1/ Trump has proclaimed that he will be designating #Antifa as a terrorist group. Let’s be clear, the United States does not and has not labeled any group in the U.S. as a “terrorist” group.
2/ Sure, we have a big list of official terrorist groups, but they are all foreign. In fact, according to the Director of National Intelligence, we have no terrorist organizations in North America because all terrorism by U.S. definition is foreign.
dni.gov/nctc/groups.ht…
dni.gov/nctc/groups.ht…
3/ Although the Patriot Act expanded its interpretation of the law to include acts that can be interpreted as “domestic terrorism,” the United States does not have an official designation of a crime known as domestic terrorism.
4/ According to U.S. law and policing tradition, incidents of domestic terrorism have been prosecuted under current laws for specific crimes by individuals, such as extortion, murder and hate crimes.
5/ #Antifa is actually not a group. It is the name of a movement; therefore, designating it as a terrorist group is not only impractical, but impossible. It has no leadership or structure.
6/ To be sure, there is a wide range of groups that fit the ideology of what is called “Antifa” but no definitive umbrella group to which they belong.
7/ Here are actual groups that have structure and leadership, but are not designated as “terrorist” groups by the U.S. government: the KKK, the Proudboys, the American Front, the American Nazi Party, National Alliance, Patriot Front, Vanguard America…to name but a few.
8/ The tweet from @realdonaldtrump about Antifa is nothing but a diversionary tactic, designed to spread fear and division while poverty, inequality and militarism of the police continue unabated.
