WASHINGTON — In a landmark address at the State Department on July 16, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a powerful warning on the realities of far-left political violence.
At the opening of a historic ministerial that brought together representatives from more than 60 countries, Rubio delivered the most powerful speech of his career.
Rubio, the 72nd Secretary of State and former National Security Advisor, outlined the compelling reality we face every day: far-left extremism must be treated as a transnational terrorist threat, one that is on par with, and in some ways more insidious than, the threats the West has successfully defeated in the past.
This was the speech of a fierce, decisive leader, unafraid to name the dangers facing the nation and the free world every day.
A Rising Tide of Violence: The Numbers and the Human Cost
Rubio wasted no time confronting the scale of this global threat, exposing how far-left violence has jumped more than 40% in Germany in just the past year.
In Greece, more than 80% of radical violence is now driven by far-left and anarchist actors. "These are not abstract statistics," he emphasized.
Americans, he noted, have witnessed the consequences firsthand: sniper attacks and armed ambushes on immigration officers, explosives targeting infrastructure, and a transgender shooter who opened fire on Catholic elementary school students as they prayed, with a gun marked by anti-religious slogans such as "Where is your God now?"
Other incidents include the cold-blooded execution of a healthcare executive in the streets, multiple assassination attempts on a sitting president, and the murder of Charlie Kirk, one of America's leading conservative activists, a husband and father of two young children, who was shot dead while addressing a crowd of students.
The Distinctive Character of This Evil
Rubio described far-left terrorism as "a distinctive and unique evil." He argued it is driven above all by "a poisonous resentment in the language of equality, justice, and liberation, an overwhelming need to tear down what greater men have built, to wreck what is beautiful and what is right on behalf of people who are only filled with ugliness and have nothing else to offer the world" through violence and terror.
"The old dog was wrong," Rubio declared. "None of this is driven by utopia. In fact it is the opposite." He pushed back against the claim that communism sounds good in theory, stating: "Communism does not sound good in theory. The world they envision is flat, leveled of all exception, drained of all that is good and noble in the human soul, a world without courage, a world without creativity or ambition, a world without heroes, glory, great causes… without miracles, without myth, without men who rise above the rest to do incredible and extraordinary things… a world without God."
For these "architects of Revolutionary violence," the towering achievements of our civilization are "an unbearable humiliation, a reminder of what they cannot do and a reminder of what they cannot be. So they choose instead to destroy." They attack pipelines, railroads, power grids, and laboratories, the physical and symbolic emblems of power, invention, and achievement.
"They despise the West because the West is greater," Rubio declared.
A Transnational Threat Enabled by Modern Connectivity
Rubio stressed that this is an international threat requiring an international response. "These are not distinct and isolated cells. They are interconnected networks. They do not recognize our borders. They do not believe in the nation state itself."
He detailed how Antifa militants and their comrades "travel from across Europe into the Americas to participate in each other's acts… sharing the same infrastructure, sharing the same enemies, sharing the same mission," using encrypted channels, underground networks, safe houses, and transnational financing.
These groups also work closely with hostile state actors, including Iranian proxy networks and the Cuban regime, whose long-standing intelligence and ideological apparatus has helped build and sustain far-left movements across the United States and the hemisphere.
A militant can raise funds in one country, train in another, and strike in a third. "We have no choice but to confront this menace together," Rubio said. "We will either cooperate across our borders, or the terrorists will continue to exploit the gaps between them."
U.S. Leadership and Concrete Actions Under President Trump
Rubio detailed the Trump administration's response. For the first time, the United States is building dedicated infrastructure, partnerships, and strategy to defeat this threat.
President Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum No. 7, outlining a comprehensive approach to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle Antifa terror networks and allies.
Key steps already taken include:
- Designating four violent far-left extremist groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations last November, with more designations forthcoming.
- Announcing Rewards for Justice offers of up to $10 million for information leading to the disruption of their financing.
- Convening the first counterterrorism law enforcement workshop in May, bringing together U.S. and partner-nation officials to map and dismantle these networks (with the next workshop co-hosted with Germany).
A Call to Defend Civilization
Rubio delivered an emphatic message: civilized nations must stand together against this "encroaching darkness." While it is easy to destroy what others have built, creating and preserving great things requires vision, courage, and cooperation; qualities the enemies of civilization lack.
"We have built great things together. We have done it time and again. We know what we must do and now we must do it."
The conference represents a turning point, a global coalition dedicated to rebuilding counterterrorism architecture around this resurgent threat, just as the world once united against other dangers.
Through intelligence sharing, coordinated law enforcement, and financial disruption, Rubio expressed confidence that these networks can and will be dismantled "brick by brick."
As Rubio thanked the participants, the message resonated deeply with both clarity and force: the age of denial and double standards ends tonight. No more excuses. No more retreat. The defense of civilization is not a slogan, it is a duty to humanity. And that duty now calls us to stand, to fight, and to win — together.
