THIS is crazy. Just absolutely crazy.
He Wrote a Book About Antifa. Death Threats Are Driving Him Out of the US
Rutgers historian Mark Bray is trying to flee to Spain after an online campaign from far-right influencers was followed by death threats. He was turned back at the airport on his first attempt.
David Gilbert
Politics
Oct 9, 2025 11:55 AM
A professor at Rutgers University who wrote a book about “antifa” almost a decade ago is trying—and struggling—to flee the US for Europe after a weeks-long online campaign against him by far-right influencers was followed by death threats.
Mark Bray, a historian at Rutgers who specializes in Spanish history and radicalism, has been a far-right target ever since he published Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook in 2017. But after president Donald Trump issued an executive order seeking to designate antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization,” social media posts from far-right figures and a petition promoted by conservative student activists demonized Bray as an “antifa member” who was “supporting terrorist behavior.” Dozens of targeted threats followed.
The threats, emailed from anonymous accounts and reviewed by WIRED, included a message that read: “I’ll kill you in front of your students.” Another message, with the subject line “your violent rhetoric is under investigation,” listed Bray’s home address where he lives with his wife and two young children.
“We made the decision on Saturday [to leave the US] when our home address became known by people who want to do us harm,” says Bray. The professor informed his students on Sunday that he would be moving to Europe as a result of the threats.
But at the airport, after they had already scanned their passports, received boarding passes, checked in their bags, and cleared security, Bray says he and his family were not allowed to board their flight. Upon arrival at their boarding gate, their reservations had suddenly disappeared from the United Airlines system.
“For 20 minutes [United Airlines] couldn’t even figure out what had happened,” says Bray. “Then they said that, basically, somehow someone had canceled our reservation, presumably in between checking through and then. I don’t know what happened. There are various potential explanations, but I don’t think it was a coincidence that it happened to us on that day.”
Bray says that he has been rebooked on flights to Spain. “We’re going to try it one more time,” says Bray. “If it doesn’t work, then we’ll do something else.”
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After publishing Antifa, Bray donated half of the profits from the book to the International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund, a group which supports antifascist activists around the world. He was soon placed on the so-called Professor Watchlist by Turning Point USA (TPUSA), the conservative activist group cofounded by Charlie Kirk. The list, which showcases academics that TPUSA claims are pushing leftist propaganda, has been criticized as a threat to academic freedom.
Antifa is viewed by the Trump administration and many on the right as a dangerous network of violent left-wing activist groups intent on destroying US conservative values. In reality, antifa is not an organization at all, but a broad ideology embraced by antifascist activists around the world.
Pirat_Nation 🔴
@Pirat_Nation
Europol just dismantled a SIM farm-for-hire platform that powered 49 million fake accounts used for global fraud.
https://x.com/Pirat_Nation/status/1979955885251187101
So, it seem as if the Bernie backed candidate for Senate in Maine is imploding. Basically, nobody researched this clown. Glad that it’s being revealed now, BEFORE THE PRIMARY.
Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) posted at 2:27 PM on Mon, Oct 20, 2025:
The Subtle Genius of ‘No Kings’ https://t.co/xVW0URVGIj via @TPM
(https://x.com/joshtpm/status/1980355150373073356?t=jhyejTr6Sx2pigY2eCnHfg&s=03)
Talking Points Memo (@TPM) posted at 2:27 PM on Mon, Oct 20, 2025:
@joshtpm writes that the turnout and character of the weekend’s No Kings demonstrations speak for themselves and at great volume.
They “make clear that Donald Trump’s conquest of the American Republic is far from complete and is in fact unlikely to ultimately succeed.”
(https://x.com/TPM/status/1980355189480505516?t=vPDAZ1FBq2edAsSwUwGr1g&s=03)
soulPhoodie (@soulphoodie) posted at 2:26 PM on Mon, Oct 20, 2025:
Black Farmers to seek rehearing after appeals court rules against them in discrimination aid suit. The Black Farmers association says the USDA should accept applications filed on behalf of deceased relatives who faced discriminatory farm lending https://t.co/7g00smPfTb
(https://x.com/soulphoodie/status/1980354837209391429?t=Pis-x7FtyEKkWwm8qRTm_Q&s=03)
POLITICO (@politico) posted at 2:32 PM on Mon, Oct 20, 2025:
EXCLUSIVE: Embattled Trump nominee Paul Ingrassia told Republicans that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and that he has “a Nazi streak,” according to a group chat viewed by POLITICO.
