Trump’s NSPM-7 is a pivotal policy endangering free expression in the United States.
By Chip Gibbons
Five days after the murder of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, Vice President JD Vance hosted Kirk’s podcast from the White House. The Trump administration has never been particularly friendly to dissent, but since the killing of Kirk it has increasingly sought to lay blame for his death on their political opponents.
While broadcasting from the White House, the vice president used the opportunity to rail against the left, promising to “dismantle the institutions that promote violence and terrorism in our own country.” Vance was joined by Stephen Miller who serves as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff as well as Trump’s Homeland Security Advisor. Miller pledged, “With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, eliminate and destroy this network and make America safe again for the American people.” Later, Miller obliquely referenced the First Amendment on X, saying “The path forward is…to take all necessary and rational steps to save civilization” not to “mimic the ACLU of the mid 90s.“
It was in this atmosphere that the Trump White House issued two pivotal policies for the future of free expression in the United States. On the evening of September 22, Trump signed an executive order designating “Antifa” as a “domestic terrorist organization.” Antifa is short for “anti-fascist.” It refers to an ideology. Although there may be groups that would classify their beliefs as “anti-fascist,” there is no singular or central “Antifa” organization. Nevertheless, on some parts of the right, the mythical Antifa has started to play the role of boogeyman formerly reserved for the Communist Party. Whereas Communists were argued to be the hidden driving force behind everything from Civil Rights to peace activism, the nonexistent Antifa is now fingered as the secret, sinister mover of domestic protest—and the legally dubious move of declaring Antifa a domestic terrorist organization has become a major rallying point on the right.
Under U.S. law, there is no statutory framework for designating domestic groups as terrorist organizations. Congress has empowered the Secretary of State to designate Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The executive branch has also used the International Emergency Powers Act to sanction Specially Designated Global Terrorists. While this designation has been applied to U.S. groups and even U.S. citizens, to be designated the U.S. government must allege they acted on behalf of or provided services to foreign terrorists. Because the U.S. considers activity that in any other context would be First Amendment–protected speech to be “coordinated advocacy,” these designations have sweeping ramifications for domestic political speech.
