What Is Antifa, and Why Is Trump Targeting It?

President Donald Trump has designated “antifa” as a “major terrorist organization.”

In a Sept. 17 post on Truth Social, the president said he was “pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am 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,” he added.

Then, on Sept. 22, Trump officially signed an executive order titled “Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization.”

In the executive order, the Trump administration defined antifa as “a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.”

“It uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals,” the order claimed.

Trump previously announced plans to make such a proclamation during his first presidential term in 2020, though nothing officially came of the threat. He resurrected the campaign against antifa in the days following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, tying the political organizer’s death to hatred from his political opponents, despite the unclear profile of Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspect who has been arrested and charged with killing Kirk.

Other supposed examples of antifa violence commonly referenced by the right include the 2017 shooting of Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, the assassination attempts on Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign, the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024, the 2025 anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles and more.

However, experts say “antifa” isn’t an official organization.

What is antifa?

The word “antifa” is a portmanteau of “anti-fascist.” Protests against fascism have existed in the United States, and around the world, for nearly a century, dating back to when the far-right nationalist movement began to gain power in Europe in the early 20th century.

For the Trump administration to call antifa an “organization” or “enterprise” in 2025 America, though, is a mischaracterization, according to experts. Unlike other terror organizations targeted by the U.S. government, it has no centralized leadership structure or headquarters, and is instead depicted by the political right as a bogeyman-like shadow group that orchestrates violent acts of opposition.

In a Sept. 18 New York Times article, Cynthia Miller-Idriss, an American University professor who studies domestic extremism, compared “antifa” to ideologies like “White supremacy” and “Islamist extremism,” as opposed to specific groups like the Aryan Brotherhood or Al Qaeda.

“There may be little groups organized around antifa in a neighborhood or community that meet up and share that stance, but it would be very hard to see that as connected in an organizational form that could be tackled,” she said, adding, “There is no expert I’ve ever heard of who has identified antifa as an actual organization.”

Gary LaFree, a criminology professor at University of Maryland who formerly led the school’s terrorism research center, told PolitiFact that “multiple independent reviews of incidents from the past decade — including analyses of FBI and Department of Homeland Security reporting, the Global Terrorism Database, and congressional testimony — show zero terrorist attacks attributed to Antifa.”

LaFree added in an email to the outlet that terrorist acts are “overwhelmingly carried out by far-right extremists, jihadist-inspired actors, or — less frequently — other movements.”

Why label antifa a terrorist organization?

Democrats have expressed concerns that the administration’s new battle against a loosely defined movement could clear a path for labeling any Americans who are perceived as political opponents as antifa terrorists.

Trump’s executive order explicitly describes the antifa “campaign” as one that involves “coordinated efforts to obstruct enforcement of Federal laws through armed standoffs with law enforcement, organized riots, violent assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement officers, and routine doxing of and other threats against political figures and activists.”

The order accuses antifa of a wide range of actions, and enables Trump’s administration to target anyone they believe to be “recruiting,” “training,” or “radicalizing” young Americans to engage in “violence and suppression of political activity.”

“Individuals associated with and acting on behalf of Antifa further coordinate with other organizations and entities for the purpose of spreading, fomenting, and advancing political violence and suppressing lawful political speech,” the order claims. “This organized effort designed to achieve policy objectives by coercion and intimidation is domestic terrorism.”

Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, claimed: “Designating Antifa, which has no defined organizational structure or leadership, as a domestic terrorism organization is not only incorrect, it serves no purpose other than an excuse for the Trump administration to stifle dissent, investigate anyone, or any group, they don’t like, punish their enemies, and potentially label any American they want as a terrorist.”

Hasan Piker, a left-wing political commentator who was scheduled to debate Kirk on Sept. 25 at Dartmouth College, reacted to the news of Trump’s antifa censure by posting on X, “I don’t think liberal media is aware of how bad things will get for all of us.”

Is the executive order enforceable?

The U.S. government’s executive branch is empowered to prosecute foreign terrorists connected with organizations like Hamas, al-Qa’ida and ISIS. Once the group is officially designated as a terrorist organization, the federal government can freeze its assets and deny its members entry to the U.S.

But there is no precedent or executive power that allows the U.S. government to designate an American group as a terrorist organization — due to concerns over First Amendment rights — which may minimize the impact of the order.

“Trump can declare whatever he wants to declare, but there is no legal authority to actually designate a domestic group as a terrorist organization even assuming that antifa is an organization and not just an ideology,” Mary McCord, former acting head of the Justice Department’s national security division, told The New York Times.

“That means his declaring this has no legal impact,” she suggested. “Certainly it does not trigger criminal terrorism charges, like providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.”

What the order does do, though, is direct all federal agencies to “investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations,” making antifa a higher priority than before for law enforcement.

Luke Baumgartner, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, told CBS News that while left-wing activists cannot be prosecuted for their “ideology” alone, some could be targeted for other charges, adding that being labeled a domestic terrorist by the federal government can lead to harsher sentences in court.

The idea of revoking or overturning Trump’s executive order is complex, as well. The easiest way would be for a successor or future president to revoke “Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization.”

A federal judge could also invalidate the order or hinder its execution by diverting funds aimed at its intended actions.

What happens next?

For now, Trump’s executive order is just one action amid a flurry of threats against the political left.

Since Kirk’s death, the Trump administration has suggested bringing racketeering charges against left-wing groups who they allege are working together to target conservatives. The president has also floated the idea of revoking liberal nonprofits’ tax-exempt status, CNN reports.

“With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people,” homeland security adviser Stephen Miller vowed in a recent conversation with Vice President JD Vance.

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