https://t.co/BHSud48VAh
(https://x.com/politico/status/1980356444039123056?t=LrHOu6IPPh5707XFA6QdRA&s=03)
The United States versus Elon R. Musk
@Needle_of_Arya
too many white people were not only exposed as knowing nothing about other white people, but presently permanently gobsmacked that other white people actually act like white people
11:33 AM · Oct 19, 2025
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315
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Senator Tim Kaine (@SenTimKaine) posted at 8:36 AM on Mon, Oct 20, 2025:
The GOP is trying to con Americans into accepting a deal that will make their health care more expensive by fearmongering about health care for undocumented immigrants. Undocumented people aren’t eligible to enroll in Medicare and Medicaid. Don’t fall for their scam.
(https://x.com/SenTimKaine/status/1980266798210589130?t=QOsHEkw5ZItHCkT2MPPUhw&s=03)
Andy Kroll
@AndyKroll
After Russ Vought experienced the chaotic failures of Trump’s 1st term, he made it his mission to ensure that Trump 2.0 would not “lose a moment of time having fights in the Oval Office about whether something is legal or doable or moral.”
My latest 👇
https://x.com/AndyKroll/status/1980301933471821966
I’m going to say this about the protests.
Hoping that more were VOTER REGISTRATION EVENTS.
BUT,
the tactic of switching to MOCKERY has been brilliant.
The Inflatable Costumes
The Dance parties
The Roller Skating Party
The Naked Bike Rides
It’s the MOCKERY that bugs the shyt out of the right.
The changing of lyrics to tell them off.
I had my doubts about it. But, for the lane, it’s quite effective.
People feel the rage of 2020, but know that they have to channel that rage into different expressions.
They wrote an entire playbook based on 2020. It’s why they’re confused about everything they’re seeing in these protests.
Tiff4Mahogany_44 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 NATO MEMBER (@tiff4mahogany) posted at 11:55 AM on Mon, Oct 20, 2025:
People who blame both sides are now whining about our healthcare system.
That’s precisely why we warned you in 2016 that Trump would get 3 justices and that’s going to kill Roe & healthcare, but you told us we weren’t going to use SCOTUS to scare you.
(https://x.com/tiff4mahogany/status/1980316933678637315?t=2cKcQZbskjijzD_W7rslbA&s=03)
The Associated Press (@AP) posted at 8:40 AM on Mon, Oct 20, 2025:
BREAKING: The Supreme Court will consider whether people who regularly smoke marijuana can legally own guns. https://t.co/gx4eFlqiBm
(https://x.com/AP/status/1980267947718242446?t=mX87Z-jmkT9EtgBKNhdUKg&s=03)
One thing that has set off MAGA world after this weekend is this:
Seeing black folks minding their business & not giving them an ounce of our energy sure has them mad. We said we were done. Y’all need to fix this.
https://bsky.app/profile/2strong2silence.bsky.social/post/3m3mo4z5gak2t
Candidly Tiff (@tify330) posted at 6:43 PM on Sat, Oct 18, 2025:
Laughing at the White Nationalists asking where are the Black and Brown protestors and confused at the lack of diversity. They are big mad that their fellow whites are not falling in line and we are protecting our peace.
I talked about this on our live yesterday. https://t.co/fEm7rWebx4
(https://x.com/tify330/status/1979694867711422601?t=EgLBeUFaFhzueDSP4z0B2w&s=03)
Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) posted at 11:58 AM on Mon, Oct 20, 2025:
Laura Ingraham regularly claimed the business dealings of Hunter Biden in the years prior to his father’s presidential election implicated Joe Biden in rampant corruption.
Now she’s gone into business with Don Jr. https://t.co/VkXcCEHaqe
(https://x.com/MattGertz/status/1980317713500430398?t=LrGu9_PZ43-8LhNObyw0FA&s=03)
Good Afternoon, Everyone😊😊😊
Victoria Anastasia Aranowicz (@VAAranowicz) posted at 10:25 AM on Mon, Oct 20, 2025:
The American people cannot “mock” the President, but the President can “mock” the American people. Huh, interesting.
(https://x.com/VAAranowicz/status/1980294425151709303?t=RKEtpWQlPJdGvwKgLA7-ng&s=03)
Meredith Lee Hill
@meredithllee
NEW: Trump admin sent out furlough notices this morning to the vast majority of staff at a key agency that helps manage the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.
More >
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025/10/trump-admin-furloughs-majority-of-top-nuclear-weapons-staff-amid-shutdown-00615145
https://x.com/meredithllee/status/1980274509799370870