Jake Angeli

Jake Angeli (full name: Jacob Anthony Angeli Chansley) United States Department of Justice, Statement of facts, Jacob Anthony Chansley, 8 January 2021. is an American conspiracy theorist and QAnon protest figure from Phoenix, Arizona. He is known by the nom de plume QAnon Shaman (usually shortened to Q Shaman), due to being a self-proclaimed "shaman" (it has recently been rebranded to America's Shaman). In practice, this means appearing in public wearing elaborate costumes and screaming about Satan-worshipping pedophiles controlling the world (i.e., Pizzagate).Rich Schapiro and Michael Kosnar, Capitol rioter in horned hat gloats as feds work to identify suspects. NBC News, 7 January 2021.
In a previous incarnation, Chansley was in the Navy from 2005-2007 and has what one may presume was a less-than-honorable discharge for refusing to take an anthrax vaccine.The ‘QAnon shaman’ guy got kicked out of the Navy for refusing a vaccine: Somebody didn't read their Oath of Enlistment. by James Clark (Jan 12, 2021 1:59 PM) Task & Purpose.
He first gained infamy in the fact-checker community for his frequent appearances at protests, usually pro-Trump or anti-lockdown, where he would appear wearing a "Shaman dress" which consists of a coyote-fur headdress with bovine horns and red-white-and-blue facepaint. He is also tattooed with several Norse mythological and religious symbols (e.g., a large Asatru ) popular among the neopagan far-right, despite being a Christian. For the general public, he got his big break during the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot. In September 2021, he pleaded guilty to corruptly obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding, a joint session of Congress,'QAnon Shaman' Jacob Chansley, face of pro-Trump Capitol riot, pleads guilty to felony by Spencer S. Hsu (September 3, 2021) The Washington Post. and in November 2021 he was given a 41 month prison sentence.Jake Angeli, aka QAnon shaman, sentenced to 41 months in Jan. 6 Capitol riot by Richard Ruelas (November 17, 2021, 10:08 AM) Arizona Republic via Yahoo News. In March of 2023, however, Angeli was given an early release.'QAnon shaman' Jake Angeli released from prison to halfway house by Richard Ruelas, March 30, 2023, Arizona Central through Yahoo News
In November 2023 Angeli announced his intention to run for Congress in the 2024 election cycle as a Libertarian Party candidate.
==Participation in the Capitol insurrection attempt==
Angeli suddenly found himself thrust into the mainstream spotlight when he participated in the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot, where he was photographed storming into the U.S. Capitol dressed in full regalia and armed with a spear. He was promptly listed by the D.C. police as a person-of-interest due to not bothering to hide his identityJake Angeli: The story behind the horned Arizona protester in the Capitol unrest. kvoa.com, 7 January 2021. and was arrested on federal charges of "knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds".United States Department of Justice, Three Men Charged in Connection with Events at U.S. Capitol, 9 January 2021.
During the insurrection, Chansley gave a prayer in the Senate chamber that referenced Christian nationalist ideology, that the country would be "reborn" "In Christ’s holy name".Attack on The Capitol: Evidence of the Role of White Christian Nationalism by Andrew L. Seidel (2022) Christians Against Christian Nationalism. Pages 25-40.
==Betrayal by his own tribe==
After being swiftly identified and arrested by authorities, Angeli was subsequently thrown under the bus by his fellow QAnoners and Trump supporters. Many of them were quick to accuse him of being an Antifa agent provocateur (based on cropped down pictures from a BLM protest, which he was actually protesting against; the cropping left out his QAnon signTrump supporters falsely claim a far-right activist at the US Capitol is actually a member of 'Antifa', Business Insider, January 7, 2021 because that obviously wouldn't have helped the far-right cover their asses and maintain their "moral high ground" when they got caught), despite all evidence pointing to the contrary. Angeli was not amused.The 'Q Shaman' who stormed the Capitol is upset Trump supporters are claiming he's 'Antifa' in disguise Yahoo! News, January 11, 2021
==New Age wackjob==
Prior to his arrest, Angeli was a minor New Age figure. He claimed to have become a "self-initiated shaman” following ingestion of magic mushrooms and peyote.A Closer Look at the 'QAnon Shaman' Leading the Mob: Conspirituality — in which New Age wellness meets conspiracy culture — helped stoke the riot on Capitol Hill by Jules Evans (January 7, 2021) Medium. He has claimed to have had "numerous paranormal and UFO experiences". At the same time, he had an obsession with finding pedophilia codes wherever he drove, which either derived from his QAnon obsession or fed into it.
