The ANTIFA Strategy
2017
2017-08-15 David Duke submitted a social media post thanking Trump for his kind words about the protesters at the Unite the Right rally. In his post he referenced ANTIFA. He wrote, “Thank you President Trump for your honesty and courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa”.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/15/politics/donald-trump-david-duke-charlottesville
2025 August
2025-08-25 During an interview with Sean Hannity, Stephen Miller claimed that Democrats are a domestic extremist group.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6377384186112
2025 September
2025-09-23 During a press conference, Karoline Leavitt announced the White House planned to designate “Antifa” as a domestic terrorist organization. In a press release dated September 22, 2025, the White House listed 32 examples of violence, interchanging “antifa” with “leftists” and “transgender”. The White House did not provide any substantial evidence these examples were carried out by any specific group, nor any merit that antifa is aligned with a sexual orientation or political party. It appears the press release aims to frame left-leaning parties as terrorists, as the policy starts out “President Donald J. Trump is right: the violence problem is on the Left”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ced5gqn0p6jo
2025-09-25 Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-7) labelling beliefs like anti-Christian as terrorism indicators. The language leaves precedence to label anyone who doesn’t align with one specific religion a terrorist.
https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trumps-nspm-7-labels-common-beliefs
2025-09-27 Trump alleged Portland ICE facilities were under siege by Antifa. Trump tweeted on social media that Portland was “war ravaged” and that he planned to authorize “full force”. Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer reposted. City leaders held a press conference to warn the public not to “take the bait”. News footage showed a peaceful protest, including a man outside an ICE facility with a bubble maker.
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115276694936263266
https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/29/timeline-donald-trump-pressure-portland/
2025-09-29 Multiple news outlets outed Fox News for using viral riot footage from 2020 to sensationalize a small peaceful protest in Portland.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/05/trump-portland-video-protests
https://x.com/KatieDaviscourt/status/1963819280249807236
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/28/oregon-trump-national-guard-troops-portland
2025 October
2025-10-08 Trump claimed during a press conference that one characteristic of “Antifa” was, “…when you see the signs and they’re all made out of beautiful paper…with beautiful wood handles…these are not people that write out their signs…these are paid anarchists”.
2025-10-08 During an interview with Newsmax, Senator Roger Marshall claimed that the No Kings protest of October 18th would be a “paid-for protest” by “professional protesters”, stating, “This is where the agitators show up…we’ll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful, but I doubt it”. Mike Johnson fanned the flames, calling it the “Hate America Rally”.
2025-10-10 On Fox News Mike Johnson slammed Democrats for the upcoming No Kings protest, calling it a “Hate America rally”.
https://x.com/FoxNews/status/1976631367858258002
2025-10-25 As news spread of a 29-year-old Portlander Chandler Patey allowed protesters to wash pepper spray out of their eyes in his apartment, the Trump administration labeled Patey as Antifa and right-wing journalists labeled his home as an “Antifa safehouse”.
2025 December
2025-12-04 The DOJ under Pam Bondi issued a sweeping domestic terrorism directive. to counter a so-called “Antifa” organization the administration repeatedly failed to prove exists. In my opinion, the directive uses ambiguous language subject to the Trump administration’s own interpretations, gives them permission to go after political opponents, pushes the narrative that anyone who doesn’t agree with Trump’s agenda is a violent domestic terrorist, threatens First Amendment rights, gives way to spy on people, stokes fear in innocent people, and is part of the Trump agenda to silence anyone who doesn’t agree with his dictatorship.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-bondi-memo-s-quiet-rewriting-of-domestic-terrorism-rules
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/05/pam-bondi-antifa-tax-crimes