Alt-right political propaganda media company Red, White and Blueprint released Episode 8 of its docuseries Sunday. Billed as the last episode, it is titled “Election Day.” It chronicles the recall election that removed Shasta County District 2 Supervisor Leonard Moty from office last February and placed Tim Garman in his spot.
Like other episodes, it contains a lot of talk about “freedom,” “liberty,” and the fight against “tyranny.” But it offers few concrete examples. Produced by RW&B co-owners Carlos Zapata, Jon Knight, and Jeremy Edwardson, it is chock-full of horses, cowboy hats, bonfires, and shotguns and bullets.
The opening scene is filled with gorgeous aerial video footage of Redding. Then it jumps to RW&B cast member Woody Clendenen, walking into his barber shop/alt-right man cave in Cottonwood. Signs for Shasta County District 5 candidates Colt Roberts and Chris Kelstrom are stacked by the door. Both are supported by RW&B and State of Jefferson devotees.
A Trump 2020 hat hangs from a shelf. Clendenen flips on the lights near a photograph of young boys firing rifles, which hangs on the wall next to another photograph of what looks like the Cottonwood Militia, or maybe a photo from one of Clendenen’s B-movie parts.
After Clendenen’s barber shop, viewers are taken to Fort Jones, District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones’ gun shop. He’s also starting his day as he puts on an apron behind the counter while standing in front of a row of firearms. He picks up a rifle and looks at it intently before the video cuts to aerial footage of a rural setting.
The opening scene then jumps to RW&B co-owner and fellow militia member Carlos Zapata tossing back whiskey. Zapata is seated at the bar in his downtown Red Bluff establishment the Palomino Room.
Screenshots of Woody Clendenen, District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones, and Carlos Zapata in the opening scene.
Just above Zapata’s head, on the second floor of the establishment, sits a country western-themed night club that features go-go dancers — while skirting Tehama County decency laws — known as the Saddle Horn.
Zapata opened the Saddle Horn in November. Its first advertisement featured a Chilean model named Daniella Chavez. Chavez is best known for modeling in Playboy Mexico Magazine. When asked on Twitter if Zapata had permission to use her image in the advertisement, Chavez replied “No!”
Zapata’s looking for dancers, by the way. In April, he shared on the establishment’s Instagram page that working as a dancer at the Saddle Horn was a great way to make good money and new friends. The Instagram page is no longer available.
The militia, guns, and toxic masculinity. Men to the front, womenfolk to the back. A fitting start to the final episode.
Advertisement for Saddle Horn that features Daniella Chavez (top left) along with screenshots of go-go dancers and other advertisements. Source: Instagram
Saddle Horn advertisements and screenshots of go-go dancers. Source: Instagram
Song used in opening scene
The song used in the opening scene is “It’s Going to Be Alright” by The Hazelnuts, a group based in Israel and headed by three female vocalists. The song used by RW&B is available on a royalty free platform known as Artlist.
A News Café contacted Shira Z. Carmel, the member of The Hazelnuts who wrote the song to let her know it was used by an alt-right propaganda media company in Northern California. She said it was her nightmare that a song written by her and performed by the group would be used in this manner, and that it was one reason she hesitated to put their music on the platform.
“I was hoping no one with a twisted view of reality and humanity would ever like my songs and use them,” said Carmel. Carmel made it a point to share she has written songs with anti-racist and anti-occupation content in the lyrics. Music by the Hazelnuts mixes doo-wop, rhythm and blues, and jazz.
Carmel plans to see if she has the right to prevent RW&B from using her song. Stay tuned…
Early release premier at Redding park
RW&B held an early release premier party at the Riverfront Park in Redding on the evening of May 25. The media company ran advertisements saying the first 500 attendees would receive a free tri-tip sandwich. Judging by pictures and videos of the event shared on social media, a few hundred people at most, attended. The selection of the number 500, may have been made to pump up attendance.
The owners of RW&B and its cast members spoke on stage in front of the giant screen erected for the viewing before it aired.
RW&B cast member Woody Clendenen joked that he was “that scary militia guy.” The small crowd in attendance laughed. He boasted that he never closed down his barbershop in Cottonwood during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also said he attended the nonviolent BLM protests in Redding and Red Bluff as part of the Cottonwood Militia in the summer of 2020. The militia presence was designed to intimidate the already nonviolent protesters. Clendenen pushed the fallacy that BLM protesters traveled in hordes from Portland to Redding.
It is not clear why Clendenen talked about his barbershop and the militia, because it had nothing to do with the episode.
‘Ripple throughout history for the rest of history’
Zapata took to the microphone not long after Clendenen. Zapata described what is going on in Shasta County as war. He said people who support him need to be ready for others to say unkind things about them, and he placed the alt-right movement and RW&B into some highly opinionated and ego-driven historical context.
“The waves of what we have done here are going to ripple throughout history for the rest of history,” said Zapata. “As long as there’s a United States of America, what we did right here, what you did in Shasta County, is going to be a tidal wave by the time it gets to Washington D.C., and it will get there.”
