Brandon Orlando Tatum is an American

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

political commentator, former police officer and former college football player.

Early life and education

Born in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, Tatum was an All-American football player in high school. His father, Bobby Tatum, was a captain in the Fort Worth Fire Department. His great uncle,

Jack Tatum John David Tatum (November 18, 1948 – July 27, 2010) was an American football safety. He played 10 seasons, from 1971 through 1980, with the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers in the National Football League (NFL). He was popularly known as " ...

, was an Ohio State All-American, NFL

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list th ...

, and a Super Bowl champion with the Oakland Raiders Tatum was featured in the US-Army All-American Game, which showcases the top 78 high school football players in the nation. Tatum committed to playing on a full athletic scholarship from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

in 2004. Tatum played at Arizona for five years and entered the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

in 2010.

Career

Police officer

After going undrafted in the

, Tatum became a police officer in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. He rose to prominence in early 2016 for a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

which featured him at a campaign rally for presidential candidate

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

. Following the rally, he said in the video that he felt unsafe because of those who protested against the event. He went viral a second time in September 2017 for a video in which he expressed his opposition to players "

taking the knee Taking the knee (or taking a knee) is a symbolic gesture against racism whereby an individual kneels upon one knee in place of standing to attention for an anthem or other such occasion. It was originated by American football player Colin Kaepe ...

" during the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

at NFL football games.

Political commentary

Tatum resigned from the Tucson Police Department in October 2017 to join Liftable Media — a conservative content producer that owns and operates

The Western Journal ''The Western Journal'', previously known as ''Western Journalism'', is an American conservative news and politics website based in Phoenix, Arizona. It was founded by political consultant Floyd Brown in 2008. History ''Western Journalism'' f ...

and The Conservative Tribune. He then served as director of urban engagement for the conservative action group

Turning Point USA Turning Point USA (TPUSA), or Turning Point, is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses. It was founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk and Bill Montgomery. TPUSA's ...

, before founding his own media company in late 2019. He runs a YouTube channel called "The Officer Tatum" with over 2.18 million subscribers. As of December 2022, he has accumulated over 463 million total views. Tatum has also appeared as a guest on

Candace Owens Candace Amber Owens Farmer ( Owens; born April 29, 1989) is an American conservative author, talk show host, political commentator, and activist. Initially critical of United States President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, Owens has be ...

PragerU PragerU is an American advocacy group that creates videos promoting a conservative viewpoint on various political, economic, and sociological topics. It was co-founded by Allen Estrin and talk show host and writer Dennis Prager in 2009. Despite ...

show ''The Candace Owens Show'' as well as her ''

The Daily Wire ''The Daily Wire'' is an American conservative news website and media company founded in 2015 by political commentator Ben Shapiro and film director Jeremy Boreing. The company is a major publisher on Facebook, and produces podcasts such as ' ...

'' political podcast ''Candace'' as a panelist.

Blexit

Along with Owens, Tatum founded Blexit, an organization meant to persuade the black American population to leave the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. The name Blexit is a combination of the words "black and "exit". In May 2022, Tatum began hosting a national talk radio program, ''The Officer Tatum Show'', distributed by

Salem Radio Network Salem Radio Network is a United States-based radio network that specializes in syndicated Christian political talk, music, and conservative secular news/talk programming. It is a division of the Salem Media Group. Network information Salem Rad ...

Bibliography

*''Beaten Black and Blue'', published November 30, 2021 ()

References

External links

* The Officer Tatum * Tatum Report * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tatum, Brandon O. 1987 births African-American Christians African-American police officers American Christians American columnists American gun rights activists American media critics American police officers American political commentators American political writers American YouTubers Arizona Republicans Black conservatism in the United States Commentary YouTubers Living people News YouTubers People of African-American descent People from Fort Worth, Texas University of Arizona alumni YouTubers from Texas YouTube channels launched in 2016 YouTube podcasters