Trump signs executive order branding Antifa a ‘domestic terrorist organization’ in sweeping crackdown on militant anarchist movement

Donald Trump signed an order on Monday designating the left-wing Antifa movement as a domestic terrorist organization, the White House said, following the killing of right-wing ally Charlie Kirk.

Antifa is a shorthand term for ‘anti-fascist’ used to describe diffuse far-left groups, and there have been questions since Trump first mooted the designation last week about how to define it.

Trump’s order described Antifa as a ‘militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government’ and was using ‘violence and terrorism’ to suppress free speech.

‘Because of the aforementioned pattern of political violence designed to suppress lawful political activity and obstruct the rule of law, I hereby designate Antifa as a ‘domestic terrorist organization’,’ said the order.

Trump had teased the order on social media last week during a state visit to the United Kingdom that he would be making such a designation.

He called Antifa a ‘SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER’ and said he will be ‘strongly recommending’ that its funders be investigated.

The White House released Trump’s executive order shortly after he departed for New York, where he was addressing the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

Antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

President Donald Trump has signed an order designating a decentralized movement known as Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. Trump is pictured on Monday afternoon

Short for ‘anti-fascists,’ antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demos

Trump tweeted about the terrorist designation last week while on a trip to the UK

Antifa is a domestic entity and, as such, is not a candidate for inclusion on the State Department´s list of foreign terror organizations.

Dozens of groups, including extremist organizations like the Islamic State and al-Qaida, are included on that list.

The designation matters in part because it enables the Justice Department to prosecute those who give material support to entities on that list even if that support does not result in violence.

But there is no domestic equivalent to that list in part because of broad First Amendment protections enjoyed by organizations operating within the United States.

And despite periodic calls, particularly after mass shootings by white supremacists, to establish a domestic terrorism law, no singular statute now exists.

The executive order did not specify how Trump he would go about designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.

Literature from the Antifa movement encourages followers to pursue lawful protest activity as well as more confrontational acts, according to a 2018 Congressional Research Service report.

The literature suggests that followers monitor the activities of white supremacist groups, publicize online the personal information of perceived enemies, develop self-defense training regimens and compel outside organizations to cancel any speakers or events with ‘a fascist bent,’ the report said.

Trump has signed an order designating a decentralized movement known as Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization

Trump described the Antifa movement as ‘sick and dangerous’ (pictured: 2021 protestors setting a flag on fire)

A right-wing demonstrator (left) and masked Antifa counter-protester face off in the street in Portland in August 2019

People associated with Antifa have been present for significant demonstrations and counter-demonstrations in recent years, including mobilizing against a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.

They were also present during clashes with far-right groups in Portland, Oregon.

Trump said it’s a very bad and ‘sick’ group. The executive order says Antifa ‘uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide’ to accomplish its goal of overthrowing the U.S. government.

The order calls on relevant government departments and agencies to use every authority to investigate, disrupt and dismantle any and all illegal operations, including terrorist actions conducted by Antifa or anyone claiming to act on its behalf.

In Trump’s first term, he and and members of his administration singled out Antifa as being responsible for the violence at protests triggered by the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes and held it there even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air.

Then-Attorney General William Barr described ‘Antifa-like tactics’ by out-of-state agitators and said Antifa was instigating violence and engaging in ‘domestic terrorism’ and would be dealt with accordingly.

In Trump’s first term, he and and members of his administration singled out antifa as being responsible for the violence at protests triggered by the killing of George Floyd. Pictured, protests in Portland, from May 2020

A protester holds his hands up as police officers enter Lafayette Park during a demonstration against the death in Minneapolis police custody of black man George Floyd in May 2020

Trump has long been obsessed with Antifa as these tweets from his first term show

At the time, Trump blamed Antifa by name for the violence, along with violent mobs, arsonists and looters.

He recently began singling out Antifa again by name following the Sept. 10 assassination of conservative youth activist Charlie Kirk, who was a big supporter of the president.

In an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office last week, Trump said he would pursue a domestic terrorism designation for Antifa if such a move had the support of Pam Bondi, the current attorney general, and other Cabinet members.

‘It´s something I would do, yeah,’ Trump said. ‘I would do that 100%. Antifa is terrible.’

He previously had called for Antifa to be designated as a terror organization after skirmishes in Portland, Oregon, during his first term.

The anti-fascist protest movement known as antifa gained new prominence in the United States after the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA, in August 2017.

In Charlottesville and at many subsequent events held by white supremacists or right-wing extremists, antifa activists have aggressively confronted what they believe to be authoritarian movements and groups.

While most counter-protestors tend to be peaceful, there have been several instances where encounters between antifa and the far-right have turned violent.

The antifa sometimes use a logo with a double flag, usually in black and red

These violent counter-protesters are often part of ‘antifa’ (short for ‘antifascist’), a loose collection of groups, networks and individuals who believe in active, aggressive opposition to far right-wing movements. Their ideology is rooted in the assumption that the Nazi party would never have been able to come to power in Germany if people had more aggressively fought them in the streets in the 1920s and 30s.

Most antifa come from the anarchist movement or from the far left, though since the 2016 presidential election, some people with more mainstream political backgrounds have also joined their ranks.

The antifa sometimes use a logo with a double flag, usually in black and red. The antifa movement began in the 1960s in Europe, and had reached the US by the end of the 1970s. Most people who show up to counter or oppose white supremacist public events are peaceful demonstrators, but when antifa show up, as they frequently do, they can increase the chances that an event may turn violent.

Antifa have expanded their definition of fascist/fascism to include not just white supremacists and other extremists, but also many conservatives and supporters of President Trump.

Because there is no unifying body for antifa, it is impossible to know how many ‘members’ are currently active. Different localities have antifa populations of different strengths, but antifa are also sometimes willing to travel hundreds of miles to oppose a white supremacist event.