Advertisement for RW&B Episode 8 (top left). Advertisement for tri-tip sandwich (top right). Carlos Zapata speaking to the crowd at the early premier (bottom left). Attendees at early premier (bottom right).
Red, White and Blueprint result of “divine appointment”
Zapata’s puzzling comment that what the alt-right community in Shasta County has accomplished paled in comparison to his next comment.
“When you start looking at the genesis of the Red, White and Blueprint, you have to believe that there was some divine appointment. Because none of this would have happened without a higher being. Whether it be God, Allah, whoever, it doesn’t matter. There’s some divine appointment to what’s going on here. And it’s absolutely evident in every single part, in every single episode that we’ve documented.”
A little dose of Bethel Church & Sean Feucht
Outside of the songs produced by other artists used in the episode, Jeremy Edwardson and Jamie Beaudoin were in charge of music production for the episode. Edwardson and Beaudoin are close friends with extremist alt-right evangelical Christian Sean Feucht, and all three share ties with Bethel Church. In February, Feucht officiated Beaudoin’s wedding in Texas. It was attended by Edwardson.
String music for the episode, as has been the case with previous episodes, was performed by husband-wife duo Allison Marin and Antonio Marin. Allison formerly worked as an executive assistant for Bethel Church Senior Pastor Eric Johnson, the son of the church’s senior leader Bill Johnson.
Allison and Antonio are employed by Bethel Music. They performed music with Sean Feucht during his “Let Us Worship” national tour in 2020 and 2021 that pushed far-right and anti-COVID-19 mandate and anti-vaccine politics.
Allison and Antonio Marin performing behind Sean Feucht at his Sept. 11 2021 “Let Us Worship” show in Washington D.C.
Election night celebration at County Strong Fitness
After the introduction, Episode 8 takes viewers to the election party held at Country Strong Fitness in Palo Cedro on Feb. 1. Recall supporters gathered to see if Supervisor Moty would be voted out of office. The establishment is owned and operated by RW&B cast member Lani Bangay and his wife Karina Bangay.
Last February, Country Strong Fitness received $23,820 in PPP COVID-19 relief money from the federal government, all of which was forgiven. That didn’t stop them from hosting a party for a movement partially driven by a revolt against COVID-19 mandates that were never enforced in Shasta County to begin with.
The episode featured short interviews with RW&B co-owners Zapata and Knight, District 2 replacement candidate Tim Garman, District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones and State of Jefferson devotee Terry Rapoza. All were recorded for the episode on election night at Country Strong Fitness.
Supervisor Jones, one of the three hard-right supervisors on the board, boasted there has never been this much money spent in Shasta County’s history to remove someone from office, and he’s right.
Patrick Jones speaking in RW&B Episode 8 (top), and Carlos Zapata chatting with Terry Rapoza at the election night party held at Country Strong Fitness as seen in RW&B Episode 8.
Oh where oh where is Reverge Anselmo?
The only star missing from the episode was Reverge Anselmo, the multi-millionaire who has dumped an obscene amount of money into alt-right politics in Shasta County.
As covered by A News Café, Anselmo is the disgruntled former Shasta County resident who donated $450,000 to the movement to recall Supervisor Moty. This, after donating $100,000 to Supervisor Patrick Jones’ campaign in 2020. Why would someone who has invested so much money in Shasta County’s alt-right movement not have a presence in the final RW&B episode, or at least be thanked for his contributions?
Anselmo has continued to pour money into Shasta County’s political system to the tune of nearly $1 million dollars to date. Anselmo left the county after he was fined for not adhering to regulations while building a winery and restaurant near Shingletown.
The problem with mentioning Anselmo’s massive donations is that doesn’t fit the narrative RW&B is trying to sell in the episode. RW&B wants viewers to think all of the alt-right activism and political protests in Shasta County is the result of grassroots activism rather than a multi-millionaire and a small collection of well-to-do alt-right leaders.
Supervisor Jones & his Jan. 8 Circus
In addition to boasting about how much money was spent even while he failed to thank Anselmo for all the cash he donated, Supervisor Jones also addressed the Jan. 8 Shasta County Board of Supervisor meeting. The meeting was conducted remotely due to the upsurge in COVID-19 cases and death threats directed at District 2 Supervisor Leonard Moty, District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert, and District 5 Supervisor Les Baugh.
Supervisor Jones decided to act like he was locked out even while every other supervisor and county employees joined the meeting remotely via Zoom. RW&B erected a giant screen in front of the chamber so Supervisor Jones could join the meeting via a laptop.
“The people” still wanted to meet said Supervisor Jones in Episode 8. The event was attended by a who’s who of local alt-right extremists and militia members. The screen used at the Supervisor Jones-led circus appeared to be the same screen used at the RW&B early premier for Episode 8.
Video footage of the Jan. 8 Supervisor Jones-led circus of Supervisor Rickert and District 1 Supervisor Joe Chimenti appeared to be edited with some sort of digital tool to skew their appearance.
Reverge Anslemo and his Connecticut Mansion.
Misrepresented by national and local media?
Following its coverage of Supervisor Jones’ Jan. 8 outdoor fiasco, the episode tackled the way in which the national and local media has portrayed the alt-right movement in Shasta County.
