Culture and Social Issues

Dem AG Hopeful Shrugs Off Posts Comparing D-Day Troops To Antifa: ‘I Have No Idea’

U.S. Soldiers disembark a landing craft at Normandy, France, June 6, 1944. By the end of the day some 150,000 Allied troops had landed on five Normandy beaches and three airborne drop zones. The invasion marked the beginning of the final phase of World War II in Europe, which ended with the surrender of Germany the following May. (DoD photo courtesy of the National Infantry Museum/Released)

Iowa Attorney General candidate Nate Willems attempted to downplay a social media post Wednesday that he shared on his X account comparing the designated terror group Antifa to American service members during D-Day.

During the height of the Black Lives Matter riots in summer 2020, Willems reposted several tweets likening Americans on D-Day to Antifa agitators. Willems attempted to downplay the posts’ significance when asked about them by host Justin Brady on the “IowaPodcast.”

He responded, “I um, I don’t have a great recollection of that.”

When faced with the specific posts, Willems asserted, “well I would hope that we are against fascists, right? Just like the troops in D-Day were fighting fascism, fighting against Hitler’s Germany, I would hope we all support those basic goals.”

Brady then pressed Willems about comparing American soldiers to a group the Trump administration labeled as domestic terrorists. “I have no idea. I’ve never met an Antifa group. Do they exist in Iowa? I’ve never been to a community event with a table of these folks passing out literature or something,” he continued. “I would have no idea what goes into the administration’s calculation in designating them as a terrorist organization.”

Willems did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

One post depicted soldiers storming Omaha Beach with the caption “6/6/44: Vintage Antifa”. Another depicted an aircraft of United States Army paratroopers with the caption “a plane full of uniformed antifa, circa 1944.”

The Allied Forces suffered over 10,300 total casualties.

Antifa was responsible for violence and property destruction in American cities including Portland, Oregon, Berkeley, California, and Seattle, Washington. The group repeatedly doxxed law enforcement agents, lit off flares at Turning Point USA events and physically beat conservatives.

President Donald Trump designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization in September 2025.

Willems is running against Republican incumbent Brenna Bird for Iowa’s Attorney General office.