Trump adds to list of 'terror indicators'

US president Donald Trump has updated national security guidance to include ‘terror indicators’ like being ‘anti-American’. US streamer Hasan Piker has described the move as “straightforward fascism”:

‘Indicators’

Journalist Ken Klippenstein provided a list of ‘indicators’ which authorities should consider when investigating potential terrorism:

anti-Americanism,

anti-capitalism,

anti-Christianity,

support for the overthrow of the United States Government,

extremism on migration,

extremism on race,

extremism on gender

hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family,

hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and

hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.

As commentators such as Piker have noted, these terms are vague on paper, but would allow agencies who are aligned with Trump to target his enemies. As an example, Trump has increased government hostility towards transgender people. Accordingly, people are predicting this latest move will be used as a pretext to curtail the rights of transgender individuals:

By inflating numbers and narrowing definitions, Heritage promotes a false link between transgender identity and violence in its push for the FBI to create a new terrorism category. https://t.co/j20LQ9Wo9D

— WIRED Science (@WIREDScience) September 26, 2025

Summarising his feelings, Klippenstein wrote:

I don’t want to sound hyperbolic but the plain truth is that NSPM-7 is a declaration of war on anyone who does not support the Trump administration and its agenda. Yes, it repeats the word “violent” over and over to purport only to go after citizens who are moved to take up arms, but it also directs monitoring and intelligence collection to map and target the new “evildoers,” to borrow a Bush label he took from the Bible just days after 9/11.

The partisan focus couldn’t be more obvious.

As people have pointed out, White House figures such as Donald Trump and Stephen Miller have used exactly the same sort of rhetoric as that which they’re now clamping down on:

“Calling people a fascist is dangerous, violent rhetoric.”

Ok.

Here is a compilation of Trump doing precisely that:

pic.twitter.com/aJy5ckd8Qj

— Micah (@micah_erfan) September 13, 2025

While Stephen Miller claims that Democrats calling him a fascist constitutes incitement, there are hundreds of examples of Miller publicly calling Democrats fascists. pic.twitter.com/XNviTeSGOw

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 28, 2025

this is straight up insane and unironically anti american. they want to investigate & prosecute speech that they deem anti trump. https://t.co/Vczk1znIQT

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) September 28, 2025

Successive UK governments have faced similar accusations of using terror legislation to neutralise perceived ‘enemies within’. In 2020, it was revealed that a “counter-terrorism document” listed several protest groups including Greenpeace and Animal Aid. This year, the home office under Keir Starmer proscribed Palestine Action, which was the first time a non-violent group was labelled a terrorist organisation.

Featured image via RawPixel

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