to think.
I can’t upload his thoughts on the Alex Jones verdict to YouTube, which is fantastic, The System works for a change, but it is up on Twitter - @atheist_addict - in context so no one gets the wrong idea.
Here’s some transphobia about Tulsi Gabbard. Kesterson thinks everyone who doesn't agree with him is a dude. This guy has some deep-seated issues, he does this all the time. It demonstrates he doesn't believe it when he reverts to her pronouns by the end of the clip.