David Axelrod Grimly Warns Trump’s Designation of Leftist Group as ‘Terrorist Organization’ Will Be Used to ‘Go After’ the President’s Enemies

CNN’s David Axelrod expressed alarm after President Donald Trump designated Antifa as a terrorist organization on Wednesday, stating that the act is a pretext for pursuing political enemies.

Anitfa, which stands for “anti-fascist,” is a decentralized collection of left-wing groups.

“I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” Trump wrote on Truth Social from the U.K. in the wee hours of the morning. “I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Trump’s post came during Wednesday’s edition of AC360, where Anderson Cooper and his guests were discussing ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the host erroneously claimed that the alleged assassin of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was actually a right-winger. The move came hours after Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr threatened to pull ABC’s license.

“I think we owe it to the president, we owe it to the people around him to take him seriously,” Axelrod said. “He’s been saying not just… since the Kirk assassination, but before it, that he was gonna go after, say, George Soros because he said he was funding agitators.”

Axelrod said Trump’s designation of Antifa as a terrorist organization will be used as justification to go after political foes:

This post should not be dismissed, because what it means is he will define – just as they will define the public interest [regarding broadcasting licenses] – they will define, what is Antifa? And they will go after everyone and everything that they put under that umbrella, even though it isn’t an organization. It is a, in many ways, mythology. But it gives them, you know, a pretext to go after their political enemies…

[T]his is gonna be a major effort to try and defund any opposition in this country by doing it under this rubric of “Antifa” and the radical left. I think this is an inflection moment. So, it’s quite concerning.

Watch above via CNN.