Without extensive media coverage and the armed militia, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy told a GQ reporter for an article in the magazine’s July issue that he and his supporters “would be dead” at the hands of federal authorities.
GQ’s Zach Baron spent time at the ranch in April, which is when the Bundy Ranch standoff was at its peak. And at one point, Baron reported, Bundy thanked him, the rest of the media and the estimated 1,000-plus armed militia members who showed up at the ranch for saving his life.
“Without the militia and without the media, we would be dead. Literally,” Bundy said. “We would be dead. Those people up there on that front line that faced those bullets would be dead without the media there. And they would be dead without the militia.”
Baron noted that the standoffs at Ruby Ridge and Waco, where some on the other end of a standoff with federal authorities were killed, were a frequent topic at Bundy Ranch.
In addition to the armed anti-government protesters who stood alongside him, Bundy was a mainstay on Fox News and received extensive coverage at news outlets including the New York Times and TPM.
