Trump Antifa

By Franziska Spiecker

London (dpa) — US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he would designate the radical left-wing Antifa movement as a terrorist organization.

“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, who is currently on a state visit to the United Kingdom, said in a post on his Truth Social network.

“I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices.”

Antifa is a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist political movement. It is not a centralized organization, but rather a loosely affiliated network of groups and individuals.

Trump did not initially specify how the designation would work in practical terms. The Republican president had already announced a similar classification during his first term in office.

US broadcaster CNN cited a White House official as saying that “this is just one of many actions the president will take to address left wing organizations that fuel political violence.”

Following the killing of influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week, Trump pointed the finger at the rhetoric coming from the “radical left.”

On Monday, Trump said he was considering labelling Antifa a terrorist organization as part of a broader crackdown on what he says is a widespread network of left-wing radicals inciting violence.

“Antifa is terrible,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “There are other groups, we have some pretty radical groups and they got away with murder,” Trump added without expanding or citing evidence for his assertions.

White House deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, also spoke of “vast domestic terror movement” during an episode of Kirk’s namesake podcast which US Vice President Vance hosted on Monday.

Comprehensive US government resources would be used to crush this movement “in Charlie’s name,” said Miller, who is considered a hardliner even within the Trump camp.

Kirk was considered an important voice of the American right. Through events, podcasts and appearances on social media, he reached an audience of millions, especially young men. In 2012, he founded the youth organization Turning Point USA, which is active in numerous high schools and colleges.

Little is known about the exact motives of the 22-year-old suspect. However, immediately after the attack, Trump blamed the “radical left.” Critics accused him of further exacerbating the already heated atmosphere in the country instead of striking a conciliatory tone.

Kirk’s death is one of a series of recent politically motivated acts of violence in the US.