Trump Says He Is Designating Antifa as Terrorist Organization

Antifa will be designated by the United States as a terrorist organization, President Donald Trump announced early on Sept. 18 while visiting the United Kingdom.

“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 posted on Truth Social.

The president said he would also strongly recommend that anyone funding the group be investigated.

Trump’s announcement was made after he and First Lady Melania Trump met with Britain’s royal family at Windsor Castle on the first day of a two-day state visit to the UK.

On Sept. 15, Trump hinted at the designation, saying he would support it in the wake of the assassination of Christian conservative commentator Charlie Kirk last week.

“It’s something I would do, yeah, if I have the support from the people back here,” Trump said, referring to administration officials standing behind him, including Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Antifa is terrible.”

Antifa gathered outside the castle in London, chanting, “Charlie’s in a box” on Sept. 17.

“These societal outcasts are so removed from reality they think it’s funny to laugh at patriots being horrifically murdered,” Turning Point UK, a branch of Kirk’s organization Turning Point USA, posted on X.

The suspect in Kirk’s assassination, Tyler Robinson, is believed to hold extreme leftist viewpoints, according to officials. He also engraved anti-fascist messages on bullets that were recovered by officials.

The FBI continues to investigate the assassination but has not said whether Robinson was in communication with or associated with any antifa groups.

Antifa was initially part of the Soviet Union’s front operations to bring about communist dictatorship in Germany, and it worked to label all rival parties as “fascist.”

The organization can be traced to the “united front” of the Soviet Union’s Communist International (Comintern) during the Third World Congress in Moscow in June and July 1921, according to the German booklet “80 Years of Anti-Fascist Action” by Bernd Langer, published by the Association for the Promotion of Anti-Fascist Culture. Langer is a former member of the Autonome Antifa, formerly one of Germany’s largest Antifa organizations, which disbanded in 2004.

The idea of the united front strategy was to bring together left-wing organizations in order to incite communist revolution. The Soviets believed that after Russia’s revolution in 1917, communism would next spread to Germany, since Germany had the second-largest communist party, the KPD (Communist Party of Germany).

In the United States, it gained popularity with far-left wing activists after Trump was elected for his first term in 2016.

Trump raised the idea of designating antifa as a terrorist group in 2020, posting on Twitter, “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.”

Former Attorney General William Barr confirmed the group was present at some of the violent protests following the death of George Floyd.

Former FBI Director Christopher Wray viewed Antifa differently, saying during a congressional hearing in September 2020 that Antifa is “not a group or an organization” but “a movement or an ideology.”

Those who are involved in the movement are motivated by communism and anarchism, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan think tank in Washington.

Antifa members are known to wear black clothing and masks during protests to shield their identities.

The Trump administration did not offer details on Sept. 17 on how or when it would designate Antifa as a terrorist organization.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) praised Trump’s announcement.

“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.”

In the United States, groups are designated as terrorist organizations after committing violent, criminal acts to further ideological goals of political, religious, social, racial, or environmental natures, according to the FBI.

Joshua Philipp contributed to this report.