The Trump administration is reportedly trying to rally the rest of the world to help it in its fight against “antifa” activists, but the world isn’t answering the dubious call.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has circulated an invitation for foreign ministers of more than 60 countries to meet with him to strategize against the purported “resurgence of transnational far-left terrorism.”
The list included most European nations, larger Latin American countries and several Asian states, including India, Indonesia and Singapore. But the Post says it has been told by some foreign and domestic officials that they are concerned that the meeting is a cover to squelch domestic dissent against President Donald Trump while they see far more of a threat from right-wing movements.
Cartoon by Clay JonesClay Jones
The loosely connected “antifa” (anti-fascist) movement has come to prominence in recent years as a direct rebuke to Trump, the Republican Party, and the conservative movement, which has embraced fascist rhetoric, policies, and even violence. The right’s open support of divisive concepts like racism, sexism, homophobia, and other bigoted notions has caused some activists to support a more strident response, which has included direct confrontation and occasional violence.
If the administration were successful in linking “antifa” to international terror, it could allow increased surveillance of Americans based on tenuous claims that they are a member of “antifa,” which has been used as a catchall phrase by Trump and others in the Republican Party for the left.
Colin P. Clarke of the Soufan Center, who has testified before Congress as an expert witness on terrorism, told the Post, “This is the politicization of intelligence, and it’s dangerous because what they’re doing is basically playing partisan politics with counterterrorism, and only looking at a sliver of the overall threat.”
Even more troubling, the Trump administration’s push to link “antifa” to international terrorism is coming from counterterrorism czar Sebastian Gorka. Gorka is a longtime Trump cheerleader and former conservative media figure with a history of promoting extremism.
He is a former Fox News contributor who was a member of a Hungarian group designated as Nazi-allied by the U.S. government during World War II. Gorka previously complained about the Department of Homeland Security warning about violence from the extremist right-wing sovereign citizen movement and was fired from the FBI for Islamophobic rhetoric.
In one memorable comment in 2017, Gorka claimed that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had committed treasonous acts and said she should face similar consequences to spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who “got the chair.”
Since his first term, Trump has tried to argue that “antifa” forces are behind liberal and left-wing protests, many of which have been in defiance of his actions. When protests against police brutality swept the world in 2020 in response to the police killing of George Floyd, Trump said they were “radical-left, bad people” from “antifa” and had engaged in “acts of domestic terror.”
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi listens as she testifies before a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.AP
In his second term, officials like former Attorney General Pam Bondi argued that protests against Trump donor and ally Elon Musk were an organized operation from the far left and that the Department of Justice would be “coming after” protesters.
Yet while Trump and his team have singled out purported violence from the left, they have given official blessings and support to right-wing terrorism. For instance, former leader of the right-wing Proud Boys militia movement Enrique Tarrio was convicted of sedition against the government for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol—and Trump pardoned him.
Unable to silence domestic dissent, Trump is trying to get the world to give him a boost. But it doesn’t appear to be working.
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