Editor’s Note: This article was first published by Truthout and can be viewed HERE.
Wearing a high-visibility vest that said “Press,” award-winning journalist Mario Guevara was arrested in June by local law enforcement while livestreaming a “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump in Georgia. While the charges against him were eventually dropped, Guevara was handed over to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) despite being authorized to live and work in the United States. The Trump administration railroaded Guevara through the courts until October 3, when they deported him to El Salvador, a country he fled 20 years ago in fear for his life.
The targeting of Guevara has been widely regarded as an attack on press freedom — and a punishment for dissent. It’s also likely top of mind for some as people across the country prepare for the next round of “No Kings” protests this week. Experts say that the recent string of moves from the Trump administration is meant to criminalize political opposition and further put activists on edge — but they also urge people to stay engaged. Trump’s claims about a surge in anti-fascist political violence are false, and people across the country are developing clever ways to resist, even as the president attempts to sow mayhem in cities led by Democrats.
“Coupled with a legal concern about the very troubling expansion of an authoritarian state, it’s never going to be my legal advice to let an authoritarian do an authoritarianism,” Matthew Kellegrew, an attorney with the Civil Liberties Defense Center, told Truthout. “You can look out your window and see what Trump is saying about the country is not true.”
While Trump has long threatened to go after his political enemies, his administration has put forth a slew of chilling proclamations in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination last month. Trump, his adviser Stephen Miller, and Vice President JD Vance have claimed without evidence that ICE’s brutal immigration crackdown is sparking a wave of violence from the left. On September 22, Trump issued an executive order declaring “antifa” — short for anti-fascist — a “domestic terror” group, despite the fact that antifa is famously not a single organization but rather a set of political beliefs and activity.
Two weeks later, Trump enlisted far right influencers to join a White House-hosted roundtable to paint large swaths of the political establishment as complicit with antifa, including Democrats, the media, progressive foundations, and even outreach groups for unhoused people. At the roundtable, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed “antifa is just as sophisticated” and “dangerous” as ISIS, but offered zero evidence of a criminal conspiracy.
On September 25, a few days after his initial executive order, Trump issued another directive, this time a national security presidential memorandum known as NSPM-7. The document lists “anti-Christianity” and “anti-capitalism” among the ideas that fuel “violence,” putting them under the broader umbrella of “anti-fascism.” The orders and memoranda come as Trump pushes to deploy federal troops into Portland, Chicago, and other blue cities while aggressive ICE operations spark fierce community pushback.
Republicans are now smearing the “No Kings” protests as part of a nonexistent left-wing conspiracy. During a Fox News appearance on Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson linked the protests to antifa and the Palestinian militant group Hamas without providing evidence.
“The theory we have right now [is] they have a ‘Hate America’ rally that’s scheduled for Oct. 18 on the National Mall,” Johnson said. “It’s all the pro-Hamas wing and the antifa people, they’re all coming out.”
While the president is clearly threatening to deploy the federal policing apparatus against his perceived ideological enemies, Trump’s orders do not actively criminalize any constitutionally protected forms of protest, according to Kellegrew. Despite Trump boasting to the contrary after sparking debate about burning American flags — a constitutionally protected act — Trump’s orders do not criminalize speech or establish new charges that can be brought against activists. But they do give insight on the administration’s strategy and political priorities.
“‘Anti-Christianity’ is not a political movement,” Kellegrew told Truthout, referencing the language in NSPM-7. “This is culture war language bleeding into operating law, and the problem with that is, culture war stuff isn’t describing anything real … [The memorandum] is not describing a material relationship between people and opinions about Christianity, or opinions about capitalism as a concept, which is not the same as an institution or something like that.”
It is still unclear what legal mechanisms the administration may use to target opposition to the regime. Though the State Department maintains a list of groups it has officially labeled as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, there is no domestic equivalent on which the Trump administration can place “antifa,” nor is “domestic terrorism” a federal crime; prosecutors, though, may use a patchwork of existing laws in its crackdown. Legal experts say the language in Trump’s directives suggest the administration will investigate funding mechanisms for tax-exempt groups, such as political nonprofits.
Kellegrew said the orders fit into a broader effort by the Trump administration to promote a fascist aesthetic for its followers. For example, propaganda is a central feature in these raids, with masked agents seen following ICE and Border Patrol squads around Chicago with cameras to capture content for state propaganda released on social media.
“It’s an echo of their cultural strategy, and that cultural strategy involves the production of an ‘us’ and ‘them,’” Kellegrew said.
Kellegrew said there are few legal precedents for enhancing charges under local public nuisance laws that are typically levied against protesters, such as trespassing or disturbing the peace. However, it appears that the Trump administration is eager to bring charges of assault against anyone who comes into physical contact with a federal officer — including Democratic lawmakers. Still, it’s noteworthy that grand juries have rejected federal charges brough against residents of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. over minor incidents — such as tossing a sandwich — that occurred after Trump deployed ICE and federal troops into their cities.
