On Monday, just one day after the Republican Party staged a Horst Wessel-style memorial for Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona, President Donald Trump signed an executive order designating “antifa” a “domestic terrorist organization.”
The order claims that antifa is a “militarist, anarchist enterprise” that uses “illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide.”
Antifa, as even FBI Director Christopher Wray was forced to admit in a September 2020 congressional hearing, is not an organization but a broad current of opposition to fascism. “Antifa is an ideology, not an organization,” said Wray, who also testified that the bureau had no data showing any lethal violence committed by the organization.
Since antifa as a formal organization does not exist, Trump’s executive order amounts to a blanket authorization to brand political dissent and opposition to his fascist regime as “terrorism.”
Does this mean that Trump and his followers are fascists?
He signed an executive order making the entire US army oppose him.
Ima stay outa this now.
Looks like we’re all terrorists.
Everyone arm up.
CPAC is finally correct now!
I armed up back in 2018. Not sure why anyone else wouldn’t have by now. Maybe just extreme naivete.
Suicidal tendencies, mostly. As much as I wish I could buy a gun, I’d probably be most likely to turn it towards myself.
But there are so many billionaires just loitering about.
The far right which has taken over ICE and the Federal government under Trump is terrorizing many, many people in this country. JD Vance, Noem, and Trump know it (the cruelty is the point) and yet all cast any criticism of this fact as “terrorist rhetoric.” That kind of table-turning projection is foundational in the authoritarian playbook.
But what I don’t understand is - why does the American public discourse seem to tolerate all these tactics?The right has complete control of the media outrage apparatus.
why does the American public discourse seem to tolerate all these tactics?
Because most people aren’t very smart and will only care about something once it directly affects them, which is too late.
Which is why this is probably going to get a whole lot worse and everyone that is smart should be preparing themselves for that.
Because allowing these tactics let’s them “hurt the people he needs to be hurting.” They’re authoritarian themselves.
I think I’ve figured out Trump’s Reichstag moment.
It’ll be the White House burning down, because of something going wrong with the ballroom construction. Then he’ll get to move the presidential residence to Mar-A-Lardo like he’s always wanted, and charge the American taxpayers for renovations and rent forever.
Kirk was the reichstag fire
I normally don’t want hurricanes to hit Florida since I live there but that scenario would change my mind.
Come on Trump, you can do better. Here in The Netherlands the government has signed a motion banning antifa already last week! Try to keep up, will ya? /s
It’s so unfortunate that journalism is dead, otherwise we could’ve had some interesting discussions on this topic. For instance, I would like really like to know what would happen if a WWII veteran would speak out against fascism. Will we (The Netherlands or in this case the US) lock that person up?
Oops, guess I’m a terrorist now.
I am a terrorist now I guess.
If you’re a terrorist to a fascist regime, you’re one of the good guys.
The next big protest is going to be interesting for sure…
October 18th.
We need everyone that can walk & hold a sign to turn out.
I prefer the term freedom fighter.
Since that name is now burned, maybe we could start a new organization to fight fascism. And to let the world know that we’ve reached a point of fascism we can’t turn back from, we can call it Turning Point.
It’d be fun to let them wrestle with calling brand Turning Point a terrorist group.
You could even call it turning point USA cause it’s happening in the USA right now
… in case you weren’t sure what he stands for
One can be anti fascist whilst not being a member of Antifa. Don’t forget people, these are the dumbest people in the world running this show.
I think conflating Antifa with anyone they choose is exactly the objective.
Yup, it’s just a new method to be able to kidnap people off the streets. First it was “they were an immigrant” and then “they looked like an immigrant”. And now it has progressed to “they looked like a domestic enemy of the state”.
I am NOT a member!
I would NEVER be a member of any club that would have someone like ME as a member.
- Groucho Marx, 1959
True, but they have yet to utilize their new terrorist distinction on me, an anti-fascist, so I think the general layperson is safe atm
“They haven’t come for me yet, so we’re still safe” is not very good logic under a fascist regime.
You’re safe until you’re not, at which point, nobody will know because you’ve been disappeared.
So yes, we can hear from the people who we can still hear from. True equals true.
There are no ‘members’ of Antifa. There are only people that are anti-fascist.
