Trump escalates crackdown by designating ‘Antifa’ a domestic terror group

The Trump administration’s crackdown on perceived left-wing threats following the death of Charlie Kirk continued on Monday evening, with Donald Trump announcing an executive order titled “Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization.” The order directs federal departments and agencies to “investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations — especially those involving terrorist actions — conducted by Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa, or for which Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa provided material support.”

The impact of the order is unclear, as experts have noted that “domestic terrorism” isn’t recognized or sanctioned in the way foreign terror groups are. Additionally, “antifa” is an unstructured anti-fascist movement, as Trump-appointed former FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress in 2020 that antifa was not an organization, but a “movement or ideology.” Trump first said he would sign the order on Truth Social last week.

Today’s order claims that “Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government,” with “coordinated efforts to obstruct enforcement of Federal laws through armed standoffs with law enforcement, organized riots, violent assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement officers, and routine doxing of and other threats against political figures and activists.”

Since Kirk’s shooting, there have been Republican commentators, politicians, and public officials calling for civil liberties crackdowns targeting speech and donations to liberal political causes. Today’s order goes hand in hand with the campaigns targeting employers, Big Tech companies, and late-night talk show hosts.