During a White House roundtable discussion, the homeland security secretary this week likened the loose network of antifascist activists to MS-13, the Gaza-based organization, the Iran-backed group and the Islamic State, calling the loosely affiliated street activists “just as dangerous” as designated terrorist organizations.
“They are just as sophisticated as Mara Salvatrucha, as TDA [Tren de Aragua], as the Islamic State, as Hezbollah, as the Palestinian faction, each one of these, they pose the same level of threat,” the secretary stated. “Their goal is to dismantle our society, just like the other terrorists we have confronted for decades.”
The roundtable featured conservative online reporters including Andy Ngo, Nick Sortor, Katie Daviscourt among others who report on anti-fascist demonstrations.
Some of the groups mentioned by the secretary – Hamas, Hezbollah and Isis – are formally designated terrorist organizations that hold land, run armed branches, have hierarchical leadership and have executed mass casualty attacks including bombings, abductions and assassinations.
Specialists in radical movements have frequently characterized the anti-fascist movement, by contrast, as lacking a central command, formal membership or organizational structure, and it has often been portrayed by federal law enforcement as a loose network of activists who engage in protest activity, portions of which involve property destruction and street violence.
The roundtable comes after a presidential directive issued last month designating anti-fascist activists as a “homegrown terror group”.
Days before the announcement, Joe Biggs who was convicted and then pardoned for his role on January 6 posted on X: “Who’s ready to go ANTIFA hunting? Since I am acquainted with several individuals.”
