U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to persuade Americans that the anti-fascist movement dubbed Antifa poses as grave a threat to the country as designated terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah.
Trump, his top law enforcement officials, and a handful of conservative journalists spent more than an hour at a White House event on Wednesday depicting Antifa as ultra-violent, deep-pocketed and bent on destroying U.S. democracy.
It’s being seen as yet another example of the administration trying to build a case for sending troops into Democratic-run cities such as Chicago and Portland, Ore., that Trump repeatedly depicts as lawless war zones.
During the televised roundtable, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem compared Antifa to Venezuelan crime gangs and Middle Eastern militant groups.
“This network of Antifa is just as sophisticated as MS-13, as TDA [Tren de Aragua], as ISIS, as Hezbollah, as Hamas, as all of them,” she said.
“They are just as dangerous. They have an agenda to destroy us, just like the other terrorists we've dealt with for many, many years,” she said.
WATCH | 'Just as dangerous' as Hamas, ISIS:During a roundtable discussion at the White House on Wednesday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem compared Antifa activists to designated terrorist organizations such as ISIS and Hezbollah, saying that 'they have an agenda to destroy us.'Noem made the comparison despite presenting no evidence or intelligence that Antifa has the weaponry, the capability or even the motivation to carry out attacks on the scale of any of those organizations.
Antifa is a global, decentralized, leaderless movement that considers its mission to protect society from neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
That’s not at all how Trump’s roundtable described it.
Trump said Antifa and other “far-left extremists” have been carrying out what he called “a campaign of violence” against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
“You should see what we have on these people. These are bad people. These are people that want to destroy our country,” Trump said.
FBI director Kash Patel told the gathering that Antifa is “harming everyday citizens in every single one of our communities” and vowed to “follow the money” to dismantle it.
“That's what it's going to take to bring down this network of organized criminal thugs, gang bangers, and yes, domestic terrorists because that's what they are,” said Patel.
Anti-fascist protesters dressed as unicorns hold signs as people gather on the waterfront to demonstrate against a Proud Boy rally on Aug. 22, 2021, in Portland, Ore. (Alex Milan Tracy/The Associated Press)David Schanzer, an expert in counterterrorism strategy, counterterrorism law and homeland security, says he believes the real motivation behind the administration’s portrayal of Antifa is to justify a broader crackdown on left-wing protest.
“They’re trying to demonstrate that there’s some sort of threat out there to the average American,” Schanzer said in an interview.
He questions whether the authorities have any proof that Antifa poses such a danger.
“Show me the money,” said Schanzer, a former adviser to Democrats on Capitol Hill, now a professor at Duke University.
“If there’s a clear and present threat, if they have evidence of this level of organization, then they have an obligation to protect the American public and wrap these organizations up.”
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, centre, stands on the roof of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, on Tuesday. (Ethan Swope/The Associated Press)Trump signed an order in September declaring Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, but legal analysts say the practical effect of the designation is unclear.
The U.S. government has not previously designated any domestic group as a terrorist organization, and federal law enforcement officials already have the power to investigate groups engaging in violent crime.
Attorney General Pam Bondi gave a hint of how the Department of Justice could try to frame the argument for targeting the anti-ICE demonstrations, given U.S. constitutional protections of the right to peaceful protest.
“This is not activism, it's anarchy,” said Bondi. “We can't and we will not let masked terrorists burn our buildings, attack our law enforcement, intimidate our communities.”
The White House officials gave plenty of roundtable airtime to a series of conservative social media influencers who took turns telling stories about being on the receiving end of Antifa violence and urging the administration to take action.
“Mr. President, we need to do something about this because I fear that the next one who could be killed could be sitting at this table right now,” said Jack Posobiec, who has 3.2 million followers on X.
The participants gave lots of attention to the city of Portland. Trump has attempted to send members of the National Guard there but has so far been stopped in court.
“I was in Portland yesterday and had the chance to visit with the governor of Oregon, and also the mayor,” said Noem. “They are absolutely covering up the terrorism that is hitting their streets.”
Noem visited the ICE facility in Portland that Trump has described as “under siege” from Antifa. Photos of Noem's view from the rooftop view showed a smattering of demonstrators holding signs, and one person wearing a chicken suit.