President Donald Trump said he will designate the antifa movement as a “major terrorist organization.”
Trump made the announcement on Truth Social just before 1:30 a.m. local time while on a state visit to the U.K. The president said he’s also calling for investigations into people believed to be “funding” the movement.
“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.”
What is Antifa?
Antifa, which is short for anti-fascist, is a left-wing movement that lacks a clear hierarchy or organization. Trump’s former FBI director, Christopher Wray, told Congress in 2020 that antifa is “not a group or an organization,” but rather a “movement or an ideology.”
The ADL similarly describes antifa as “a decentralized, leaderless movement composed of loose collections of groups, networks and individuals.” While some extreme actors who claim to be affiliated with antifa have engaged in violence or vandalism, the ADL says that behavior is “not the norm.”
What happens now?
It’s unclear exactly what practical effects this designation could have. The U.S. government does not provide a “precise, comprehensive, and public explanation” of groups it may consider to be domestic terrorist organizations, in part because of free speech concerns, according to a 2023 Congressional Research Service report.
“Listing groups in this way may infringe on First Amendment-protected free speech—or the act of belonging to an ideological group, which in and of itself is not a crime in the United States,” the report says.
The Independent has contacted the White House for more information.
The announcement comes a week after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at an event on Utah Valley University’s campus.
Trump and his allies have since railed against left-wing groups and blamed them for growing hostility against conservatives. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both vowed to investigate left-leaning organizations in the wake of Kirk’s killing, Bloomberg reports.
Trump previewed the announcement earlier this week, telling reporters Monday that he would consider the designation if he had the support of Attorney General Pam Bondi and other cabinet members.
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican, praised Trump’s late-night announcement, according to the Associated Press.
“Antifa seized upon a movement of legitimate grievances to promote violence and anarchy, working against justice for all,” he said. “The President is right to recognize the destructive role of Antifa by designating them domestic terrorists.”
Others have been more critical, including CNN’s David Axelrod, who warned that the designation could be “a pretext to go after their political enemies.”
“They will go after everyone and everything that they put under that umbrella, even though it isn’t an organization,” Axelrod said.
Trump first vowed to designate antifa as a terrorist organization during his first term, during nationwide protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd in 2020. However, legal experts at the time raised free speech concerns and warned that the designation lacked legal backing, Reuters reports.
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