President Donald Trump Sets Sights on Antifa
President Donald Trump stated Saturday that he is considering declaring the extreme-left Antifa group a terrorist organization, drawing parallels between the extremist street movement and the MS-13 street gang after years of black masked thugs violently attacking conservative demonstrators and journalists at rallies across the country.
“Consideration is being given to declaring ANTIFA, the gutless Radical Left Wack Jobs who go around hitting (only non-fighters) people over the heads with baseball bats, a major Organization of Terror (along with MS-13 & others). Would make it easier for police to do their job!” President Donald Trump tweeted.
Trump’s tweet comes as a response to Senator Bill Cassidy and one time Trump rival Senator Ted Cruz introducing legislation to Congress that would officially designate the group as a domestic terrorist organization.
“Antifa are terrorists, violent masked bullies who ‘fight fascism’ with actual fascism, protected by Liberal privilege,” Cassidy said in a statement. “Bullies get their way until someone says no. Elected officials must have courage, not cowardice, to prevent terror.”
Who is Antifa?
“Antifa” is a group of far left extremists most of whom subscribe to the ideologies of Marxism or Anarchism (as can be seen by the twin red and black flags on their logo). They claim descent from the original “Antifaschistische Action” group formed in 1932 by the Communist Party of Germany as a rebranding exercise after their previous armed militia groups had all been banned for murdering political opponents and repeatedly trying to overthrow the government of the Weimar republic. While the original was founded by hardcore Stalinists the modern movement is more Anarchist in tone having grown out of the “Autonomen” movement of West Germany in the 1980s. They believe almost everyone to the right of centre is a Fascist, a crypto-fascist or a fascist enabler and that violence against “fascism” is always justified.
The group has leapt into mainstream public consciousness recently due to their violent targeting of non-violent opponents and journalists including the now notorious assault on gay Asian conservative Andy Ngo. The extreme nature of the group and their extremely broad definition of “fascist” has become impossible to deny last week after a suicide attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility by a self-proclaimed Anarchist and Antifa member who saw his attempted bombing as justified by the “Fascism” of Donald trump, a democratically elected president.
As in Australia, far left extremists in the United States have been allowed to slink under the radar due to their friends and sympathisers in the media who cover up their crimes and present them as heroes. One hopes that this effort by President Trump and Senators Cruz and Cassidy is the first step in remedying that injustice and bringing these baying mobs of black clad privileged children throwing violent tantrums if not to justice then at least to heel.
