Donald Trump suggested his administration could designate Antifa a foreign terrorist organization as top administration officials compared the decentralized militant antifascist movement to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic state in a discussion at the White House to brainstorm law enforcement actions against left-wing dissent.
Right-wing media personalities joined the president and top law enforcement officials for what was billed as a “roundtable” event focused on Antifa, which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled “just as dangerous” as designated terrorist groups and drug cartels.
“They are just as sophisticated as MS-13, as [Tren de Aragua], as Isis, as Hezbollah, as Hamas, as all of them. They are just as dangerous,” Noem said. “They have an agenda to destroy us, just like the other terrorists we’ve dealt with for many, many years.”
Trump — eager for legal justification to extinguish protests targeting his agenda — said Antifa could similarly be designated a foreign terrorist organization, potentially exposing alleged supporters or anyone perceived to be a “member” to severe sanctions and other penalties.
“There are extensive foreign ties, and I think that would be a very valid step,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Wednesday.
The president also touted his recent announcement that anyone convicted of burning an American flag will be sentenced to one year in prison, saying, “we took the freedom of speech away” because, he argued, burning a flag is equivalent to inciting a riot.
“We’ve made it one year penalty for inciting riots,” he said. “We took the freedom of speech away, because that’s been through the courts, and the courts said, ‘you have freedom of speech,’ but what has happened is that when they burn the flag it agitates and irritates crowds … and you end up with riots.”
Wednesday’s event followed the president’s executive order singling out the militant antifascist movement and the people who financially support it as a “domestic terror organization.” There is no “domestic terrorist organization” designation under U.S. law, and Antifa is not a specific organization but a term that encompasses a wider ideologically driven movement against fascism. It’s not clear what legal weight, if any, the order will have.
But federal law allows for international groups to be labeled as foreign terrorist organizations, designated by the Secretary of State as a means of imposing financial sanctions, travel restrictions and other penalties.
Trump’s executive order also directs federal agencies to use “all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations — especially those involving terrorist actions” conducted by Antifa or anyone claiming to be acting on its behalf.
The president also issued a national security directive last month ordering federal law enforcement agencies to “dismantle” groups accused of supporting acts of domestic terror “before” they’re committed, pointing to “anti-Christian,” “anti-capitalism” or “anti-American” views as identifiable markers.
“Fighting crime is more than just getting the bad guy off the streets,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday. “It’s breaking down the organization brick by brick. Just like we did with cartels, we’re going to take this same approach, President Trump, with Antifa: Destroy the entire organization from top to bottom.”
While media personalities at the event accused Antifa of violent attacks, administration officials suggested Democratic elected officials were covering up their crimes. Noem on Wednesday accused Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson of “absolutely covering up the terrorism” in the city, which has become a flashpoint for protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“These leaders in these local cities, along with [Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson], ignore what’s going on, or sir, they’re helping antifa cover it up,” Noem added.
Trump also suggested that Pritzker and Johnson should be criminally prosecuted for “what they’re doing,” which he didn’t explain.
Antifa encompasses individuals and loosely affiliated groups in a broader militant subculture — often physically confronting far-right groups in the streets — that has become a global right-wing bogeyman in the wake of nationwide protests, with some turning violent, over the last decade.
Trump’s actions against Antifa have animated global support from politically aligned world leaders, including Hungary’s Viktor Orban, who announced plans last month to strike against it “with the full strictness of law.”
The U.S. designation may prompt left-leaning donor networks supporting Democratic campaigns and causes to reconsider, pause or withdraw funding over fears that the Trump administration could try to connect them to protests if Antifa is present, or if prosecutors consider the organizations Antifa themselves, solely because of their political affiliation, according to experts speaking to The Independent last month.
“The chill is, in many ways, the point,” said Will Creeley, legal director of Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
