Government has the God-given duty to wield the sword, or the civil law, to uphold societal order and punish the wicked — and that certainly includes Antifa, which is openly working to destroy American citizens, cities, and institutions.
Late Monday night, President Trump signed an executive order formally designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.
The order declares that “Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law. It uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals.”
President Trump then directed all relevant executive departments and agencies to “utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations” as well as any person providing material support for Antifa.
Trump has also said he wants Attorney General Pam Bondi to look into bringing RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) charges against those involved with Antifa.
A fact sheet on the decision notes that not only does Antifa attack and engage in armed standoffs with law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, but it “recruits and radicalizes young Americans to engage in this violence and works to conceal identities of members and funding sources, frustrating law enforcement efforts.”
Trump’s executive order comes just days after the governments of Hungary and the Netherlands formally designated Antifa as a terrorist organization in their own countries.
Antifa says its mission is to oppose fascists, but the reality is that Antifa is an anarchist group that has been engaging in violence, vandalism, arson, obstruction, and murder and attempted murder of government officials and ideological opponents in America for at least a decade.
Antifa is the modern version of communist and socialist radical groups that use the slanderous accusations “fascist” or “Nazi” to portray its opponents and innocent civilians who get in the way as subhuman.
To Antifa’s thinking, anyone to the right of their own extreme left-wing ideology is a fascist, and they will wage war against anyone who falls into that category through harassment, doxxing, and physical violence. A prime target over the last several years, for example, was Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA events.
The list of their activity is long, but here’s just a small sampling, with videos and news articles documenting the violence.
Riots and Attacks on Law Enforcement
In July of this year, Antifa members launched a coordinated attack on an Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) facility in Alvarado, Texas. First, they lured agents out by shooting off fireworks. Then, when two agents exited the building, the Antifa members opened fire, shooting one officer in the neck.
In 2019, a member of Antifa tried to blow up an ICE office in Tacoma, Washington. The Antifa member used a rifle to shoot multiple times into the building and then used incendiary devices to ignite cars outside the building. He was killed by police even as he was attempting to blow up a propane tank and burn the facility to the ground.
In June 2020, Antifa rioters in Seattle took over a police precinct and five surrounding blocks. Dubbed the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), they set up barricades and blockades to keep out police. Their own brand of perverted law reigned supreme as violence in the name of social justice ensued. In one example, the armed men placed at the entrance to keep watch ended up shooting and killing two black teens who had taken a wrong turn and came too close to CHAZ.
In January 2023, Antifa rioted in Atlanta.
In March 2023, Antifa launched an attack on an Atlanta police facility.
In both instances, Antifa used explosive devices as part of their attacks.
Attacks on Ideological Opponents
In May 2025, Antifa activists crossed barriers into a Christian event in Seattle where the activists then attacked attendees. They also threw water balloons filled with urine at the worshippers and performed lewd sexual acts in front of children at the event. When police moved to arrest the Antifa members, they were attacked, leading to the arrest of 22 adults on assault charges.
In August 2021, Antifa members organized to stop a Christian gathering involving Canadian pastor Artur Pawlowski in Portland, Oregon. Antifa members arrived carrying shields and weapons and assaulted worshippers. They sprayed attendees with bear spray and destroyed sound equipment and threw rotten eggs, rocks, and fireworks at attendees, including what was said to be a flash bomb tossed at children.
Earlier this year, two Antifa members were convicted for setting off homemade incendiary devices at a speaking event for conservative commentator Michael Knowles at the University of Pittsburgh. A police officer was injured by the incendiary devices.
In August 2020 in Portland, a member of Antifa lay in wait for Aaron “Jay” Danielson and a friend, both members of a pro-Trump organization, followed them and then shot Danielson in the chest, killing him instantly. The shooter had been stopped by police multiple times in the prior months, including once during the July 5, 2020, riot outside the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse where he was detained for possessing an illegal and loaded firearm, obstructing police, and resisting arrest. Still, he was turned loose — as is almost always the case with Antifa arrestees in Portland, who typically are released and have their charges dropped.
In March 2023, over 100 Antifa rioters attacked a scheduled speaking event for Charlie Kirk at the University of California-Davis, forcing its cancellation. Before the event, the school’s chancellor had issued false statements about Kirk claiming he advocated for violence against LGBT people.
In April of this year, Turning Point USA, Kirk’s organization, was forced to cancel another event at UC Davis after Antifa attacked again.
In August 2022, seven Antifa members assaulted activist Chris Elston, known as Billboard Chris, in Montreal, Canada. The attackers continually swung a large traffic cone at Elston, breaking his arm as they attempted to force him out of the neighborhood. Elston said that he did not speak to the assailants before they attacked him.
