'Feds Cast About for an 'Antifa' That Encompasses All Trump Opponents'

[sop]

"For years, conspiracy theorists, grifters, and would-be authoritarians in search of a useful internal crisis have howled about a supposed threat hell-bent on destroying the government and the American way of life: antifa."

"The howling continues. What’s different now is that leading members of the chorus of 'antifa' alarmists have left their gigs as right-wing YouTubers, social media influencers, presidential candidates, and staffers at fringe nonprofits. There, they could weave whatever reality they wanted: America could be in the grips of a Weather Underground-esque movement, beset by a national wave of antifa violence."

"Now, some of these people are in the federal government. They’re demanding that the apparatus of federal law enforcement do what they couldn’t achieve on various podcasts, Truth Social posts, and video appearances: first define, and then dismantle, 'antifa.' This sweeping campaign to criminalize an ideology is now using some of the biggest guns in federal law enforcement’s legal arsenal — terrorism charges — to quash dissent."

"Next week, a Texas terrorism trial against what the Department of Justice has cast as an 'antifa cell' begins. It will be the first time that the Trump administration has had to argue what it believes antifa to be in a criminal case. Prosecutors have brought material support for terrorism charges against eight people, and secured guilty pleas to the same from another seven. The defense argues that there was no terrorism and that the DOJ has overcharged the case because the defendants adhere to an ideology that the Trump administration dislikes, leading to guilty pleas over an incident that, the defendants contend, stemmed from a peaceful protest that went awry."

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/antifa-texas-trial-shideler