Trump says he will designate Antifa as a ‘terrorist organization’ without providing further details

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday night (Washington time, early morning in London, where he is on a state visit) that he will designate Antifa as a “terrorist organization,” a term used to describe an amorphous constellation of far-left organizations with tenuous ties to one another.

Trump made his announcement, as usual, on his own social media platform, Truth Social: “I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” Trump wrote. “I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

It’s been a week since the murder of the MAGA youth leader and Trump ally Charlie Kirk. Trump has since been blaming the “radical left” for it and threatening to take action against progressive groups in the United States.

Since Antifa lacks a leader or organized structure, it was not immediately clear how Trump intends to substantiate this threat. While police say some antifascist activists are highly organized in local cells, it is impossible to determine the membership, or even define when someone deserves the name.

Furthermore, as a domestic group, Antifa is ineligible for inclusion on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. That list includes “enemies” of the United States, such as the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and, since February, the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua. This designation allows the Department of Justice to prosecute those who provide material support to listed entities.

Trump also raised the possibility earlier this week of revoking tax-exempt status for liberal nonprofits, like the one headed by the billionaire George Soros. “Antifa is terrible. There are other groups,” Trump declared earlier this week in the Oval Office. “We have some pretty radical groups, and they got away with murder,” he added, without citing evidence or elaborating any further.

In July 2019, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, both Republicans, introduced a Senate resolution condemning Antifa’s violent acts and to designate the group as a domestic terrorist organization.

Trump’s former FBI director, Christopher Wray, declared that year that Antifa is an ideology, not an organization, and that it lacks the hierarchical structure that would normally allow the federal government to designate it as a terrorist group.

Trump had already threatened to designate Antifa a terrorist organization on May 31, 2020, six days after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer, which sparked a wave of anti-racist protests across the country in the midst of the Covid pandemic. Back then, his initiative was criticized for being too vague. Now, in his second term in office, the president has shown a much stronger will to carry out his agenda and make good on his threats.

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