At its heart, fascism is about premising the needs of one group, often defined by race and ethnicity, over the rest of humanity; anti-fascists have always opposed this…
— from “A Brief History of Anti-Fascism” by James Stout, on SmithsonianMag.com, June 2020.
We’ll be discussing fascism, and anti-fascism, in a moment.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel posted an article on, October 1, written by journalist Anna Kleiber, titled, “A large majority of Americans think political violence is a big problem, Marquette survey finds. Who to blame differs.”
From that article, about a national survey conducted by Marquette University Law School:
“Though we are quick to understand violence as left versus right, several high-profile incidents defy such categorization. Nihilistic violence, violence for violence’s sake, niche belief systems and idiosyncratic personal beliefs have been common features of political violence carried out by individuals recently,” Armed Conflict Location and Event Data North America research manager Kieran Doyle said in a statement provided to the Journal Sentinel…
I want to focus our attention today on the phrase: “Organized Political Violence”. This is a different concept from generic “political violence”.
I suspect nearly every Daily Post reader assumes the dreadful murder of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on September 10 was politically motivated. But very few of us, I suspect, assume the assassination was “organized political violence.”
The narrative now coming from the White House would have us believe otherwise.
We do, in fact, have “organized political violence” occurring here in the U.S. I mentioned one example in Part One — the arrest of workers and family members and their incarceration in detention centers across the country, without access to well-accepted avenues of legal justice.
This is not murder or assassination, but violence nevertheless — locking people up, separating families, in service of a political outcome.
Some Daily Post readers may view this activity as justifiable and necessary, to rid the nation of foreign-born criminals.
As mentioned in Part One, a study of ICE documents indicates that the vast majority of people incarcerated by the Trump administration do not have criminal records — and those who do, often committed minor traffic violations.
From investigative reporter Margy O’Herron, writing for JustSecurity.org on September 22, 2025:
Despite the administration’s claims that it is targeting “the worst of the worst,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data show the great majority of immigrants in detention — more than 70 percent in early September — have no criminal record. In its haste to hit the historically high target, ICE is even arresting and locking up U.S. citizens.
The White House memorandum posted on September 25 refers to a different problem.
A fictitious problem?
From the memorandum, “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence”:
There are common recurrent motivations and indicia uniting this pattern of violent and terroristic activities under the umbrella of self-described “anti-fascism.” These movements portray foundational American principles (e.g., support for law enforcement and border control) as “fascist” to justify and encourage acts of violent revolution.
This “anti-fascist” lie has become the organizing rallying cry used by domestic terrorists to wage a violent assault against democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental American liberties. Common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.
As described in the Order of September 22, 2025 (‘Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization’), the groups and entities that perpetuate this extremism have created a movement that embraces and elevates violence to achieve policy outcomes, including justifying additional assassinations…
From the 1930s through the 1940s, European fascists were understood to be violent, anti-Semitic, anti-labor, racist enemies of humanity. The term fascismo first appeared in Italy, where dictator Benito Mussolini began a policy of “Italianization” — cultural genocide against the Slovenes and Croats who lived in the northeastern part of the country. Mussolini banned their languages, closed their schools and caused them to change their names to sound more Italian.
As a result, the Slovenes and Croats were forced to organize outside of the state to protect themselves from “Italianization”, and became allied with anti-fascist forces in 1927. Italy’s government responded by forming a secret police, the Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell’Antifascismo, the Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-fascism (OVRA). The secret police surveilled Italian citizens, raided opposition organizations, murdered suspected anti-fascists, and spied on and blackmailed the Catholic Church.
Americans were largely united during World War II in the battle to defeat European fascism, and we succeeded in that effort.
But the White House memorandum now describes “anti-fascism” as anti-American, anti-capitalist, and anti-Christian, and as an organized movement advocating “the overthrow of the United States Government.”
The memorandum goes further:
The National Joint Terrorism Task Force and its local offices (collectively, “JTTFs”) shall coordinate and supervise a comprehensive national strategy to investigate, prosecute, and disrupt entities and individuals engaged in acts of political violence and intimidation designed to suppress lawful political activity or obstruct the rule of law. This strategy shall include the investigatory and prosecutorial measures set forth in this section.
(b) The JTTFs shall investigate potential Federal crimes relating to acts of recruiting or radicalizing persons for the purpose of:
(i) political violence, terrorism, or conspiracy against rights; or
(ii) the violent deprivation of any citizen’s rights.
(c) The JTTFs shall also investigate:
(i) institutional and individual funders, and officers and employees of organizations, that are responsible for, sponsor, or otherwise aid and abet the principal actors engaging in the criminal conduct described in subsections (a) and (b) of this section; and
(ii) non-governmental organizations and American citizens residing abroad or with close ties to foreign governments, agents, citizens, foundations, or influence networks engaged in violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.) or money laundering by funding, creating, or supporting entities that engage in activities that support or encourage domestic terrorism.
The great thing about the term “domestic terrorism” is — you can simply claim that it exists, without ever defining what it is.
Has “carrying a sign” now become an activity that “supports and encourages domestic terrorism”?