{"id":13014,"date":"2025-09-28T14:55:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T06:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014"},"modified":"2025-09-28T14:55:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T06:55:28","slug":"trump-goes-after-antifa-sparking-fears-about-crackdown-on-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014","title":{"rendered":"Trump goes after antifa, sparking fears about crackdown on dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An executive order labeling antifa as a domestic terrorist organization is spurring pushback from critics across the ideological spectrum who say President Trump is laying the groundwork to crack down on those with opposing views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short for anti-fascism, national security experts say antifa is not the sprawling, organized group that Trump has claimed but rather a loosely formed ideological movement, one at times embraced by protesters who have violently clashed with police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAntifa is a movement like feminism or environmental activism, as opposed to a distinct group,\u201d said Faiza Patel, director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not like a group that you can sort of target with financial sanctions in the same way you would with a foreign terrorist organization. So then that leads you to the question of, well, then what does this executive order actually do?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White House officials argue antifa and other left-wing groups were part of a complex network that has been creating chaos and fomenting political violence, and that it needed to be addressed through the power of the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are not lone, isolated events. This is part of an organized campaign of radical left terrorism,\u201d deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Thursday. \u201cIt is structured, it is sophisticated, it is well-funded, it is well-planned. There is really no parallel like this to anything else in the country right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump order comes in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which has prompted an outcry from the White House over political violence it blames on the left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Trump\u2019s desire to crack down on antifa and the left isn\u2019t entirely new. Trump in 2020 said he would designate antifa as a terrorist organization amid the height of Black Lives Matter protests, though he never followed through with an official action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pat Eddington, a fellow with the libertarian Cato Institute, called the executive order \u201cidiotic\u201d but said it carries significant risks because Trump administration officials will take it seriously, and can use it as a pretext for going after those espousing views Trump doesn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith a complete loyalist like [Attorney General] Pam Bondi in charge over at the Department of Justice, you can be sure that this is going to be treated with absolute seriousness. They\u2019re going to use this as an opportunity, essentially, to go after anybody that engages in the kind of activity that Trump described in his executive order,\u201d he told The Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House disagrees strongly with that view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cANTIFA is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that uses violence and terrorism to try and accomplish their sick goals. For many years, Democrat politicians have tried to downplay ANTIFA\u2019s reign of terror and looked the other way while left-wing violence plagued American communities, just like these so-called \u2018experts\u2019 are doing now,\u201d White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to The Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo more. At President Trump\u2019s direction, the entire federal government will work together to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle all illegal operations conducted by ANTIFA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday\u2019s order designates antifa as a \u201cdomestic terrorist organization,\u201d a title for which there is no legal mechanism like there is for foreign terrorist groups (FTOs). Designation as an FTO is often used to stifle any financial backing of such groups, limiting access to banking and other methods of funding their activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The order gives government agencies a broad mandate to \u201cinvestigate, disrupt, and dismantle\u201d any operations conducted by antifa or for any operation where an antifa member \u201cprovided material support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The order also alleges antifa uses \u201cillegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide\u201d to accomplish its goals of overthrowing the government and law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump on Thursday signed another presidential memorandum on countering domestic political violence. That memo instructed government agencies, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force at the Department of Defense, to pursue left-wing groups and those providing them resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at the funders of a lot of these groups,\u201d Trump said. But when pressed on whom specifically he was targeting, he offered speculation that prominent liberals like George Soros and LinkedIn co-founder Reed Hoffman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said antifa ideology doesn\u2019t match Trump\u2019s allegations about the group, which he\u2019s accused of being highly organized and carrying out widespread violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there is an organized group called antifa that is committing domestic terrorism, then we should go after them. But I think it\u2019s a bit of a figment of his imagination,\u201d Swalwell said of Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a concept which is like, people are anti-fascism, and so they will act in the spirit of anti-fascism. If they do that in a violent way, that\u2019s wrong, and I don\u2019t want that to happen either. But I don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to find the minutes from the last antifa board meeting, because I don\u2019t think they exist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would align with the take of Trump\u2019s first FBI director, Christopher Wray, who in 2020 told Congress, \u201cIt\u2019s not a group or an organization. It\u2019s a movement or an ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But GOP voices said Trump is making the right call by looking to monitor and address a possible threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAntifa is certainly engaged in what would be considered domestic terrorism. It would be the first time we have a domestic terror group, that\u2019s I think where people are confused. But are these people engaged in this? Like, yes, violence with a political lens is a pretty good indicator of what we might call terrorism,\u201d said Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), a member of the House Intelligence Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re definitely very structured. For a while, it seems to me like [they had] well organized meetings, almost like this uniform they wear, in a way, a symbology. They already grew. Now, you haven\u2019t seen or heard from them in a while,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, told The Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FBI already monitors anti-government extremism, a category that includes those with a