In September 2019, he led a cheer in support of a climate strike march.
In October 2019, he was on "Cosmic Gaia Podcast", where he talked about "Timelines, fractals, DNA, California fires, dark weaponry and rising above it and also these amazing patches he sells that helped to cure his father of late-stage cancer and liver disease."Jake Angeli - Keys for our Ascension (October 28, 2019) Cosmic Gaia Podcast (archived from January 10, 2021). The patches in question were alternative medicine hokum from Life-Wave that claim to use phototherapy and which Angeli claimed was a panacea.Y-Age Aeon Life-Wave (archived from 30 Mar 2021 03:15:17 UTC).
In August 2020, he offered a "red pill party" at an astrology store.
By late 2020, he offered something on Facebook and elsewhere called "Star Seed Academy — the Enlightenment and Ascension Mystery School",About the Author Star Seed Academy Blog Site (archived from January 7, 2021). in which he recommended the use of psychedelic plants in lieu of evidence-based pharmaceuticals.Neo-Shamanism: A New Way of Seeing the World Star Seed Academy Blog Site (archived from January 7, 2021).
During a podcast interview while Angeli was in prison, he compared himself to both Jesus and MLK.
During his pre-riot phase, he also went by the names Yellowstone Wolf, Loan Wolf, and AlphaMale.
If all of this sounds fucked up, well, there's actually a name for it, conspirituality, which is the overlap of the New Age, conspiracy culture, and the far right.The Emergence of Conspirituality by Charlotte Ward & David Voas (2011) Journal of Contemporary Religion 26(1):103-121. doi:10.1080/13537903.2011.539846.QAnon's Unexpected Roots in New Age Spirituality: Masculinity, faith and the strange convergence of counterculture and hate by Marisa Meltzer (March 29, 2021) The Washington Post Magazine.Inside Kelly Brogan’s Covid-Denying, Vax-Resistant Conspiracy Machine: Alt-health meets alt-right in the ‘conspirituality’ movement by Matthew Remski (Sep 15, 2020) Medium. So in a sense QAnon was a perfect target for Angeli: all of his nutty ideas reflect right off the map.
==Life behind the costume==
When not wearing his super-shaman getup, in real life Angeli is a failed actor who still lives with his mother at age 33,The man in the center with the fur hat and painted face is a QAnon believer from Arizona named Jake Angeli. He was a small-time actor, voice over artist, and singer before he joined the movement. Here's a photo of him out of costume. by Nick Martin (11:40 AM - 6 Jan 2021) Twitter (archived from 6 Jan 2021 23:03:03 UTC).Horned Capitol rioter is ‘failed actor and QAnon conspiracy theorist who lives with his mother’ — report, Independent, 10 January, 2021 and went on a hunger strike in jail because the guards would not feed him organic food.Shirtless, Horned Capitol Rioter Jake Angeli Demands Organic Food In Jail: He has refused to eat nonorganic food, claiming he requires a shamanic diet. by Ed Mazza (01/12/2021 03:38 am ET) Huffington Post. Crying about it seems to have worked, and he was reportedly fed his special-needs diet.Q Shaman to be fed organic diet, FoxNews.
