Trump designates Antifa as a 'MAJOR' terrorist organization — and can likely make the label stick this time

Antifa is a decentralized anarcho-communist militant group that has long threatened lives and property in the United States as well as in Europe. It inherited its name, violent reflexes, and much of its symbology from Antifaschistische Aktion, the paramilitary wing of the Communist Party of Germany in the 1930s.

Amid the Black Lives Matter riots and just 20 days prior to a Trump supporter's murder by an Antifa thug, former Attorney General Bill Barr told Blaze Media co-founder Mark Levin that Antifa is "a revolutionary group that is interested in some form of socialism, communism. They're essentially Bolsheviks. Their tactics are fascistic."

'Expect a lot of liberal and left-wing media propaganda the next few days about Antifa.'

In the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination by a coward whose ammunition was reportedly engraved with Antifa slogans, President Donald Trump signaled a renewed desire to bring the weight of the American republic down on the violent leftist group.

Trump went the distance on Wednesday evening, announcing that he is designating "ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION."

"I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices," added Trump. "Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

The FBI has in recent years declined to designate Antifa or any other organization a "domestic terrorist organization," partly in fear of infringing on First Amendment-protected speech. This unwillingness on the part of the FBI helped frustrate Trump's effort to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization during his first term.

There is, however, more than one way to skin a cat.

RELATED: Media tries to protect Antifa with tired al-Qaeda talking points

AMY OSBORNE/AFP via Getty Images

While various Republican lawmakers have unsuccessfully attempted in recent years to create an official domestic terrorism organization list and put Antifa on it, Secretary of State Marco Rubio can, with relative ease, designate the group as a foreign terrorist organization under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Kyle Shideler, a senior analyst at the Center for Security Policy, told "Blaze News: The Mandate" on Monday that an optimal approach would be to identify a number of foreign Antifa groups, tie them back to an international Antifa network such as the International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund, "then you go after U.S.-based groups that are also tied to that international network, and so you build a series of designations that way."

"Now you could argue, and I think it would be legitimate, for a single terrorism designation against Antifa as a foreign terrorist organization," said Shideler. "If you try to designate Antifa just as a single movement, what I suspect you'll find is that the bureaucrats will say, 'We don't know what that is. That's not a thing that exists.'"

Andy Ngo, the journalist who was savagely attacked by Antifa thugs at a Portland, Oregon, protest in May 2019, noted after Trump made his announcement on Wednesday, "Expect a lot of liberal and left-wing media propaganda the next few days about Antifa. They will say the movement doesn't organize into groups and that those groups are peaceful, racial justice activists simply opposed to fascism.

"Don't let them get away with lying," added Ngo.

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