Nearly seven decades ago, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover made a bold claim: “There is no organized crime in America.” His refusal to acknowledge the Mafia persisted despite the overwhelming evidence, including arrests and testimonies before Congress.
People have pondered why Hoover stuck to his denial. Was he trying to sidestep the political fallout from ignoring such a significant criminal organization for so long? It’s possible.
Fast forward to today, and it seems that many, much like Hoover, prefer to overlook another violent group—Antifa.
Politicians and analysts often dismiss the existence of left-wing anarchist factions, mocking President Trump’s labeling of Antifa as a terrorist organization.
Congressman Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) appeared to channel Hoover when he challenged others, asking them to “name one member of Antifa.”
Former House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler faced backlash for denying Antifa’s existence.
Others on the left echoed Goldman’s claims. For instance, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel spent part of his monologue insisting that Antifa was nothing more than a myth, likening it to the legendary “Chupacabra.” “You know there’s no such thing as Antifa,” he asserted. “This is a completely fabricated organization.”
I’ve testified about Antifa and have penned numerous articles over the past decade, including a book about Antifa. While I opposed designating Antifa as a terrorist organization due to free speech concerns, I acknowledge their very real presence.
Antifa intentionally avoids standard leadership structures. It traces its roots back to the 1920s with the German Communist group, the Anti-Fascist Movement.
Members often identify as part of Antifa, making it easy to address Goldman’s challenge. One student from my campus publicly stated that Antifa was succeeding after being arrested for property damage.
In another case, a radical was apprehended for taking an axe to a Congressional office and identified as an Antifa member.
Kyle Benjamin Douglas Calvert, 26, even placed a sticker declaring “Please support your local Antifa” while setting an IED device outside Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office in downtown Montgomery.
Numerous Antifa affiliates have faced arrests, including one who aimed to become a journalist.
Protesters frequently align with Antifa groups such as Rose City Antifa or other offshoots like Love and Rage. Some Antifa members have even been elected to the French and European parliaments.
Professor Mark Bray from Rutgers University wrote in his book, Antifa: Anti-Fascist Handbook, that many associated with Antifa are anarchists or anti-authoritarian communists, emphasizing their opposition to free speech as nothing more than a “bourgeois fantasy.”
Former FBI Director Christopher Wray has long refuted claims from skeptics like Goldman, stating definitively that “Antifa is real.”
Ironically, when not explicitly denying its existence, some on the left rally their supporters or even promote Antifa merchandise. Former Democratic National Committee Vice Chairman Keith Ellison, now Minnesota’s attorney general, suggested that Antifa would “strike fear into the heart” of President Trump. Meanwhile, his son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, expressed support for Antifa during the recent protests.
Yet, as Antifa-related violence escalates, Democratic leaders revert to denying its existence, despite the group’s unmistakable identifiers: black hoodies and masks.
Some liberal activists have even confessed to coordinating violent demonstrations with Antifa. A case in point is Dwayne Dixon, a University of North Carolina professor who was linked to an extremist gun group called Redneck Rebellion. This group was recently referenced in a flyer that called for action against those who celebrated Nazi deaths.
During a Harvard University panel, Dixon reportedly admitted that Antifa-related groups had sought security from his gun club during the infamous 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. He mentioned that “as planning for the defense of Charlottesville progressed, local anarchist groups of color…were invited to assist in securing Justice Park for the activists anticipated to gather.”
Denying the group’s existence seems more like a strategy to sidestep discussions surrounding the increasing violence from the left, even as these same politicians use incendiary language to stir up anger. However, they struggle to keep their narratives consistent. While they rally mobs with dire warnings about democracy’s fate and equate their opponents to Nazis, they simultaneously deny the existence of groups they praise for targeting conservatives.
Hoover didn’t acknowledge the Mafia until a significant gathering on November 14, 1957, when numerous mobsters were found together at a farmhouse in Apalachin, New York.
Unlike that, Antifa has had its own “moments,” with prosecutors uncovering a national movement filled with self-identified members. So why the denial? It seems that some politicians are eager to harness these violent groups for their gain. But it’s a miscalculation; the more influence Antifa gains, the less likely it will be to be manipulated by establishment liberals.
In the meantime, the Goldmans of the world will probably continue to dismiss their existence.
In the film The Usual Suspects, the character Verbal Kint talks about the elusive villain Kaiser Soze: “The greatest trick the devil ever played was to make the world believe he did not exist.”
