Campaign against a movement: Trump wants to classify Antifa as a terrorist organization

Is antifascism terrorism? According to the US President, it is. On his Truth Social platform, he announced that he would classify the Antifa movement as a terrorist organization. This could open up new opportunities for him to take action against his opponents.

President Donald Trump has announced that he will designate the Antifa movement in the United States as a "major terrorist organization." He didn't explain in his post on Truth Social how exactly he intends to implement this, given the loose movement's lack of organizational structures. "I will also strongly recommend that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated according to the highest legal standards and practices," Trump wrote. The designation could make it easier for the US government to take legal and police action against its opponents.

His move comes one week after the assassination attempt on right-wing US activist Charlie Kirk, which has been making waves in the US for days. Trump didn't directly reference it in the post, but in recent days he has repeatedly blamed the attack on hateful rhetoric from "radical leftists."

His deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, also recently spoke of an "organized campaign" by left-wing groups that led to the attack and described it as a "domestic terrorist movement." Miller, who is considered a hardliner even within the Trump camp, said that comprehensive US government resources would be used to crush this movement "in the name of Charlie." The extent to which the alleged Kirk assassin was ideologically influenced remains unclear.

Antifa is a movement, not an organization

According to non-profit research institutes and civil rights organizations, the Antifa movement in the United States lacks a clear organizational structure. Rather, it is a loosely organized ideological movement without a clear leadership structure or hierarchy. A few years ago, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray also stated that the federal police viewed Antifa as more of a movement than an organization.

For Germany, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution comes to a similar conclusion: "'Antifa' in the sense of a nationwide, clearly defined, and structurally solidified organization of that name does not currently exist." There are numerous local groups and initiatives that gather under the terms "Antifa" or "Antifaschistische Aktion" for specific occasions or that include these terms as part of their name. "These are often loose, temporary associations with changing individuals who are partly, but often not exclusively, active in the left-wing extremist field of 'antifascism.'"

Trump had already floated the idea of ​​classifying Antifa as a terrorist organization in 2020. At that time, there had been nationwide, sometimes violent, protests following the death of Black American George Floyd at the hands of police. Legal experts argued at the time that classifying Antifa as a terrorist organization lacked a legal basis, would be difficult to implement, and raised concerns about freedom of expression.