Trump labels Antifa terrorists while critics question the group’s existence

Democratic lawmakers and liberal media pundits increasingly claim that Antifa doesn’t exist as president Donald Trump It is working to crush the far-left armed group after years of documented incidents of violence.

“There is no ‘Antifa,’ and it’s a made-up organization,” said former CNN journalist John Harwood. Published to X Wednesday.

“Name a member of Antifa,” New York Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman posted on X September 22. “If he is ‘openly’ calling for the overthrow of the US government, where can I find this statement? Trump is trying to suppress dissent by labeling anyone who opposes a ‘domestic terrorist’. Don’t be fooled: this is illegal and unconstitutional.”

Democrats and liberals have increasingly claimed that Antifa is not a real organization since Trump designated it a domestic terrorist organization in September. Critics of the administration point to Antifa’s lack of an established hierarchy or membership process.

Antifa is a far-left militant movement that presents itself as an “anti-fascist” activist group that is frequently mobilized during high-profile protests and riots, such as during consecutive nights of national violence at the height of the 2020 riots.

Trump ordered National Guard Troops arrived in Portland, Oregon, at the end of September, with the White House saying the city was rocked by “the deliberate chaos that has marred the city for years — resulting in officers being beaten, citizens terrorized and property defaced” at the hands of Antifa members.

“Since early June, Antifa militants have besieged the ICE field office in South Portland. These lunatics have violently breached the facility using a stop sign as a beating device, thrown explosives and other projectiles, burned the American flag, repeatedly assaulted officers, attacked, and injured officers with pepper spray, rocks, bricks, and trash. officers, berated neighbors, and even brought out the guillotine,” the White House posted in announcing the order on September 30.

In the days since Trump first floated the deployment of the National Guard PortlandIn Oregon, Democrats and other critics have claimed that antifa does not exist or pose a threat to law-abiding residents.

“I don’t even know what antifa is. I know what the definition of antifa is…there is no group,” the podcast host said Chuck Todd he said in September.

“I hope he can first define what Antifa is, because there is no Antifa organization,” Goldman added in a statement. “He is using the murder of Charlie Kirk as an excuse to go after people he doesn’t agree with.” CNN interview In September.

These claims echo the leftist narrative of 2020, when Democrats and liberals argued that Antifa did not exist as cities saw repeated nights of violent protests and riots following the killing of George Floyd while in police custody.

For example, New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler called Antifa a “myth” when talking about the 2020 violence in July of that year, The Washington Times reported. Joy Behar of “The View” dismissed the Antifa movement as “Fake idea“In 2021, adding that it is “something that does not even exist.”

Then-FBI Director Chris Wray, under the first Trump administration, also told lawmakers in 2020 that antifa “is not a group or an organization. It is a movement or an ideology.”

This phrase was repeated later by Joe Biden During his debate against Trump before the 2020 elections.

The White House stressed that Antifa is “An extremist terrorist organization “Which has been wreaking havoc and committing acts of violence in American communities for a very long time,” when asked about the left’s downplaying of the group’s existence.

“Anyone who denies this fact is either willfully lying or just plain stupid,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “President Trump and his entire administration are committed to stopping Antifa violence once and for all.”

However, Antifa and individuals associated with the group have been repeatedly linked to violence.

Freelance journalist Andy Njoo gained national notoriety in 2019 when he was attacked by masked members of Antifa during a protest in Portland, Oregon. The far-left group has also been accused of escalating tensions throughout the 2020 protests and riots, including supporters and members creating the “CHOP” zone in Seattle that year, which described itself as a so-called police-free autonomous zone that saw a handful of violence, including the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy.

In 2018, a supporter of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was attacked Antifa militants For carrying an American flag in Portland, Oregon, while a Trump supporter was shot and killed there in 2020 by another man who identified himself online as “100% antifa,According to previous reports, there were more than 100 anti-fascist supporters and Antifa members Arrested In Portland after Biden’s inauguration after clashing with police and vandalizing the Oregon Democratic Party office while demanding “revenge for police killings, imperialist wars and fascist massacres.”

In 2025, in Portland, Oregon, anti-ICE protesters held repeated demonstrations outside the city’s immigration facility, including burning an American flag and rolling out a guillotine before clashing with police in September.

Local Democrats in the area have objected to Trump’s order, filing lawsuits claiming it would be excessive because there is no current threat to public safety.

“When the president and I spoke yesterday, I told him in plain language that there is no insurrection or threat to public safety that warrants military intervention in Portland or any other city in our state,” Oregon Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek said in a Sept. 28 statement. “Despite this — and all evidence to the contrary — he has chosen to ignore the safety of Oregonians and their ability to govern ourselves. This is not necessary. It is illegal. It will result in less safe Oregonians.”

The administration defended the deployment of the National Guard “to protect federal assets and personnel,” specifically Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities and officials who were repeatedly protested under the second Trump administration.

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Trump’s National Guard order is currently tied up in the courts after a federal judge ruled to temporarily block the order from taking effect earlier in October.

Amid Democrats and pundits criticizing Trump’s actions on Antifa, White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt has repeatedly criticized the media for its reporting on Antifa violence in recent weeks.

“This is something that the president has campaigned on because we have seen a rise in violence committed by Antifa, and they are extremist people across this country who belong to this group,” Leavitt said during statements to the media in September. “Unfortunately, it was widely exposed by many in the legacy media. It was also completely ignored by the previous administration. Not anymore.”