Bulwark Takes: Trump’s SURREAL Antifa Summit

Date: October 9, 2025
Host: Andrew Egger (A)
Guest: Will Sommer (B), Bulwark’s “right wing media whisperer” and author of the False Flag newsletter

Episode Overview

This episode explores the bizarre, theatrical roundtable President Donald Trump hosted on Antifa, featuring right-wing content creators, provocateurs, and government officials. Andrew Egger and Will Sommer dissect the mix of participants, Trump’s motivations, and the broader implications for civil liberties and political speech. The discussion peels back the curtain on how right-wing influencers and the government are collaborating in both narrative and action, turning a decentralized protest tactic into a supposed organized terror threat.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. The "Cast of Characters" at the Antifa Summit

[00:00–02:52]

• Trump’s roundtable was a mix of White House officials (Pam Bondi, Kash Patel) and right-wing media personalities (Julio Rosas, Jack Posobiec, Nick Sortor, Katie Daviscourt, Indie Noelle).
• These guests range from provocateurs to people with genuine run-ins at protests—some claiming injuries by Antifa protesters.
• Will Sommer notes, “You might call them right wing fane balls, right wing influencers or personalities. …The White House called them independent journalists.” [01:27]

2. Blurring the Line Between Journalist and Activist

[02:52–03:42]

• Many "on the ground" right-wing content creators oscillate between reporting and active participation in protest conflicts, often becoming part of the story themselves.
• Egger observes: “…they're not exactly just like these third party observers. Like ideally you would be for a reporter.” [02:52]

3. What Is Antifa and Why the Crackdown?

[03:42–05:45]

• Sommer outlines Antifa’s history and nature: decentralized, anti-fascist, black bloc tactics, often vilified for street-level violence, but lacking formal structure.
• The Trump administration frames even small-scale protest actions as major threats to justify increased federal crackdowns—including militarized policing, ICE raids, and, uniquely, influencer collaboration.
• Sommer: “DHS and ICE really work hand in glove with these influencers. …At one point…all of a sudden there was like a red sniper dot on the antifa guy's shirt.” [04:33]

4. Government-Influencer Symbiosis

[04:30–05:45]

• Government agencies provide access and support to these influencers, who amplify dramatic incidents, sometimes escalating minor events into cause célèbres on social media.
• Egger calls the relationship “sinister,” emphasizing how the administration uses it to tar broad protest movements with the Antifa brush and suppress dissent:
  “They want it to be the case that…all of these protesters, they are tarring with that brush.” [05:45]

5. Myth vs. Reality: “The Institution of Antifa”

[05:45–07:30]

• The White House treats Antifa as a unified, hierarchical, funded organization—but as Sommer points out, there’s “no national registry, you don’t pay dues.”
• Egger: “They wanna go after…the institution of antifa, which is, which is largely fictional.” [06:36]

6. Manipulation and Performance: The Nick Sortor Flag Incident

[07:30–10:40]

• Nick Sortor’s “flag rescue” at a protest—snatching a burning American flag and making it his political trophy—becomes a key moment.
• Trump responds instantly: “Tell us who that was so we can go prosecute him.” [09:30]
• Egger underscores the constitutional issue:
  “Burning an American flag…is constitutionally protected First Amendment covered speech…without any kind of friction…the response is immediately…‘tell us who that was so we can go prosecute him.’” [10:27]

7. Expanding the Crackdown and Legal Overreach

[10:40–13:09]

• The move to designate Antifa as a domestic—and possibly even foreign—terrorist organization, spurred by influencer lobbying.
• The absurdity is amplified by claims like Pam Bondi’s: “They had the wife of the founder of Antifa in custody”—despite no formal Antifa organization existing. [13:09]

8. Performance, Satire, and Escalation: The Inflatable Chicken

[14:35–15:45]

• Sommer relays an episode where Kristi Noem and Benny Johnson, from the ICE Portland rooftop, watch a protester in an inflatable chicken costume—highlighting the almost comedic level of threat inflation.
  “Kristi Noem is staring down this man in an inflatable chicken costume.” [14:37]
• The protest is often more absurdist performance art than violent threat; Egger quips, “Wearing a giant inflatable costume…seems a lot more effective to me.” [15:04]

9. Underlying Dilemmas: Alarm or Mockery?

[15:45–End]

• Egger closes with the tension: “It is so serious and it is so silly and it’s all, like, wrapped up together.” [15:45]
• The hosts agree both vigilance and satire are needed as the administration escalates efforts to criminalize dissent under the Antifa label.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“You might call them right wing fane balls, right wing influencers or personalities. …The White House called them independent journalists.”
— Will Sommer [01:27]

“They're not exactly just like these third party observers. Like ideally you would be for a reporter.”
— Andrew Egger [02:52]

“DHS and ICE really work hand in glove with these influencers. ...all of a sudden there was like a red sniper dot on the antifa guy's shirt…I've been threatened at protests as a journalist. I haven't had DHS snipers...aiming as like a sniper rifle at them.”
— Will Sommer [04:33]

“They want to go after…the institution of antifa, which is, which is largely fictional."
— Andrew Egger [06:36]

“Burning an American flag…is constitutionally protected First Amendment covered speech…Trump is immediately like, ‘tell us who that was so we can go prosecute him.’”
— Andrew Egger [10:27]

“Pam Bondi said something…about how they had the wife of the founder of Antifa in custody. I mean, that’s…as though this were an organization, a structure, like a thing. …That’s the extent of the actual organizing.”
— Andrew Egger [13:09]

“Kristi Noem is staring down this man in an inflatable chicken costume.”
— Will Sommer [14:37]

“It is so serious and it is so silly and it’s all, like, wrapped up together.”
— Andrew Egger [15:45]

Key Timestamps

• [00:00–01:27] — Intro and panel participants overview
• [01:27–03:42] — Influencer/journalist balance and their role at protests
• [03:42–05:45] — The White House’s Antifa narrative and partnership with influencers
• [05:45–07:30] — Antifa as organization: myth vs. reality
• [07:30–10:40] — Nick Sortor flag rescue incident (including Trump’s prosecution call)
• [10:40–13:09] — Legal overreach; the fable of “the founder of Antifa”
• [14:35–15:45] — The spectacle of protest: chicken costumes, satire, seriousness

Episode Tone & Final Thoughts

The discussion is laced with humor and incredulity, reflecting on the absurdity of both the government’s performance and the way influencers treat protest as content fodder. The hosts are wary of the serious risks to political speech, even as they joke about the farcical elements (“inflatable chicken costume”). The episode warns listeners about the government’s willingness to criminalize protest under a nebulous “Antifa” label—and the role of media theater in enabling it.