Violent ends: America’s right-wing radicals remain deadlier than their opponents on the left

Indeed, many U.S. government accounts have looked unusual since Trump took office for his second term. Posts from the Department of Homeland Security, in particular, evoke bizarre feelings. One of them is a video that opens with dark footage of men preparing weapons and gear in the shadows. The voiceover is Robert Pattinson’s line from The Batman: “They think I hide in the shadows. But I am the shadows.” The caption reads: “Darkness is no longer your ally. You represent an existential threat to the citizens of the United States, and U.S. Border Patrol's Special Operations Group will stop at nothing to hunt you down.”

The White House, for its part, openly publishes lists of deportees with mugshots. Meanwhile, President Trump — who was blocked on X in January 2021 for violating the platform’s policy against glorifying violence — posts AI-generated videos on his social media showing him dropping feces on people protesting against him at a recent No Kings protest.

The monarchic references are apt. In their book Trump’s Carnival: Populism, Transgression, and the Far Right, Gaufman and her co-author Bharat Ganesh suggest viewing the political behavior of Trump and his supporters through the lens of a medieval ritual. According to 20th-century Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin, in a carnival the boundaries of what is acceptable shift, and social distance decreases. “At this moment, people can behave inappropriately. It’s a time when people can go wild, let off steam, and do whatever they want. As a result, it helps them feel in power,” Gaufman explains.

Carnival uses laughter and the body to transgress and forget the existence of conventional norms. Gaufman compares Trump to a jester, a figure who is allowed to go even farther than the other participants in the carnival: “He could make a joke about the size of his penis or insult a woman — and get away with it. Remember what a scandal it was when Barack Obama wore a tan suit? But that doesn’t compare to what Trump does. In his case, all political norms seem to have been suspended.”

Gaufman likens Trump’s antics on social media and at official events to the tactics of a vendor in a carnival marketplace: “Trump is, of course, the chief vendor. That’s how he gets very high ratings: everything he does is aimed at making the biggest possible splash.”

Will they manage to turn antifa into criminals?

The White House's September memorandum labeling antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization” has no legal or judicial effect and serves only Trump’s PR purposes, says Igor Slabykh, lawyer and author of the USlegalnews Telegram channel. Unlike Russia, the U.S. has no legal concept of a “domestic terrorist organization,” so only foreign organizations can be designated as terrorist.

“It was done just for show, to send a signal to the public: look, there’s an entity behind everything that's wrong, and we’re fighting it,” he says.

Previously, Trump fought against the deep state within the government, but now the administration largely consists of his appointees and MAGA supporters. Antifa has become the new enemy.

The left is a convenient target, Storyev confirms. Historically, the U.S. government has often opposed the left — like in the McCarthy era, for example.

“The left is being made responsible for all political violence in the U.S. Everything is a leftist conspiracy. At the same time, leftists don’t know how to shoot. Leftists aren’t real men — they don’t have men at all, and the men they do have aren’t scary because they’ve transitioned to women. The same goes for immigrants. They come from Mexico, rape everything in sight, and kill. But they also don’t know how to speak English (proper English, that is), they’re stupid, and paying them a thousand dollars is enough to make them leave,” he explains.

Although Trump and his administration target the left as domestic enemies, one should not expect U.S. law enforcement to start specifically hunting down leftists and fabricating cases against them in the way Russia’s anti-extremist “Center E” agency does. American police cannot rely on presidential decrees to obtain search warrants and must still follow standard procedures.

“You cannot be convicted simply for being a member of antifa or for supporting the movement’s goals. A criminal statute is still required to prosecute, and standard procedures must be followed,” notes Slabykh.

In October, the White House held a roundtable where Trump and his supporters discussed the possibility of designating antifa as a foreign terrorist organization. This move could have real consequences, such as criminalizing financial or other support for antifa, with penalties of up to 20 years in prison.

Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice has the authority to designate antifa as a foreign terrorist organization. Project 2025, which the Trump administration aims to implement during his second term, has as one of its goals the transformation of the Department of Justice from an independent entity within the executive branch into a combat wing of the executive branch.

However, if the Department of Justice designates antifa as a foreign terrorist organization, lawsuits challenging violations of the First Amendment could arise, creating serious political risks for Trump, notes Slabykh. “The courts constrain Trump, and we see, for example, that he does not always get what he wants in criminal proceedings,” the lawyer points out.