Washington: US President Donald Trump promised on Wednesday “very threatening” steps towards Antifa and asked right -wing media allies for help identifying backers of the movement he has asked the federal government to treat as a “terrorist organization.”
Almost a month after the murder of right -wing activist Charlie Kirk, Trump has threatened action against leftist groups and donors without demonstrated ties to the killing.
The Republican president has also moved to push federal law enforcement and troops into Democratic cities from Chicago to Portland, Oregon, over the objections of local officials and despite ongoing legal review.
On Wednesday, Trump welcomed the supporting media personalities of an event in the White House to discuss their experiences with what they described as a rash of violence that targeted conservatives in recent years, including by antifa supporters. The event included no discussion of violence aimed at leftist or democratic individuals.
“They have been very threatening to humans, but we will be very threatening to them, far more threatening to them than they were ever with us, and that includes the people who finance them,” Trump said.
Antifa seems to be a decentralized movement that lacks a unifying organizational structure or detailed ideology, according to the US Congress Research Service, a government body.
Trump threatened to pursue Antifa during his period in 2017–2021 in office, calling it in September a terrorist organization in a executive order. Since then, US law enforcement authorities have not identified any antifa members or sources of financing or laid down any related criminal charges.
Trump requested the participants at the Wednesday event to name groups, they say to conduct violence as well as their finance. Guests included right -wing social media personalities Jack Posobiec, Savannah Hernandez and Andy NGO.
Trump and members of his cabinet, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who were present at the event, said they would examine the groups named and request more information if necessary.
Trump has ordered the National Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, with reference to threats to federal officials after previous deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, DC, he has also said he will send troops to Memphis.
These orders are during a continuous judicial review and have been the opposite of democratic mayors and governors who say that Trump’s claims of lawlessness in these cities do not reflect reality.
Trump has threatened to invoke an anti-insion law that is last invoked under Los Angeles riots in 1992 to equate all court decisions that block him.
Wednesday, Trump quarreled journalists for giving insufficient coverage to left -wing violence before leaving the event “To go now to try to solve some problems in the Middle East.”
