Donald Trump is all “antifa antifa antifa,” even when talking about the 75-year-old man assaulted by police in Buffalo, but in an intelligence bulletin from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center, antifa is literally a footnote. And what do you know—white supremacists are the main focus of concern around protest-related violence.
”Based upon current information, we assess the greatest threat of lethal violence continues to emanate from lone offenders with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist ideologies and [domestic violent extremists] with personalized ideologies,” the bulletin, obtained by ABC News, warns.
While "antifa is coming to town" hoaxes circulate through rural areas, the intelligence bulletin has a different warning “including militia extremists and [groups] who advocate a belief in the superiority of the white race have sought to bring about a second civil war, often referred to as a 'Boogaloo' by intentionally instigating violence at First Amendment-protected activities,” it says. “Racially charged events, coupled with the accompanying widespread media attention, and the rapid dissemination of violent online rhetoric by [extremists], are likely to remain contributing factors to potentially ideologically motivated violence.”
The document does have a brief warning about anarchists. ABC News reports it as “anarchist extremists continue to pose the most significant threat of targeted assaults against police, as well as targeting government buildings and police vehicles for damage, sometimes with improvised incendiary devices.”
But what about antifa?
According to a footnote: “Some anarchist extremists self-identify as ‘Antifa,’ a moniker for anti-fascist that is also used by non-violent adherents. Identifying with ‘Antifa’ or using the term without engaging in violent extremism may also be constitutionally protected.”
Well, isn’t that interesting. All people identifying as antifa aren’t the same, many are nonviolent, and nonviolent anti-fascism is constitutionally protected. Can someone let Trump Attorney General William Barr know? Oh. Wait. This isn't the first time the Trump administration has been told that antifa isn’t the thing Trump and his top officials are trying to make it into. They just don’t care, because they need a boogeyman on the left to distract from police violence and the very real violent extremism on the right.
