For years, Donald Trump has blamed Antifa for various wrongdoings, from violence against police to being behind the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot that aimed to block Joe Biden’s presidential election win. On Wednesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would “be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices,” calling Antifa “A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER.”
According to a 2020 Congressional Research Service analysis, Antifa has no central leadership or national organization and is composed of “independent, radical, like-minded groups and individuals.” The White House did not immediately offer details on how the label could be applied.
While federal law enforcement includes combating domestic terrorism, the United States does not have a list of designated “domestic terrorist organizations.” Trump threatened to make the move on Monday after senior White House official Stephen Miller vowed the administration would dismantle an alleged “vast domestic terror movement” that he linked to the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Ideology, Not a Movement
Critics of the Republican president warn that such a move could be used as a pretext to suppress dissent and target political rivals. While Kirk was a vocal conservative, the United States has seen an increase in violence targeting members of both political parties in recent years, amidst a sharp rise in polarization and easy access to firearms.
Antifa—whose name has roots in socialist groups in 1930s Germany that opposed Hitler—has a track record of confronting right-wing groups and engaging in civil disobedience. Its members, often dressed entirely in black, protest against racism, far-right values, and what they consider fascism, and they state that violent tactics are sometimes justified as self-defense.
During Trump’s first inauguration in January 2017, scores of black-clad, mask-wearing Antifa and other protestors smashed windows and burned a car in Washington. Antifa was also involved in counter-protests to racist demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia later that year.
In June 2020, Trump said he would formally designate Antifa as “terrorists” on the same level as Al Qaeda and the militant Islamic State group. However, FBI Director Chris Wray responded in a Congressional hearing that Antifa was “a movement or an ideology” as opposed to a group. As of Wednesday, Antifa is not among the 95 “designated foreign terrorist organizations” listed on the State Department website.
Critics say that Trump is using Kirk’s assassination as a pretext to crack down on political opponents. Trump initially floated the idea of such a designation for Antifa in 2020 amid violent nationwide protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
