‘Radical Left Disaster’: Trump Designates Antifa a Terrorist Organisation After Charlie Kirk Murder

US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he is designating the Antifa movement as a terrorist organization, a move that comes in the wake of the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk . In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump described Antifa as a “sick, dangerous, and radical left disaster” and said he would strongly recommend that those funding the movement be “thoroughly investigated” .

The decision follows statements from senior White House officials, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who vowed to dismantle a “vast domestic terror movement” they claim led to Kirk’s assassination last week .

“We are going to channel all of the anger that we have over the organised campaign that led to this assassination, to uproot and dismantle these terrorist networks,” Miller said . While investigators have not officially linked the suspected shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, to any organization, many on the right have blamed leftist ideology for the killing .

Antifa, short for “anti-fascists,” is a loosely defined umbrella term for far-left militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists, often at demonstrations . The decentralized nature of the movement has previously posed a challenge for such a designation. In 2020, Trump’s then-FBI Director, Christopher Wray, testified that Antifa is an ideology, not a formal organization, and lacks the hierarchical structure that would typically allow it to be classified as a terror group by the federal government .

Legal experts have pointed out that there is no existing legal framework for designating domestic groups as terrorist organizations in the same way foreign entities are, and that such a move would likely face significant First Amendment challenges . Democrats have already voiced concerns that Trump is using Kirk’s murder as a pretext to crack down on political dissent . This is not the first time Trump has targeted the movement; he had previously threatened to label Antifa a terror group in 2020 amid the widespread protests following the murder of George Floyd .