Progressive intellectual icon Noam Chomsky has publicly stated that the Antifa movement, while being embraced by the mainstream media after the recent violence in Charlottesville, will only serve to embolden militant right-wing extremists – essentially creating a feedback loop of escalating violence.

"As for Antifa, it's a minuscule fringe of the Left, just as its predecessors were. It's a major gift to the right, including the militant right, who are exuberant," Chomsky told the Washington Examiner.

While the mass media has taken up the cause of portraying Antifa as freedom fighters who defend against "Nazis," the reality is starkly different, as many of the activists affiliated with the movement consider themselves left-anarchists or socialists, who often wear all black and masks to conceal their identity.

Chomsky said, "what they do is often wrong in principle – like blocking talks – and [the movement] is generally self-destructive."