by Cabot Phillips and Gabriel Nadales
This month, Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Bill Cassidy proposed a resolution that would officially label the radical leftist group Antifa a “domestic terrorist organization.”
Antifa, which stands for “anti-fascism,” gained national attention during the “Occupy Wall Street” protests in 2011 and became increasingly prominent throughout the 2016 election cycle.
Recently, members of the group have appeared on college campuses, threatening attendees of events featuring conservative speakers, attacking journalists, and just this month, a man who claimed “I am Antifa” was killed after attacking an ICE facility in Washington State, armed with a rifle and Molotov cocktails.
“Antifa are terrorists, violent masked bullies who ‘fight fascism’ with actual fascism, protected by Liberal Privilege,” Cassidy said in describing the need for labeling the group a terrorist organization.
Wanting to know what students thought, Campus Reform‘s Cabot Phillips headed to George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia to find out.
Bringing along Gabriel Nadales, a former member of Antifa and current employee of the Leadership Institute, Campus Reform‘s parent organization, Phillips and Nadales asked students if they thought the group deserved a “terrorist” designation.
All but one student with whom Campus Reform spoke agreed that Antifa should be labeled a “domestic terror organization.” After the lone student who initially disagreed with using that label heard the definition of terrorism – “using violence or intimidation in the pursuit of political objectives” – his response changed.
“If they’re going there with the intention of starting violence I think that’s definitely a terrorist organization,” one student said, while another added, “any violence for political reasons is by definition terrorism, so yeah.”
“If they are going and attacking people would that be considered a terrorist group? I guess, yeah…”
What would students who supported the group have to say when confronted with the reality of their violence by a former Antifa member?
Watch the full video above to find out.
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Cabot Phillips is the Media Director for Campus Reform. Prior to joining Campus Reform he spent time working on numerous campaigns—most recently as the Digital Grassroots Director for Marco Rubio’s Presidential bid.
