Joe Oltmann, a major player in the election denial movement, has been collaborating with hosts of a Rumble-based QAnon channel called Badlands Media. Oltmann and his co-host have repeatedly hosted figures from Badlands on their show, Conservative Daily Podcast, and have praised the Rumble channel and its hosts. 

At least one of the QAnon hosts also said during an appearance that he would be doing work for Oltmann, and the podcast has launched a spinoff show hosted by some of those QAnon hosts.

Oltmann, a podcaster based in Colorado, has been extensively involved with the election denial movement. That includes instigating a false claim that a specific Dominion Voting Systems employee, Eric Coomer, was involved with the supposed election fraud. In response, Coomer has sued Oltmann for defamation. Oltmann is also the founder of the election denial organization FEC United.

Badlands Media, the Rumble channel whose hosts Oltmann is collaborating with, was founded in October by QAnon influencers Jon Herold and Kate Buckley (known online as “Patel Patriot” and “Kate Awakening,” respectively). It features multiple QAnon influencers as hosts and largely dedicates its programming to covering QAnon and related conspiracy theories. The channel is particularly connected to the QAnon influencer collective known as We The Media, with multiple Badlands Media hosts currently or previously involved with the collective.

Between March and the time of publication, Oltmann and his co-host, known as “Apollo,” have hosted at least nine individual Badlands Media hosts on Conservative Daily a total of nearly two dozen times. Alongside Herold and Buckley, that list includes Brad Getz, Zak Paine (who participated in the January 6 insurrection), Brian Lupo (known online as “CannCon”), and other QAnon figures known by their pseudonyms, “Absolute1776,” “Woke Societies,” “Johnny Q,” and “Alpha Warrior.” Befitting of Badlands’ origins, all of those hosts are QAnon supporters. 

Since March, Oltmann and Apollo (who has said he’s followed QAnon “really closely”) have praised Badlands (including extensively criticizing reporting on the channel) and its hosts and given the opportunity for the QAnon hosts to discuss the conspiracy theory on the show. 

Sometimes, Oltmann and Apollo have participated in that discussion.

For instance, on March 22, election denier David Clements suggested that QAnon supporters were guilty of “passivity,” before QAnon influencer Absolute1776 urged others “not to be passive” and to get involved in elections, to which Oltmann said that “there are a lot of Anons … that are not … sitting on the sidelines.”

On April 6, multiple Badlands Media hosts and Apollo discussed the supposed legitimacy of “Q” (QAnon’s central figure), how the movement “got a lot of people to wake up,” and how some QAnon followers had moved beyond Q.

Oltmman has also said that he is also a regular viewer of Badlands Media, and offered to collaborate with it. In April, Oltmann hosted Badlands’ Herold, praising him as “amazing” and “awesome,” and said that he watched Badlands “every night.” He offered to help the channel, saying, “If I can do anything to help out … help out Badlands, we’re in.” (Oltmann’s co-host Apollo had previously said that he watched Badlands Media as well.)

It appears that Badlands and its hosts accepted that offer. In the weeks that followed, Badlands’ Absolute1776 announced in a Conservative Daily appearance that he would have a “weekly spot” on the podcast going forward and that he would “start editing videos for” Oltmann. And in June, the podcast announced its “newest show,” hosted by Badlands personalities Woke Societies and Johnny Q, who now lists himself as a contributor to Conservative Daily.

Notably, this collaboration between Oltmann and Badlands comes as previous contributors (or at least recurring guests) to the podcast, Lupo and Ashley Epp (known online as “Ashe in America”), have become Badlands hosts. In recent months, Oltmann has lauded and given credence to Q and the QAnon community on the show, said it was “awesome” that a group said the QAnon slogan (“where we go one, we go all”) on the show, repeatedly hosted a non-Badlands-affiliated QAnon influencer on the show, and admitted to watching another QAnon figure’s show. 

Perhaps most revealingly, the podcast’s ticker since at least last summer has featured the phrase “We Are the News Now” — a QAnon phrase.

The growing ties between Oltmann and QAnon figures are unfolding as the election denial and QAnon movements become increasingly intertwined, each giving a boost to the other’s reach. And Rumble, which has become a hub for QAnon content, has played a major role helping bridge the gap between the two.