Antifa Is Not a Thing, It’s an Idea
You can’t declare an idea a “domestic terrorist organization”
On September 22, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order designating “Antifa” as a domestic terrorist organization. But Antifa is not an organization. It’s an ideology. The word simply means “anti-fascist.” The order does not explain how the government would decide who qualifies as a member of this supposed “organization” that doesn’t actually exist.
The closest the order gets is this line: “Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government… It uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide…”
But Antifa is not an “enterprise.” It’s a stance. Anyone opposed to fascism is, by definition, “antifa.” That would include Dwight D. Eisenhower, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the U.S. military in World War II—along with fictional heroes like Captain America and Indiana Jones. Under the president’s order, all of them could be labeled “domestic terrorists.” That would make the next Captain America movie awkward.
There was once an actual Antifa organization. It emerged in Germany in the early 1930s as Antifaschistische Aktion (“Antifascist Action”), a militant left-wing movement opposed to Adolf Hitler and the rising Nazi Party. The Nazis branded them as terrorists and enemies of the state, then crushed the movement through mass arrests, imprisonment, and executions. In today’s U.S., the label is being used in a similar way—to mark political opponents as threats.
The problem with the president’s order is its lack of specificity. By its language, anyone who protests against him or his policies could be accused of “seeking the overthrow of the government” and swept under the “antifa” label.
That vagueness also creates serious legal issues. Almost all legal scholars agree that there is no federal law giving a president the authority to designate a domestic group as a “terrorist organization” in the same way foreign groups can be designated. And there’s also the First Amendment: Americans have the right to oppose fascism, to speak out, to organize, and to protest.
If the order targeted specific groups that actually engaged in violence or terrorism, it might stand on firmer ground. But laws against terrorism, conspiracy, and violent acts already exist. But President Trump ensured those laws weren’t applied evenly when he pardoned the January 6 insurrectionists.
There’s a pattern: erosion of free speech, narrowing space for dissent, a chill in the air. This executive order seems designed not to fight terrorism, but to deepen that chill.