New Season of ‘Bundyville’ Podcast from Longreads and OPB Explores Anti-Government Extremism Beyond the Bundy Family

Portland OR, USA—Longreads and Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) today announced the launch of the second season of their nationally acclaimed podcast “Bundyville.”

Hosted by award-winning journalist Leah Sottile, “Bundyville: The Remnant” features seven new episodes, which will be available July 15 on Apple Podcasts and the NPR One app, at opb.org/bundyville, or wherever you get your podcasts. Also beginning July 15, you can find feature stories that accompany the podcast at longreads.com/bundyville. The season two trailer is available now.

Named one of the best podcasts of 2018 by Apple and The Atlantic, and also a National Magazine Award finalist for podcasting, the first season of “Bundyville” chronicled the rise, fall and resurgence of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his sons after their public standoffs against the federal government in Nevada and Oregon. It took a deep dive into the politics and fringe religious beliefs that drove this family and their followers.

“Bundyville: The Remnant” explores the world beyond the Bundy family and the armed uprisings they inspired. The series scrutinizes the radical violence that has come out of the anti-government movement and investigates who is inspiring that violence and who stands to benefit.

The most loyal supporters of the Bundys’ ideology live their lives amid conspiracy theories and paranoia. In the second season of “Bundyville,” Sottile asks what happens to the anti-government movement when the Bundys aren’t setting the agenda, and how the increasingly mainstream conspiracy theories of that movement are pushing people already on the fringe toward violence.

_“_Bundyville: The Remnant” episodes include:

Episode 1: In a remote desert town in the summer of 2016, a suicide bombing took place and almost no one noticed. When Glenn Jones killed himself and blew up the family home of Josh Cluff, no one thought much of it. But what if it was something more? What if the bombing was actually a small window into the world of extremist violence that’s been fueled by the anti-government movement?

Episode 2: The 2016 bombing in Nevada is far from the only act of violence related to the self-described Patriot movement. In fact, it wasn’t even the only bomb to blow up that year. Another explosion happened that summer near a Bureau of Land Management cabin in Arizona — and the man who pushed the detonator tells us what made him do it.

Episode 3: When police killed Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum in 2016 during the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge takeover, a grand jury deemed it a justified shooting. But for the Patriot movement, it was an assassination. They call Finicum a martyr. What happens when people who have a deep-seated mistrust of the government finally have a justification to take action?

Episode 4: Stevens County, Washington, has been the origin point for a litany of white supremacist and anti-government violence over the past 40 years. In a time of extreme political rhetoric and conspiratorial thinking, we explore how the Patriot movement is workshopping some of their most radical ideas here and what could come next.

Episode 5: The violence perpetrated by the anti-government movement has long been fringe and rare. But more politicians are starting to accept extremist language and ideas. One of those people is Washington state Rep. Matt Shea. He says he sees a chance for a 51st state in the Northwest — a place that would be governed by strict biblical laws and made up almost entirely of white people.

Episode 6: To find out how radical ideas enter the mainstream, we trace one back to a secretive religious community in Stevens County, Washington. That place — Marble Community Fellowship — has a dark past and is preparing for an apocalyptic future. One exile takes us inside to see what’s really at the heart of anti-government extremism.

Episode 7: The bombing in Panaca, Nevada, was a case that led journalist Leah Sottile on an unexpected journey to a nerve center of hate and anti-government sentiment in the West. But newly uncovered evidence in the case offers a broader view of extremist violence—and some possible solutions.

“Bundyville” is a co-production of Longreads and OPB. Host Leah Sottile is a freelance journalist whose features, profiles, investigations and essays have been featured in the Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Playboy, California Sunday Magazine, The Atlantic, Vice and several other publications.

The podcast is produced by Peter Frick-Wright and Robert Carver of 30 Minutes West Productions and Ryan Haas of OPB. It is edited by Mike Dang and Kelly Stout of Longreads and Anna Griffin of OPB. Matt Giles of Longreads and Kim Freda of OPB provided research for the series.

About Longreads

Longreads, founded in 2009, is dedicated to helping people find and share the best storytelling in the world. Longreads publishes and curates powerful writing, from personal essays to investigative journalism, and features nonfiction and fiction over 1,500 words.

About OPB

OPB is a nationally recognized leader in public media, providing news, information and entertainment to the Northwest. With award-winning journalists and original series, OPB illuminates the people, places and issues of the region and puts stories into context. OPB creates content and programming that can be accessed anywhere, at any time on OPB TV, OPB Radio, opb.org and on a variety of digital and social media platforms.