Elections & Politics Brief #199 | Morgan Davidson | 10/5/2025
Summary
Trump’s crackdown on political opposition, announced in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, is aimed at a range of Democratic and resistance groups. The first of these under examination is Antifa, a key target of the administration’s rhetoric and investigations. Yet Antifa is a far more diffuse and abstract entity than the White House suggests.
Unlike established organizations such as the ACLU or even the loosely structured Black Lives Matter movement, Antifa has no formal leadership, membership rolls, or mailing lists. You can’t “join” Antifa by signing up; it’s a movement rooted in shared tactics and ideology rather than centralized command. Its focus is opposition to fascism, not fundraising or hosting meetings. In this sense, Antifa is less an organization than an idea.
That lack of structure poses a challenge for the administration’s promise to “take action.” Without headquarters to raid or leaders to arrest, enforcement efforts will likely lack the tangible optics of a traditional crackdown. More troubling, such ambiguity risks ensnaring ordinary Americans who share antifascist views but have never engaged in violence, echoing the paranoia and overreach of past eras, from McCarthyism to the Red Scare.
Analysis
The roots of Antifa trace back to Europe in the early 20th century, when “anti-fascism” described militant resistance to Mussolini’s Blackshirts and Hitler’s Brownshirts. In the United States, the modern movement emerged out of anti-racist and anarchist circles during the 1980s and 1990s, particularly within the punk subculture and activist networks like Anti-Racist Action (ARA). By the early 2000s, local groups such as Rose City Antifa in Portland, Oregon, had adopted the Antifa label, drawing from this transnational lineage of resistance to far-right extremism.
At its core, Antifa defines itself around opposition to fascism, racism, white nationalism, and other forms of authoritarianism. The movement is not tied to electoral politics or legislative advocacy. Instead, it focuses on direct action, counterprotesting, monitoring extremist networks, disrupting far-right events, and publicizing the identities of individuals involved in hate movements. While adherents often share elements of anarchist or socialist thought, there is no unified ideological platform beyond opposition to fascism itself.
Antifa’s defining characteristic is its lack of structure. It has no national leadership, headquarters, or official membership. Anyone can act “under the banner” of Antifa so long as they adhere to its antifascist principles and tactics.
This decentralization is both its strength and its vulnerability. Local groups operate autonomously, using encrypted communication, mutual-aid networks, and informal coordination to organize actions.
Common tactics include:
- Counter-demonstrations and street mobilization.
- “Doxxing” individuals involved in far-right organizations.
- Promoting antifascist education and community defense initiatives.
Because there is no hierarchy or central fund, Antifa resists conventional state repression, there are no offices to raid or leadership figures to arrest.
During Trump’s presidency and return to political power, Antifa has become a symbolic foil for his administration, invoked frequently as shorthand for the “radical left.” Trump and his allies have repeatedly sought to label the movement as a domestic terrorist organization, despite legal experts noting that U.S. law provides no mechanism for such a designation.
In practice, Antifa activists have appeared most prominently at far-right rallies, including Charlottesville in 2017 and numerous street protests where they’ve clashed with white nationalist groups. While some incidents have involved property destruction or physical confrontation, researchers emphasize that these actions stem from local cells rather than a coordinated national campaign.
The very structure that protects Antifa’s anonymity also complicates accountability. Without a centralized body, it’s difficult to distinguish between self-identified participants and opportunists acting independently. Critics argue that this ambiguity allows violent actors to operate under the Antifa banner without oversight.
Civil-liberties advocates, however, warn that Trump’s efforts to criminalize or label the movement “terrorist” threaten the First Amendment and risk guilt by association or targeting ordinary citizens who share antifascist beliefs but do not participate in violent acts.
The proposed RICO investigations into alleged “funding networks” connected to figures like George Soros amplify these concerns, suggesting a broad, politically motivated sweep rather than a focused law enforcement response.
If the administration follows through with its promise to “dismantle” Antifa, the practical effect will likely be symbolic more than structural. The government may increase surveillance of left-wing activists, pursue financial investigations, or charge individuals connected to protest-related violence, but dismantling an idea is far harder than dismantling an organization.
At the same time, labeling dissenting citizens as “terrorists” risks deepening division and inflaming the very extremism such crackdowns claim to fight. For Antifa, the future may mean further retreat into anonymity and localized activism, smaller, more fragmented, but perhaps more determined.
Engagement resources–
- BBC – What is Antifa and why is President Trump targeting it? A primer on Antifa & Trump’s attack on the group. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ced5gqn0p6jo
- CSIS- Examining Extremism: Antifa: CSIS describes Antifa as a loose movement of local activists fighting fascism and racism — not a single organization — and notes it poses a far smaller threat than violent extremist groups on the far right. https://www.csis.org/blogs/examining-extremism/examining-extremism-antifa
- Institute for Strategic Dialouge- US ‘Antifa Groups’: The ISD describes Antifa in the US – https://www.isdglobal.org/explainers/us-antifa-groups/