Fears mount over Kash Patel's use of FBI to persecute leftwing protest groups

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/11/kash-patel-fbi-antifa-black-lives-matter-trump


Fears are mounting that Kash Patel, an outspoken Maga disciple and newly appointed director of the FBI, will make good on past comments about crackdowns on anti-fascists and Black Lives Matter protesters. For years, Donald Trump has also called for designating “Antifa” or more broadly, all anti-fascist activists – as an official domestic terrorist organization. While that has not materialized into official policy, Trump’s top national security leaders at the FBI, CIA and the Pentagon are all hardcore loyalists intent on carrying out his political agenda.

Even from inside the FBI, an anonymous agent has publicly warned that the domestic counter-terrorism strategy could switch from inquiries against the hyper-violent far right to leftwing protest movements. Though the bureau has never been a friend to anti-fascist or Black protest movements in the past, today’s activists have taken note of the electoral changes and the promises for retribution in store for what Trump called “enemies from within” at his many rallies.

“We see opposition to fascism under Trump’s fascist rule to be an increasingly dangerous endeavor,” said Walter Tull, a member of the Antifa international social media collective. “Many of us are taking far more precautions than we’ve ever done before.” Tull believes Trump will once again attempt to hit anti-fascist activists with a terrorist designation, like he has Mexican cartels (another of Trump’s major talking points), because “people who attempt to outlaw opposition to fascism are fascists”.

“But we are also inspired by the massive opposition shown by people taking to the streets and doing everything possible to oppose Trump,” added Tull. Patel has long made anti-fascist activists part of his rhetorical list of enemies. In March 2023, Patel was a guest on a conspiracy theorist’s podcast and excoriated the Biden administration for not prosecuting two lawyers that allegedly burned an NYPD vehicle at a BLM protest in Brooklyn during the summer of 2020.

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