Jonathan P. Baird

It is not everyday that you see a President issuing an Executive Order directing the full weight of the federal government against an imaginary organization. Such is the case with Trump’s September order targeting anti-fascism. In the Executive Order, he designated Antifa a “domestic terrorist organization”. This was followed by National Security Presidential Memorandum – 7 that continued in the same vein.

The most peculiar thing about this initiative is the fact that there is no Antifa organization. The government cannot tell us who the leader of Antifa is and where that leader is based.

Antifa, which is short for anti-fascism, is an umbrella term for a range of people on the political left who oppose Nazism, white supremacy and sexism. They are a loose, decentralized collection of individuals who gained some notoriety in Portland Oregon five years ago during the George Floyd protests. Since that time, they have been dormant and out of the spotlight.

In the absence of any public display and in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination, Trump resurrected Antifa to be a “major terrorist organization”. At a presidential roundtable discussion on October 8, Trump referred to Antifa as “paid anarchists”. Again, specifics are never provided about who these people are and who is paying them. I was reminded of the many signs at the No Kings demonstration that said “Hey Trump, nobody paid us to be here! We all hate you for free!”.

Trump has asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to designate Antifa a foreign terrorist organization. Stephen Miller, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff, has said that Antifa has extensive foreign ties.

At the presidential roundtable, far right influencer of Pizzagate fame, Jack Posobiec said Antifa goes back 100 years to the Weimar Republic before the Nazis ruled Germany. He compared the anti-fascists who opposed Hitler coming to power to the people opposing Trump today. If we step back for a moment and think about that comparison, Posobiec would appear to have no problem placing Trump into the position of Hitler. Both opposed anti-fascists. Forgotten is the reality that America fought fascism, not anti-fascism, in World War 2.

The Trump regime is intent upon creating an entire mythology and history of a non-existent organization.

The question inevitably arises: why is Trump scapegoating an imaginary organization? I think the answer is that such a designation would allow the Trump regime wide latitude to prosecute anyone liberal or left who opposes his policies. Stephen Miller has stated, “The Democratic Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization”. Miller says there is a large and growing movement of left-wing terrorism in this country that is well-organized and well-funded.

Nothing could be more ridiculous. As someone very familiar with the American left over the last 50 years, I can authoritatively state the left is overwhelmingly non-violent and rejects terrorism. The Trump regime is manufacturing an Antifa crisis to achieve other ends. Like other dictatorships, they want to repress all opposition to their authoritarian rule. This is of a piece with their putting troops in the streets when there is no rebellion or insurrection. They are the architects of the problems they allege they are solving.

Antifa is like a ghost. You can fill it with a grab bag of people you deem anti-capitalist, anti-Christian, anti-white or anti-family. The vagueness of pinning down who Antifa is allows for a fishing expedition. Antifa could potentially include anyone who could be painted as left wing or a dissenter.

Criminal liability aside which is no small thing, the threat here is to free exercise of First Amendment rights. Like happened during Red Scares in the past, fear of getting into trouble could become the great inhibitor of free speech. The regime is targeting speech, not action.

It is easy to imagine how this may play out both in social media and in university settings. We already have the shakedowns of major universities. To avoid the possibility of liability, the subject of anti-fascism and anything progressive would become taboo. Stool pigeons would reinforce conformity by threatening to name names.The effect would be chilling, a replay of McCarthyism.

The example of Professor Mark Bray illustrates how these issues have played out in the academic world. Bray teaches in the History Department at Rutgers University. He is an expert on Spain. In 2017, Bray wrote the book, Antifa: the Anti-Fascist Handbook. The book didn’t get much attention then. However, this fall, years after the book appeared and after Trump pushed to categorize Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, Bray started receiving death threats. Somone published information about his family and his home address on X.

Even though he was a very popular professor, Turning Points USA, Charlie Kirk’s organization, circulated a petition labelling him “Dr Antifa” and calling for him to be fired. FOX reported the story also using the pejorative Dr Antifa in referring to Bray. The death threats escalated. Fearing for their safety, Bray and his family fled to Spain. Anyone who voices unpopular ideas could become the next Bray. What is considered acceptable speech could be dramatically narrowed by a new enforced norm.

Antifa is being used as a vehicle by the Trump regime to criminalize all dissent. All freedom loving people of whatever stripe, whether libertarian or on the left, must oppose advancing authoritarianism and the threat to free speech represented by the Antifa Executive Order.