variety of ideological perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patel disputed the need for the order, calling it a messaging tool from Trump that could be used to escalate pushback on opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re basically taking something that is sort of generally recognized to be a movement of sort of different groups operating not in coordination with each other \u2014 to characterize it as an overall organized campaign. And that is a very important messaging move,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal, she said, is to brand antifa as \u201ccoordinating some massive national security threat across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s painting this movement as extremely dangerous and extremely threatening and coordinated, so I think it is a really important step, because that potentially opens up other avenues for the government to target people who may in some way be associated with this movement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eddington said it gives Trump officials a pretext to go after those criticizing the administration \u2014 something he argued has already happened in the immigration arena, where those critical of the U.S. response to the Israel\u2019s war efforts in Gaza were threatened with deportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a pattern and practice there, and it\u2019s this template, essentially, that it can just turn around and use. And so instead of it being related to the Israel-Hamas conflict and Arab or Palestinian folks, now it\u2019s \u2026 left-leaning people in an antifa context, engaging in anti-Trump related speech, and they\u2019re simply looking for additional pretext to go after them in order to get them so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He fears the FBI could use the order from Trump as an \u201cauthorized purpose\u201d \u2014 a way to ignite an investigation that doesn\u2019t require showing probable cause, allowing law enforcement to recruit informants, question people without revealing they are an agent, and search government databases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s a huge amount they can do without ever having to go before a federal judge to get authorization for it when they\u2019re doing it as an assessment,\u201d Eddington said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An executive order labeling antifa as a domestic terrorist organization is spurring pushback from critics across the ideological spectrum who say President Trump is laying the groundwork to crack down on those with opposing views. Short for anti-fascism, national security experts say antifa is not the sprawling, organized group that Trump has claimed but rather […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":13015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3652,3631,1724],"class_list":["post-13014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-antifa","tag-left","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump goes after antifa, sparking fears about crackdown on dissent - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump goes after antifa, sparking fears about crackdown on dissent - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An executive order labeling antifa as a domestic terrorist organization is spurring pushback from critics across the ideological spectrum who say President Trump is laying the groundwork to crack down on those with opposing views. Short for anti-fascism, national security experts say antifa is not the sprawling, organized group that Trump has claimed but rather […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-28T06:55:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-28T06:55:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20250928142113.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"317\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"177\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Xenia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/\",\"name\":\"LISTEN WORLD\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20250928142113.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20250928142113.jpg\",\"width\":317,\"height\":177},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014\",\"name\":\"Trump goes after antifa, sparking fears about crackdown on dissent - LISTEN WORLD\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-28T06:55:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-28T06:55:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/0858d87b9dca5080708652d8e71bab95\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u9996\u9875\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump goes after antifa, sparking fears about crackdown on dissent\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/0858d87b9dca5080708652d8e71bab95\",\"name\":\"Xenia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28b948f24823b0b7ad891b285d30c0f9eb58ea462ebe1e48936fbba5e46a42c2?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28b948f24823b0b7ad891b285d30c0f9eb58ea462ebe1e48936fbba5e46a42c2?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Xenia\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?author=10\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump goes after antifa, sparking fears about crackdown on dissent - LISTEN WORLD","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump goes after antifa, sparking fears about crackdown on dissent - LISTEN WORLD","og_description":"An executive order labeling antifa as a domestic terrorist organization is spurring pushback from critics across the ideological spectrum who say President Trump is laying the groundwork to crack down on those with opposing views. Short for anti-fascism, national security experts say antifa is not the sprawling, organized group that Trump has claimed but rather […]","og_url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014","og_site_name":"LISTEN WORLD","article_published_time":"2025-09-28T06:55:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-28T06:55:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":317,"height":177,"url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20250928142113.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Xenia","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/","name":"LISTEN WORLD","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20250928142113.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20250928142113.jpg","width":317,"height":177},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014#webpage","url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014","name":"Trump goes after antifa, sparking fears about crackdown on dissent - LISTEN WORLD","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2025-09-28T06:55:22+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-28T06:55:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/0858d87b9dca5080708652d8e71bab95"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13014#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u9996\u9875","item":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump goes after antifa, sparking fears about crackdown on dissent"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/0858d87b9dca5080708652d8e71bab95","name":"Xenia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28b948f24823b0b7ad891b285d30c0f9eb58ea462ebe1e48936fbba5e46a42c2?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28b948f24823b0b7ad891b285d30c0f9eb58ea462ebe1e48936fbba5e46a42c2?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","caption":"Xenia"},"url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?author=10"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13016,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13014\/revisions\/13016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}