When the president announced his intention to designate Antifa as a major terrorist organization on Sept. 17, he reaffirmed his commitment to protecting the American people by upholding law and order.
Antifa’s attacks on government and law enforcement represent a clear and present threat to our people, our values, and our freedoms.
Antifa and similar radical organizations have been responsible for many destructive episodes in America’s recent history, including 500 violent protests, firebombing a federal courthouse in Portland, damaging more than 1,500 businesses in Minnesota, assaulting 900 police officers, and inflicting $2 billion worth of property damage during the summer of 2020 alone.
Antifa employs a wide range of violent and destructive tactics in its quest to overthrow the government, fight law enforcement officials, and undermine the rule of law.
Its members light American cities on fire.
When not smashing windows or setting cars ablaze, Antifa and other political extremists target their opponents through doxing campaigns, issue death threats against public figures, and incite violence on social media and in public.
Usually clad in all-black and armed with crude weapons, Antifa come looking for a fight.
Now, with a terrorist designation from President Trump, they’ve got one. Except instead of innocent civilians, commuters, or law enforcement officers — they’ve picked a fight with the full force of the American justice system.
Calls to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization emerged in the wake of the 2020 protests but have finally been fulfilled as Antifa has metastasized and radicalized numerous individuals to violent acts.
Most recently, the left-wing assassin of Charlie Kirk wrote “Hey fascist, catch!” on a bullet casing — mirroring the violent rhetoric of Antifa-like organizations.
Violent attacks by Antifa clearly constitute “domestic terrorism,” defined by federal law as activities that “involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States” intended to coerce, intimidate, or influence civilians or the government.
President Trump has a moral obligation to treat these crimes as domestic terrorism.
While there is currently no formal designation for domestic terror groups akin to the State Department’s published list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, President Trump’s designation will allow the FBI to conduct domestic terrorism probes with increased resources and the Department of Justice to prosecute domestic terrorism cases with enhanced penalties and longer sentences.
President Trump’s announcement delivers an unmistakable directive to federal law enforcement and a clear warning to violent extremists: American communities will no longer be engulfed in chaos or held hostage to the demands of radicals.
Predictably, not everyone is on board with the president’s common-sense decision.
The left’s project to protect criminals includes parroting the dangerous lie that Antifa is only an idea, not an organization.
This is patently false.
Not only is it insulting to the intelligence of the public to suggest that hundreds of organized violent protests wreaking billions of dollars of damage throughout the U.S. have been the result of random chance, but it is also demonstrably untrue.
Antifa is not some nebulous mass of anonymous people united by a vague affinity for anti-fascist ideology.
Antifa is a vast collection of militant criminals with established chapters across the country, social media accounts with tens of thousands of followers.
Antifa is also comprised of a murky financial network fueling riots, vandalism, arson, looting, attacks on law enforcement, and indiscriminate destruction intended to intimidate civilians and government officials throughout the U.S..
Antifa’s fragmented leadership and decentralized structure make it essential that the federal government investigate the entities organizing, directing, and funding mass violence.
President Trump’s announcement has already prompted greater law enforcement scrutiny into how Antifa operates by directing federal law enforcement to investigate the organization’s coordinated activities and sources of funding.
Federal law enforcement agencies must dismantle the criminal enterprises that enable violence and endanger our republic by investigating the opaque leadership and financial backing that have empowered Antifa to organize across the nation to execute violence at a massive scale.
Solutions are impossible so long as we fail to identify the threat we face.
President Trump has identified that threat; those without the moral clarity and courage to do so have buried their heads in the sand.
While the left and their allies in the media continue misleading the American public by minimizing or ignoring organized violence, Antifa chapters around the country have already vowed to continue fighting as designated terrorists.
Fortunately, we finally have a president with the courage to fight back.
Chad F. Wolf serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer, and Chair of Homeland Security and Immigration at the America First Policy Institute. He served as acting Secretary of Homeland Security during President Trump’s first term.
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