Trump steps up campaign against antifa, vows ‘very threatening’ steps

• US president asks federal govt to treat antifa as terror group.
• Trump threats action against left-wing groups and donors.
• “We’re going to be very threatening to them,” says president.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday promised “very threatening” steps against 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 organisation”.

Nearly a month after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, Trump has threatened action against left-wing groups and donors with no demonstrated ties to the killing.

The Republican president has also moved to push federal law enforcement and troops into Democrat-run cities from Chicago to Portland, Oregon, over the objections of local officials and despite ongoing judicial review.

Trump welcomed supportive media personalities to a White House event on Wednesday to discuss their experiences with what they described as a rash of violence targeting conservatives in recent years, including by antifa adherents. The event included no discussion of violence aimed at left-wing or Democrat individuals.

“They have been very threatening to people, but we’re going to be very threatening to them, far more threatening to them than they ever were with us, and that includes the people that fund them,” Trump said.

Antifa appears to be a decentralised movement lacking a unifying organisational structure or detailed ideology, according to the US Congressional Research Service, a government body.

Trump threatened to pursue antifa during his 2017–2021 term in office, and in September called it a terrorist organisation in an executive order. Since then, US law enforcement officials have not identified any antifa members or sources of funding, or laid out any related criminal charges.

Trump requested participants at the Wednesday event to name groups they say carry out violence, as well as their funders. 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 in attendance at the event, said they would look into the groups named and solicit more information if needed.

Trump has ordered National Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, citing threats to federal officials, following earlier deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. He has also said he will send troops to Memphis.

Those orders are under an ongoing judicial review and have been opposed by Democrat mayors and governors, who say Trump’s claims of lawlessness in those cities do not reflect reality.

Trump has threatened to invoke an anti-insurrection law last invoked during the Los Angeles riots of 1992 to sidestep any court orders blocking him.

On Wednesday, Trump scolded reporters for giving insufficient coverage to left-wing violence before leaving the event “to go now to try and solve some problems in the Middle East.”