In an 18-page briefing against releasing Angeli on bail, the prosecutors argued that the coup plotters intended to capture and assassinate government officials based on a note that Angeli left on Vice President Mike Pence's desk that stated, "It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming."Rioters wanted to ‘capture and assassinate’ lawmakers, prosecutors say. A note left by the 'QAnon Shaman' is evidence. by Teo Armus (Jan. 15, 2021 at 3:53 a.m. PST) The Washington Post.United States of America, plaintiff, vs. Jacob Anthony Chansley, a.k.a. “Jacob Angeli,”Defendant. by Michael Bailey & Kristen Brook (Filed 01/14/21) United States Court for the District of Arizona. Prosecutors also presented as evidence of mental instability and further against bail a partial transcript from one of Angeli's YouTube videos:
In speaking to The Washington Post before his arrest, Angeli attempted to explain his motivation to mere mortals (and perhaps alluding to the Washington, D.C. street design conspiracy theory):
In May 2021, a judge ordered Angeli to undergo psychiatric evaluation following claims by his lawyer that imprisonment has been taking a toll on Angeli's mental health.Judge orders mental evaluation of Qanon Shaman after lawyer insults "short bus" defendants Said lawyer then went on to insult many of the defendants in the case by calling them "fucking short bus people with cases of brain damage."
While in prison Angeli made affects to the claim that he felt "betrayed" by Trump and QAnon, but claims that's no longer true, as the Arizona Mirror explains:
Up until August 2024, the FBI hadn't returned the horned fur headdress that made Angeli infamous. Angeli was unsurprisingly pissed at this, and had demanded the feds return the headdress. Angeli's contention was that the feds were violating procedure by retaining his headdress as evidence even though the "case is over." This is quite ironic coming from a man convicted of participating in a literal coup attempt, the ultimate violation of procedure.
In case you believe any of this has stopped Republican politicians from associating with Angeli, you'd be wrong. In February of 2024 Angeli was invited to the lounge of the Arizona Senate where he mingled with Arizona state officials, and even gave testimony to the Arizona Senate itself. Angeli "commented" on a bill that would raise the salary of the Arizona governor, notably on opposition. His reasoning was that "politicians have not earned a raise." The lounge is also supposedly off-limits to the public, so the fact a convicted coup participant was let into this place in the first place is jarring. This could set a precedent of politicians associating with other coup participants in the future.
==Getting on that grift grindset==
After his release from prison in March of 2023, Angeli has rebranded himself as "America's Shaman." He has released multiple conspiracist-themed podcasts, selling shaman-themed merchandise, and is providing hour-long coaching services for "only" five hundred dollars per session "in the wide ranging subjects of spirituality, politics, the environment, astrology, history, philosophy, and sociology." What are his qualifications, you ask? PIDOOMA, we answer!
Shortly after his release from the halfway house he was holed up at after his early release from prison, Angeli posted a video to Twitter having abandoned the horns and faux-shaman getup for a "flag-themed bandana" and tie, talking about his prison experiences in a manner suspiciously similar to an "infomercial salesman":
Of course, another lesson provided by his prison experience is the chance to earn cold hard cash courtesy of his new webshite "Forbidden Truth Academy".The webshite in question
==See also==
*2018 United States mail bombing attempts, the results of a similar far-right conspiracy nut.
*2021 U.S. coup attempt
*QAnon
*Alex Jones, another far-right conspiracy nut who was involved in the Capitol insurrection
==Notes==
==References==
Category:2021 U.S. Capitol riot
Category:Actors
Category:Alt-right
Category:Alternative medicine promoters
Category:Anti-vaccination movement
Category:Christians
Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:Conspirituality
Category:Convicted felons
Category:Crank magnetism
Category:Cultural appropriation
Category:Food woo promoters
Category:Internet kooks
Category:Living people
Category:Machismo
Category:New Age
Category:Pseudoscience promoters
Category:QAnon
Category:Quantum woo
Category:Right-wing activists
Category:Shysters
Category:Theocracy
Category:United States politics