The following is the prepared transcript from the video above, beginning approximately one-quarter of the way into the remarks.
…For far too long, however, our counterterrorism doctrine has had a blind spot.
A blind spot when it comes to extremist violence from the political left.
Even today, the very idea that far-left terrorism could be a serious threat is treated as a right-wing fever dream—or worse, as a dangerous fascist conspiracy.
It is treated this way by many in the press, by many in academia and our universities, and by many of our legacy institutions.
You will no doubt see that dogma rear its head in the coverage of this very conference.
In spite of the clear and undeniable reality...
In spite of the objective numbers and statistics...
In spite of the fact that representatives from across the political spectrum are gathered in this room...
This organized violence and terror will be dismissed as partisan fiction.
A whole industry grew up around the study of extremism.
We have think tanks, fellowships, journals, and consultancies built upon the unspoken assumption that only one kind of political violence posed a true threat to society.
A bomb planted by a neo-Nazi group was rightly recognized as an act of evil.
But a bomb planted by a Marxist revolutionary?
That was often treated merely as a tragic excess of idealism.
Perhaps the methods were misplaced.
Perhaps they were overzealous.
But the ends were portrayed as virtuous and just.
That has been the implication.
For years, this extraordinary ideological prejudice became embedded in the way political violence was discussed.
It was repeated over and over again until it became accepted as the supposedly neutral and objective baseline.
So entrenched did it become that many regarded it as simple fact.
It is why so many people in positions of power repeatedly dismissed acts of violence—and even terrorism—as legitimate forms of political expression so long as they served a left-wing cause.
It is why, during the George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020, as criminals and extremists burned and looted America’s great cities and nearly brought the country to its knees, city governments across the nation refused to prosecute many of those responsible.
It is why we all remember the image of a news anchor standing in front of a neighborhood consumed by flames while the banner below declared the protests were “mostly peaceful.”
This was more than a double standard.
Left-wing violence was not merely excused.
It was treated as sacrosanct.
A protected class unto itself.
That era has to end.
The coalition gathered here today includes political leaders, experts, and law enforcement officials from more than sixty countries around the world.
You come from different governments, different political parties, and different ideological traditions.
Sometimes our governments disagree sharply about trade, energy, or immigration.
You are not here because you agree with every aspect of the American view of the world.
You are here because this threat is real.
You are here because innocent people have been burned alive...
Because cities have suffered devastating attacks...
Because political leaders have been stabbed and shot...
Because businesses have been bombed...
Because railways have been sabotaged...
Because police officers have been beaten and burned.
This violence is real.
It is growing worse.
It can no longer be denied.
It can no longer be ignored.
It is time to crush this evil forever.
Far-left political terrorism is not a recent phenomenon.
For much of the modern era, it was the dominant form of political violence.
Those from the Western Hemisphere remember decades of kidnappings, bombings, assassinations, and executions carried out by organizations such as the Tupamaros, the Montoneros, FARC, ELN, and Peru’s Shining Path.
Europe remembers the Red Brigades, the Red Army Faction, and the 17 November Organization.
America remembers the Weather Underground, the Black Liberation Army, and the Symbionese Liberation Army.
Between 1971 and 1972 alone, the FBI counted approximately 2,500 bombings on American soil—nearly five every day.
Between 1970 and 1980, ninety-three percent of terrorist attacks in the West came from the far extremist left.
These are numbers that would shock many people today because we have been taught this history either does not exist or has been exaggerated.
But it exists.
Our nations still bear the scars.
Today we face a new wave of this old evil.
In the United States, the share of left-wing terrorist attacks and plots has risen to levels not seen in decades.
In Germany, far-left violence increased by more than forty percent in the last year.
In Greece, more than eighty percent of radical violence is now driven by far-left and anarchist actors.
These are not abstract statistics.
Americans have witnessed attacks on immigration officers...
Sniper attacks...
Explosives...
Armed ambushes...
Assassination attempts...
Political murders...
This is a distinctive evil.
It is driven by hatred for civilization itself.
It is a revolt against creation...
Against achievement...
Against excellence...
It is carried out by people who cannot build and therefore seek to destroy.
Radical leftism has worn many names throughout history.
Communism.
Marxism.
Anarchism.
Anti-capitalism.
Anti-imperialism.
But its essential character remains the same.
It is resentment cloaked in the language of equality, justice, and liberation.
It seeks to tear down what others have built.
It attacks pipelines.
It attacks railroads.
It attacks power grids.
It attacks laboratories.
It despises the physical symbols of civilization.
This is the nature of the terrorism we face today.
They despise the West because the West is great.
This conference is international because the threat is international.
We are confronting a transnational threat.
These are not isolated cells.
They are interconnected networks.
They do not recognize national borders.
They reject the nation-state itself.
They coordinate.
They communicate.
They travel.
They train.
They act together.
They share infrastructure.
They share enemies.
They share a common mission.
Antifa militants and affiliated extremists travel between Europe and the Americas to participate in attacks, exchange propaganda, distribute training materials, and share target information through encrypted communications.
They move through underground networks of safe houses.
They finance operations through transnational funding mechanisms.
They work alongside hostile foreign states that share their objectives.
Today’s far-left terrorists can raise money in one country...
Host communications in another...
Receive training in a third...
Recruit militants in a fourth...
And strike a target in a fifth.
For that reason, we have no choice but to confront this menace together.
We will either cooperate across borders, or terrorists will continue exploiting the gaps between them.
Under President Trump, the United States is building the infrastructure, partnerships, and strategy necessary to defeat far-left terrorism.
The President signed National Security Presidential Memorandum No. 7, outlining a comprehensive strategy to investigate and disrupt Antifa terrorist networks and their allies.
The State Department designated multiple violent far-left extremist organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, with additional designations expected.
Rewards for Justice now offers financial incentives to help disrupt terrorist financing.
Law enforcement partnerships are expanding internationally to map and dismantle these networks.
The coalition we are building is already producing results.
Now we must continue identifying, mapping, and dismantling these networks through intelligence sharing, coordinated law enforcement, financial disruption, and international cooperation.
Brick by brick.
The people of the civilized world must stand together against this encroaching darkness.
The enemies of civilization know only how to destroy.
But we know how to build.
We have built great things together before.
We know what must be done.
Now we must do it.
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