David Hogg, a Parkland shooting survivor-turned-gun control activist, compared law enforcement and officials in President Trump’s administration to fascists, saying his grandfather fought with antifa against similar forces during World War II.
Hogg, who has been highly critical of the Trump administration, suggested the president called his grandfather and other veterans “terrorists” when Trump said the United States would designate antifa a terrorist organization.
“My grandpa was part of the Antifa forces in WWII sad Donald Trump has labeled him and his fellow vets as terrorists,” Hogg tweeted.
My grandpa was part of the Antifa forces in WWII sad Donald Trump has labeled him and his fellow vets as terrorists.
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) June 1, 2020
Trump has blamed the left-wing antifa movement for violent demonstrations across the country in several cities, including looting, arson, and major clashes between protesters and law enforcement. The president said Sunday that the U.S. would designate antifa a domestic terrorist organization.
The protests began last week after George Floyd, a black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest.
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Hogg and other left-wing figures have shrugged off the blame that has been placed on antifa for the wave of violence, fixating on how the name, which is short for anti-fascist, is representative of those who have fought against fascist regimes, including Nazi Germany. Critics on the Right have for years said antifa activists pose a threat. Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy and Ted Cruz called them “hateful, intolerant radicals” as they filed a resolution last summer to categorize antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.
Attorney General William Barr said on Saturday that “many places” across the country were seeing violent protests spurred by “anarchic” and “far-left extremist groups.” He added that agitators were using “antifalike tactics” and that many of them were traveling from out of state to participate in the protests.
Barr added on Sunday that the violence being “instigated and carried out” by “antifa and other similar groups” in connection to nationwide rioting is “domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly.”