“It can’t be appreciated outside of lawyer-world how ‘man bite dog’ that is,” Kellegrew said. “The obvious inference is either the grand jury is dissatisfied with the evidence presented by prosecutors, which is embarrassing for them, or have detected some obvious political bent to it.”
A Reuters investigation published on October 9 provides a glimpse of what could be to come. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said agents who used to focus on domestic terrorism were reassigned to immigration, and those that remain are struggling to implement Trump’s vague “antifa” directives.
When asked by a reporter about potential targets for a domestic terrorism probe, Trump mentioned George Soros and Reid Hoffman, two billionaire mega-donors to the Democratic Party. The Open Society Foundations, funded by Soros, support an array of liberal and civil rights groups that far right conspiracy theorists baselessly blame for funding protesters who engage in property destruction during protests.
“If they are funding these things, they’re going to have some problems, because they’re agitators and they’re anarchists,” Trump said, without providing evidence that the billionaires are funding protesters.
Citing anonymous administration officials, Reuters reported that the goal of Trump’s crackdown on the left is to “destabilize Soros’ network.” The White House produced a list of nine liberal groups and donors it says funded protests where “violence” occurred in recent years. While officials stressed the groups are not necessarily potential targets for “domestic terror” investigations, the list suggests the administration wants to investigate large liberal groups that raise money for Democrats and drive voter turnout.
Included on the list: ActBlue, a major fundraising arm of the Democratic Party; Indivisible, a liberal group organizing “No Kings” protests against Trump; the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights; and IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace, two Jewish antiwar groups that oppose Israel’s genocide in Gaza. All of the groups openly disavow violence.
“The Trump Administration continues to spread misinformation and false allegations,” said Angelica Salas, the executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, in a statement to Reuters. “But it will not work.”
The abstraction of “antifa” gives Trump’s supporters a tangible enemy, something to point to as proof of chaos that must be controlled, according to Kent Bausman, professor of sociology at Maryville University. Instead of interpreting the millions of people showing up for “No Kings” rallies as evidence that Trump is losing popularity, Trump and the right-wing media can cast the opposition as a conspiracy secretly funded by a cabal of liberal billionaires.
“Trump is trying to get ahead of the media narrative by providing a future frame to cast any later protests against his administration,” Bausman said in an email. “He is trying to cast himself as the defender of order, while his followers find his simple explanation more easily palatable for understanding the complexity of a rapidly changing world.”
This sociological choice comes as Trump’s administration faces widespread pushback against one of its most controversial — and central — priorities: mass deportation. The administration reportedly reassigned 45 percent of FBI agents from the 25 largest offices from their normal responsibilities to target immigrants, all while purging multiple senior officials at the bureau over suspicions of disloyalty to Trump. Aggressive immigration raids in Los Angeles and Chicago sparked protests and led the arrest of both undocumented people and U.S. citizens. Unlike the police, ICE is unable to charge citizens with crimes, although citizens have been caught up in ICE’s violent raids and detained for hours and even days at a time.
Trump is demanding National Guard deployments in Portland, Chicago, and other cities, largely with Black and Democratic leadership, which critics say is also a move to clamp down on dissent in hubs of progressive activity. But the National Guard typically answers to state governors, not the president, and Trump’s efforts remain largely blocked by the courts. Along with Miller and Vance, Trump has responded to the rulings by bashing judges he appointed and declaring without evidence that violent leftists are causing havoc in these cities, which experts worry could be a justification to deploy the military domestically. While DHS threatens criminal charges for the “doxxing” ICE agents, experts say it’s legal to film ICE agents and any law enforcement, and experts also encourage people to fully read up on their rights.
That’s especially crucial as Big Tech companies like Meta and Apple comply with demands from the Trump administration, including subpoenas for personal information attached to social media accounts that expose ICE operations and requests to stop hosting apps that track ICE raids. In one case, three women face federal charges for allegedly following an ICE agent to his home and posting the address online. Posting a federal agent’s personal information is a violation of federal law, but filming ICE agents in public is protected speech.
The vulnerabilities being exposed here, though, point to some proactive steps activists can take to protect themselves, such as examining their reliance on corporate social media platforms and finding alternatives.
“We are in the early dawn hours of a bigger conversation that everyone needs to have about the role that social media and the internet plays in our lives,” Kellegrew said. “The security vulnerabilities are the friction that will create new platforms, so we are not dependent on companies like Meta.”
Trump and his underlings are attempting to create a permission structure for an authoritarian crackdown by stoking outrage and chaos in the streets — but it’s not working. Instead, peaceful protesters dressed up as giant frogs have become a symbol of resistance in Portland and beyond. At “No Kings” protests this weekend, expect to see more creative displays that make Trump’s claims about “antifa terrorists” look silly.
As activists prepare both for the upcoming protests and the months ahead, Kellegrew advises people know their rights, stay safe online, and be in touch with members of their communities.
“This is not the time to disengage,” Kellegrew said.
Mike Ludwig is a staff reporter at Truthoutbased in New Orleans. He is also the writer and host of “Climate Front Lines,” a podcast about the people, places and ecosystems on the front lines of the climate crisis. Follow him on Twitter: @ludwig_mike.
