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Sometimes, a story just begs to be written.
Such was the case when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem compared antifa to the transnational criminal group MS-13, Hamas and the Islamic State group.
Could equating the antifascist groups that are collectively referred to as “antifa” with criminal or terrorist groups be justified? We had a strong hunch that such a claim couldn’t hold water, as did sociologist Art Jipson at the University of Dayton.
Jipson’s an expert on social movements. And in his story for us, he spells out just why equating “a nonhierarchical, loosely organized movement of antifascist activists with some of the world’s most violent and organized militant groups” isn’t legitimate. The other organizations Noem invoked – Hamas, the Islamic State group and MS-13 – “operate across borders and are hierarchically organized. … And they have orchestrated mass casualties such as the 2015 Paris attacks and the 2016 Brussels bombings.”
In other words, Noem made “a sweeping claim that ignores crucial distinctions in ideology, organization and scope,” Jipson writes. “Comparing these groups is like comparing apples and bricks: They may both be organizations, but that’s where the resemblance stops.”
Also in this week’s politics news:
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President Donald Trump speaks at the White House during a meeting on antifa, as Attorney General Pam Bondi, left, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem listen, on Oct. 8, 2025.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Art Jipson, University of Dayton
Kristi Noem’s claim that antifa is like the Islamic State group blurs the line between protest and terrorism – a political move unsupported by evidence.
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Demolition in process on the East Wing of the White House, Oct. 23, 2025.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
R. Grant Gilmore III, College of Charleston
President Donald Trump is trying to prescribe the style and content of many federal sites to highlight his own authority and promote a particular view of America.
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Russia’s earlier tests of the Burevestnik missile include this 2018 launch.
Screencapture of Russian Defense Ministry video
Iain Boyd, University of Colorado Boulder
The Russian military claims to have flown its Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile 8,700 miles over 15 hours.
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Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
President Trump OK’d a naval buildup in the Caribbean, strikes on boats in international waters and covert operations in Venezuela. A military analyst can’t see a coherent strategy or objective.
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Rana Mitter, Harvard Kennedy School
The leaders of the world’s two most powerful nations are set for a rare sit-down together on Oct. 30.
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Rahim Kurwa, University of Illinois Chicago
Anti-immigrant housing policies have been cast as a way for citizens to access more housing, but they fail to prevent the shortages driving the crises.
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LaShawn Harris, Michigan State University
The 1984 shooting death of a Black grandmother in her Bronx apartment sparked an ongoing movement against police brutality and neglect of the mentally ill.
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