President Trump is targeting the left-wing Antifa movement, labeling it a domestic terrorist

organization, even though no such designation exists under U.S. law. The move follows a weekend

memorial for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed at a college campus

event less than two weeks ago. Top Republicans have been calling for increased scrutiny of Antifa since

Kirk's assassination, even though so far the man accused of shooting Kirk has no publicly known

link to the movement. We're joined now by Luke Baumgartner, a research fellow with George

Washington University's program on extremism. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for Anthony.

So what exactly is Antifa? How do you describe its core beliefs and tactics?

So simply put, Antifa is just short for anti-fascist. If you want to get more simple than that,

it just means the opposition to fascism. Now their belief system has a fairly wide range of encompassing ideologies,

mostly on the political left, and they encompass anarchists, socialists, communists, and a lot of people

in between there. So how is it organized, if at all? Are there actual leaders or networks for the

administration to target? Or is that just a misconception?

No, it's a widely held misconception, especially those who are looking to try and target this

idea of Antifa. There is no hierarchical organizational structure. It is primarily a movement and an

ideology. And there are no leaders, there are no assets, there are no bank accounts or revenue streams to go after either.

Given all of that, is it a genuine security threat? Is it a political scapegoat or something in between?

I would classify it more as a political scapegoat, honestly. There have been incidents of political violence linked to far-left

extremists in the U.S. in recent years, but the overwhelming majority of the data points towards

far-right extremism being a much more serious threat to national security. Tell me more about that.

In the last five, six, seven years, or the last ten years more broadly, we have seen a rise in left-wing or left-aligned political violence.

You can look at the shooting at the congressional baseball game as one or the recent attacks on a ice facility or the CBP station down in Texas.

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