In an interview with David Harris Jr., a Bethel Church-affiliated prominent conservative with millions of followers and connections in the Redding area, Zapata joked about how people wrongly call him a white supremacist.
The scene used a clip from CNN coverage recorded a few weeks after Supervisor Moty was recalled when CNN contributor Kyung Lah stated that, like other places across the U.S., the alt-right rage in Shasta County has been turned into political power.
A clip of the CNN interview with Doni Chamberlain of A News Café, where she referred to alt-right extremists as the “Shastaliban” also appeared in the episode.
The scene showed several quotes from national media outlets that characterized the alt-right movement in Shasta County as one being led by radical anti-government extremists, anti-vaxxers, science-deniers, and militia members – what Chamberlain defines as the “Shastaliban.”
Quotes shared from national media news articles on the alt-right movement in Shasta County as seen in RW&B Episode 8.
The bigger point the episode tries to make is that the alt-right movement in Shasta County is led by families.
Zapata told Harris that those on the left are the divisive ones. They also talked about how everyone should simply identity as American and support American values. “But that’s what makes you a white nationalist” retorted Zapata. Zapata also said “I see a patriot. They see extremists.”
David Harris Jr. and Carlos Zapata holding a discussion as seen in RW&B Episode 8
Immediate aftermath of Supervisor Moty’s recall
After the section that covers representations in national and local media, Episode 8 shows scenes from the Feb. 15 and Mar. 1 Shasta County Board of Supervisor meetings. The Feb. 15 meeting came after Supervisor Moty lost the recall election and he did not attend. At the Mar. 1 meeting, the election results were certified and Tim Garman was sworn in as the new District 2 Supervisor.
It includes comments made by one of the leaders of Recall/Restore Shasta, Elissa McEuen, after the election results where certified.
“This certification marks the end of a tremendously successful citizen-led recall.” Like Jones, McEuen refused to offer a public “thank you” to Reverge Anselmo.
In short, the scene also covers District 5 Supervisor and Chair Les Baugh’s changing of meeting rules and the 3/2 vote that abolished the county’s COVID-related state of emergency that coincided with California’s state of emergency at the start of the pandemic.
That section ends with a long statement made by Supervisor Jones:
“When you go into the board room today, the atmosphere has changed and it’s for the better. And that’s what I’m hoping as we go into the future is to see more change like that. Where people are elected to serve the people. We’re going to listen and then act upon what we have heard. Less politicians, more good solid individuals that are willing to listen and represent the people. This is a conservative county and it should be governed by conservatives. It wasn’t and now it’s getting to that direction. This is my county. This where I was raised. This is where I’ll die and we’re going to bring it back.”
Tim Garman being sworn in as District 2 Supervisor, Elissa McCuen speaking at the same Board of Supervisor meeting, and Patrick Jones sharing his perspectives about the conservative county of his birth; all depicted in RW&B Episode 8.
The bonfire to end all bonfires? Let’s hope
In the closing scene, the owners and cast members of RW&B and their family gather for a bonfire at the “Clendenen Ranch” on the Tehama County side of Cottonwood. Interesting that an entire 8-part docuseries devoted to transforming Shasta County into an alt-right State of Jefferson utopia doesn’t even end in Shasta County.
Elissa McEuen’s and Zapata’s voices are dubbed over the bonfire scene, to show that women too — albeit marginalized from the larger story — are part of this toxically masculine circus. The soundbites of Zapata came from the Feb. 15 Shasta County Board of Supervisor meeting when he carefully read from a script with a message to play nice. Those of McEuen came from an undetermined event.
McEuen talked about how the alt-right community in Shasta County has done the “work of patriots” and that “patriot is a loaded word these days” most often used by the opposition as a slur.
“Name calling is not productive,” says Zapata.
“A patriot is one who loves his country,” says McEuen, leaving out women.
Woody Clendenen and his wife Kelly, Jon Knight and his partner Ashley, Lani Bangay, and Rebecca Zapata gaze into the pile of wood as Carlos Zapata flicks a cigarette at it to light the fire.
“We cannot prove their narrative wrong by continuing the vitriol. All eyes are upon us now and we cannot afford to be uncivil,” says Zapata.
The fire rages on, a symbol of the destruction RW&B has brought to Shasta County. It is a toxic blaze of artificial patriotism.
RW&B co-owner Jon Knight pours gasoline on the fire. Jon Knight (right) and his partner Ashley (left) and Lani Bangay standing with Woody Clendenen.
The closing credits highlights that the Shasta County Board of Supervisors fired Dr. Karen Ramstrom, the county’s chief medical officer, and that county CEO Matt Pontes and the county health and human services director Donnell Ewert resigned.
RW&B’s final episode was corny. The material it covered, with its signature alt-right spin, was dated. It was flashy and expensive to produce, but it lacked, like every other episode, factual content. It was all about perspective. The definition of “the people” was narrow and limited to vocal members of the alt-right community. The fact is that Shasta County has been solidly Republican for a long time.
When is that community going to take back their county?
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