Edit to add: The only people trying to make Antifa a thing are fascists trying to convince the dumbfuck masses that opposition to them is somehow a bad thing. And now they’re trying to make that a crime.
Weren’t the Portland riots committed by members of a group called “Antifa”? Also, apparently there are small sects that organize locally.
“Antifa has no official national leadership, though followers have organized themselves into small, local cells that sometimes coordinate with other movements, such as Black Lives Matter.”
"Some antifa adherents keep a very low profile, while other local groups venture to give themselves a more public profile with a name and a website. One of the oldest such groups appears to be Rose City Antifa, which says it was founded in Portland, Oregon, in 2007. According to its website, its main focus is “any work that prevents fascist organizing, and when that is not possible, provides consequences to fascist organizers. This is supported by researching and tracking fascist organizations.”
SourceAs a Portlander:
No, yet again there are no organizations, just individuals committed to the same idea. This shit is spontaneous and if you actually knew anything about this city you would know why.
Just like black blocs are an idea and a tactic, not an organization there are no leaders in a bloc and no members, just participants.
Interesting. Thanks. Might be time for a rebrand.
No, “antifa” is, itself, the term for the position of being against fascism. There is no organization.
They also will not care as they’re just going to accuse their enemies of it regardless of how left they are. They know exactly what they are doing, and they’ve been doing it way faster than I expected.
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One can be anti fascist without being anti fascist? Are you on fucking crack M8?
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the antifas
Are the antifas in the room with you right now?
I feel like you’re still thinking ‘antifa’ is an organisation, when it’s simply being opposed to fascism. It’s a concept, not a movement, and it only appears to be a movement when fascism is on the rise, which tends to cause* antifa people to group together more to oppose it. There are some groups explicitly for doing antifa action, but if you’re against fascism, you are antifa by definition. Also ‘antifa’ action can be anything from denouncing Nazis online to protecting trans rights to protesting to any number of other things.
The right has tried to make ‘antifa’ into some sort of bogeyman for a decade, and we shouldn’t allow them to frame what it means.
It’s similar to liking video games. I’m a ‘gamer’ because I like to play games, but I don’t belong to any gamer groups, I don’t go to conventions, and I don’t compete in tournaments. Some people do those things, but I’m no less a gamer because I don’t.
Yes, I am antifa. Enough that I own this book (which I actually recommend everyone read who wants to resist fascism):
No it’s not, also in Europe antifa simply means anti-fascist.
Okay fedbot5000, you did good here but maybe reddit needs your FUD more.
I would argue there is no organization known as “antifa”. Certainly nothing with structure or presence like tpusa or the proud boys, ya know the organization that terrorized the seat of our nation 5 years ago…
One can be anti fascist whilst not being a member of Antifa.
Reread their comment, they know.
They knew about it because they implied in the second that that the first would pass in the current administration because they are that dumb. They know.
Sending gif trying to look smart while missing the obvious point is kinda embarrassing ngl.
You steel manning and imposing your own assumptions is kinda embarrassing (ngl). You don’t know their mind yet you insist on reading past their words. You just look like a dork who wants there to be more than there is to a thing.
Yeah but the more you read up on the Nazis the more you find out they were pretty dumb too. Still killed millions of people.
How does one become a “member” of antifa?
Annoy Trump and he’ll declare you one.
Gotta get recruited by George Soros.
Attend the planning meetings of any anti-fascist group that uses ‘antifa’ in their name, of which there are many; in my experience the ‘membership’ is almost identical to the ‘membership’ of the local Anarchist Book Fair planning committee.
Or show up to an anti-fascist rally, even as a bystander, get arrested for nothing, and now your name is on a ‘known members’ list in some pig’s office :P
explain how so? consider that there is no way to “be” a member of a group that does not exist in that manner. being of the cohort of people who are antifascist is not the same as being a “member.” I suppose we are saying the same thing. :)
So, so dumb that I can fully imagine a scenario like this playing out amongst the orange knobhead and his staff on the daily
It’s crazy the amount of people that didn’t get your comment. You might want to clarify… XD
Remember this moment? He’s probably right
Trump is leaving office in a casket tbh. There’s even a decent chance it happens before his term is up.
I’ll be mildly surprised if he sees 2026.