Attacks on Journalists
Andy Ngo has been reporting extensively on Antifa for years, including embedding himself within the group. He has also been attacked by the group several times. In Portland in 2019, for example, a mob of Antifa members left Ngo with a brain hemorrhage after they kicked him, beat him with a sign, and punched him several times in the head. Ngo said his attackers wore gloves with fiberglass knuckles, and they also poured milkshakes believed to have been made with quick-drying concrete over his head and into his eyes.
In June, undercover journalist Cameron Higby was jumped by three masked members of Antifa when they saw him filming an anti-ICE rally in Seattle. He said he was choked out, punched in the head by someone wearing gloves filled with steel or lead shot, and kicked in the face, but he was able to ward off the attacker with pepper spray. In the ER, Higby was diagnosed with a severe concussion. .
And just this past weekend, Antifa assaulted journalist Katie Daviscourt and a female videographer outside the ICE facility in Portland, Oregon.
The Time Has Come to Wield the Sword
Romans 13:1-7 lays out God’s design and purpose for government. He appoints and ordains governing authorities, and those authorities ultimately answer to Him. Their biblical responsibility is to wield the sword, or the civil law, to uphold order and punish the wicked.
As theologian Tim Yonts writes,
“The ultimate purpose of government is to restrain evil so that the people of God may continue in the good works to which God has called them for the sake of the Gospel.”
For years now, all levels of government have either failed or refused to enforce the law and maintain order against Antifa. The U.S. government has a duty to step in and protect its citizens from a group that is already recognized internationally as terrorists and is intent on wreaking havoc on American citizens, cities, and institutions.
Antifa is not just an “ideology,” as President Biden once famously described. It is well-organized and well-financed. It has a logo, a flag, a leadership structure, local chapters, membership, social media channels, recruiting efforts, and uniforms. And they utilize militaristic “black bloc” and guerilla tactics and propaganda to foment chaos and destruction across the country and around the West in pursuit of their ultimate goal of governmental and societal collapse.
To understand how badly government has failed in its basic duty to protect its citizens, one need look no further than Portland, Oregon, where leaders have long appeased and encouraged Antifa operations. In the summer of 2020, Antifa black bloc fighters spent month after month rioting, smashing up small businesses, toppling statues, starting fires, and assaulting civilians, journalists, local police officers, and ICE agents.
During the month of July, they attacked the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse using knives, rocks, and other projectiles, as well as explosives. A small federal unit trying to protect the building was overwhelmed, but local law enforcement were unable to provide support due to stand-down orders from both state and local officials. Numerous U.S. Marshals were injured when Antifa fired mortars into the building and set it on fire, while others were permanently blinded after being targeted by explosive fireworks and laser pointers.
In September 2020, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler decided it was time to stop placating the group and try to regain control — Antifa responded by setting his apartment building on fire, forcing him to flee to a secret location.
Today, downtown Portland is a panorama of destroyed, looted, and boarded-up buildings, criminal activity, and despair.
Its nickname is “The City of Roses,” but it now looks more like a warzone. Nightly riots continue to take place, this time at the ICE detention facility, with ongoing attacks on federal officers.
Overwhelmed local police spend most of their time and resources protecting buildings rather than residents. And Antifa effectively rules the streets, demanding ID from terrified residents trying to get home and keeping residents awake and on edge with a cacophony of assaults, explosions, harassment, window-breaking, and screaming.
Not surprisingly, there has been a mass exodus of people and businesses to safer areas; in 2023, Walmart closed down the last of its stores inside Portland city limits.
Antifa’s violence isn’t limited to blue cities in blue states. It has waged war across the country, either through direct attack or in support of other left-wing causes like abortion.
Many of its members are hardened criminals, pedophiles, and the mentally ill. According to Andy Ngo, approximately 30 percent of Antifa members are transgender or non-binary, a subgroup that is colloquially referred to as “Trantifa.”
Antifa also makes it a point to manipulate angry, lonely, disaffected young Americans in an effort to inspire them to become lone wolves who attack or even kill. The assassin of Charlie Kirk, for example, was apparently inspired enough by the group to inscribe Antifa symbolism and slogans on the shell casings used in the shooting.
Given all this, the President is right to declare Antifa a domestic terror group. The decision will give law enforcement extra-legal tools and authorities to go after the funders, organizers, and any co-conspirators, dismantle their networks, and jail the perpetrators.
It’s time. No country can long survive an enduring attack from the inside. And if the government can’t or won’t handle this basic God-given responsibility, what then would be the point of even having a government? To not act would be to choose national suicide, as the whole purpose of Antifa is to neuter the government and destroy all societal order.
For this reason, the government must pick up the sword and wield it — with full authority and without apology.
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