Get to know the anarchist responsible for DHS’s far-right radicalization scandal.

Eoin LenihanJune 1, 2023

Biden Administration Weaponizes DHS Against Political Opponents

Last week, the Media Research Center (MRC) published a report that exposes how the Biden administration has weaponized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to target political opponents. This is a clear violation of our constitutional rights and a dangerous precedent for our democracy.

DHS provided $352,109 in grant funding to the University of Dayton’s PREVENTS-OH counter-extremism project. The grant application was based in part on the work of openly anarchist Antifa-affiliated Michael Loadenthal, a postdoctoral researcher at the university who, by his own admission, is a far-left violent extremist.

Michael Loadenthal is a prime example of how the Biden administration is using taxpayer money to fund extremist groups and individuals. Loadenthal, who openly identifies as a militant Antifa member, has been given a platform to spread his dangerous ideology under the guise of academic research.

Antifa Tactics Lauded as Academic Research

Loadenthal’s talk at the University of Dayton’s “Social Practice Of Human Rights Conference” is a clear attempt to legitimize Antifa’s violent tactics as academic research. During his presentation, Loadenthal taught audience members how to dox people and use “antifascist intelligence” to harass and deplatform individuals online and in real life.

He detailed how he uses a VPN, burner phones, encrypted communications, and “sock puppet” accounts to dox people.
He framed his work in explicitly “antifascist” terms, explaining how he employs “antifascist intelligence” to dox individuals online and in real life.
He stated, “Donate money … We have defense funds because we get into trouble. A lot of the things we’re doing are illegal … a lot of it involves breaking the law.”

Loadenthal’s tactics are not only illegal but also dangerous. The fact that the Biden administration is funding his work is a clear indication of their willingness to use any means necessary to silence political opposition.

Mainstreaming Violent Extremist Tactics

Loadenthal’s presentation on “Extremism, Rhetoric, and Democratic Precarity” is a prime example of how Antifa’s violent tactics are being mainstreamed in academic circles. His pyramid of far-right radicalization implies a pipeline from mainstream conservatism to violent extremist terrorism, placing centrist news outlets alongside the Proud Boys and InfoWars.

Loadenthal did not give a citation for the image during the conference, and when Fox News asked him to clarify its origins, Loadenthal was not able to point to the source materials for greater context.
If an undergraduate student did that in a presentation, he would receive a failing grade.

The fact that Loadenthal’s work is being funded by the DHS is a clear indication of the Biden administration’s willingness to use any means necessary to silence political opposition. We must stand up against this dangerous precedent and protect our constitutional rights.

Is Michael Loadenthal a Reliable Academic Researcher?

At first glance, Michael Loadenthal’s academia.edu account might look impressive, but a review of his published academic papers quickly reveals a lack of reliable academic research. He employs a full grab bag of buzzwords to get around the pesky “methodology” section of academic writing. His research methods include using a “Scavenger methodology” as practiced by “queer linguist” William L. Leap to explain why far-left eco-extremists are good but far-right eco-extremists are bad, a “Discourse analysis and Autoethnography” to justify Antifa rioting, and a “Foucauldian analysis of disciplinary power” to justify far-left ecoterrorism.

But that’s not all. Often, he doesn’t even bother to employ a methodology, as in “Othering Terrorism: A Rhetorical Strategy of Strategic Labeling,” where he makes the case that the term terrorism is racist based on a review of the movie “Black Hawk Down.” All his papers are personal political screeds influenced by his activism, reliant on highly subjective methodologies and anecdotal evidence.

Michael Loadenthal’s Antifa Ties

Further listed as academic output on his ResearchGate profile is a 2018 interview with violent militant anarchist collective CrimethInc in which he confirmed he is a militant anarchist. During the interview, he stated, “We can see some success … recently in the more mainstream acknowledgment of the effectiveness of militant antifascism.” Loadenthal is explicit. He praises the mainstreaming of militant antifascism and rioting.

History of Antifa Association

For Loadenthal, these are not empty words. He has been arrested numerous times for his activism. Though his Twitter account is currently locked, I possess an archive of all of his tweets pre-2019 as Loadenthal is featured in my peer-reviewed research on Antifa on Twitter. The research identified him as one of the most Antifa-embedded academics in the United States.

On Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2016, there was massive, premeditated rioting and property damage caused by anarchist and Antifa groups in Washington, D.C. Loadenthal’s tweets from that day show that not only was he there, but he was arrested with black bloc Antifa. In fact, he found it funny, writing in one tweet, “This is the slooooowest mass arrest I’ve ever been a part of. Not bragging but I’ve been through a few. #disruptj20 #washingtondc.”

Brazenly, Loadenthal used the experience of being arrested that day to write another article, arguing that empiricism and objectivity in academia are bad and that “action-centric, emancipatory-focused” approaches — activism — should be the basis of academic publishing. Once more he is attempting to normalize illegal Antifa activities within academia.

The Impossible Truth

It seems impossible that the University of Cincinnati would still employ an openly violent, extremist Antifa anarchist who was arrested during the 2016 Inauguration Day riots. It seems impossible that the University of Dayton would give him a coveted speaker position to teach conference participants how to dox, harass, and deplatform political opponents while openly stating that his work is illegal. Most of all, it seems impossible that DHS would give the University of Dayton more than $350,000 in grant funding to combat domestic terrorism based in part on the work of this violent domestic extremist.

Yet here we are. The only obvious conclusion is that DHS has been thoroughly weaponized by the Biden administration against centrist and conservative Americans.

Dr. Eoin Lenihan is an independent educator and extremism researcher. His work has been featured on AlJazeera and Fox News. He has also written for Arutz Sheeva, Quillette, The Post Millennial, and The Daily Caller. His peer-reviewed paper “A classification of Antifa Twitter accounts based on social network mapping and linguistic analysis” was published in Social Network Analysis and Mining, and it is the largest academic quantitative analysis of Antifa to date. You can find more from Eoin on Twitter: @EoinLenihan and on his website: www.eoinlenihan.weebly.com.

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