By Tyler
O'Neil
On Sunday, after days of rioting, looting, and arson in
cities across America following protests over the horrific death of George
Floyd at the hands of police officers, President Donald Trump announced that
his administration would formally declare the loosely-organized radical leftist
agitator group known as “antifa” a terrorist organization.
“The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA
as a Terrorist Organization,” Trump tweeted.
As PJ Media contributor Victoria
Taft noted two years back, the Department of Homeland Security already
considers antifa a form of domestic terrorism. In 2017, Politico
reported that “the Department of Homeland Security formally classified
their activities as ‘domestic terrorist violence,’ according to interviews and
confidential law enforcement documents obtained by POLITICO.”
Even so, a formal declaration is arguably warranted
following the devastation
in recent
days. Lamenting the riots, looting, and arson should not be a partisan or
racial issue, as black citizens and business owners have broken into tears
after witnessing the devastation in their communities and the destruction
of their livelihoods.
As of Sunday morning, police had arrested nearly
1,400 people in 17 U.S. cities since Thursday. Governors in at least nine
states have activated their states’ National Guards to respond to riots: Minnesota,
Ohio, Georgia, Colorado, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Texas, Utah, and Washington
State. In another five more, governors have said they planned to activate the
National Guard.
As the United States was leaving lockdowns imposed to
fight the coronavirus, cities across the country have enforced a new limited
kind of lockdown to prevent the destruction. Cities across the country set
curfews to stem the violence, including: Minneapolis, Chicago, Los
Angeles, Atlanta, Denver, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Cleveland,
Columbus, Portland, Miami, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, and Rochester.
Previous push to designate antifa a terrorist
group
Last year, following a horrendous attack in Portland that
left Quillette
editor Andy Ngo hospitalized, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Bill
Cassidy (R-La.) introduced a resolution condemning the violent acts carried out
by antifa and calling for the U.S. to designate the group a domestic terrorist
organization.
“Antifa is a group of hateful, intolerant radicals who
pursue their unhinged agenda through aggressive violence,” Cruz said in a
statement. “Time and time again their actions have demonstrated that their only
purpose is to inflict harm on those who oppose their views. The hate and
violence they spread must be stopped, and I am proud to introduce this
resolution with Senator Cassidy to properly identify what Antifa are: domestic
terrorists.”
“Antifa are terrorists, violent masked bullies who ‘fight
fascism’ with actual fascism, protected by Liberal privilege,” Cassidy added.
“With bullies, they get their way until someone says no. There must be courage,
not cowardice, from the elected officials who allow violence against the
innocent.”
The Cruz-Cassidy resolution also notes that the ICE
office in southwest Portland, Ore., was shut down for days due to threats and
occupation. Cruz and Cassidy omitted the most recent case of such violence, in
which self-described antifa member Willem
Van Spronsen threw incendiary devices at an ICE detention center in Tacoma,
Wash. He was killed in a shootout with police. The local antifa group hailed
him as a “comrade” and a “martyr,” and said his death should inspire more
“protest and direct action.”
Van Spronsen also condemned ICE centers as “concentration
camps,” echoing the inciting language of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(D-N.Y.). Ocasio-Cortez has yet
to denounce this act of violence arguably inspired by her rhetoric.
Responding to Trump’s tweet, Ngo called on federal
investigative authorities to “dismantle the networks & hundreds of antifa
cells across the US who radicalize, train & carry out organized extremist
violence. They also have international links to affinity cells in Western
Europe. It is domestic & international terrorism.”
Trump’s move to declare antifa a terrorist organization
is a welcome response to increasing violence.
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law
Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
