• Cooper has said that he was born in Stockton, California and moved constantly throughout California while being raised by a struggling single mother, before moving in with his grandparents in Montana. He was a high school wrestler before enlisting in the United States Navy.[17] A Libertarian in his youth, his politics were shaped by the 1993 Waco siege.[18] He worked for the United States Department of Defense as a logistics specialist,[19] including in Israel.[20]