Self-described antifascist anarchists advertised their plans to protest at the Nashville Freedom Conference later this week, which will feature Daily Wire hosts Michael Knowles, Reagan Conrad, and Cabot Phillips, along with Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan.
A leftist Nashville group, which goes by the name 615 Antifascist, posted a flyer on social media calling for people to “rally against transphobia” at the Nashville Freedom Conference on Saturday, February 7. The Freedom Conference, hosted by the Young America’s Foundation, is a two-day event that begins Friday and is expected to draw hundreds of young conservatives from across the country.
The anarchist group specifically called out Knowles, whom they accused of making “inflammatory” comments, “especially around transgender people.”
“I’ve been informed that Antifa intends to protest my speech on Friday. The last time they sent a goon to one of my speaking events, he ended up in federal prison,” Knowles said on Monday. “Looking forward to another opportunity to help correct America’s under-incarceration problem!”
I’ve been informed that Antifa intends to protest my speech on Friday. The last time they sent a goon to one of my speaking events, he ended up in federal prison.
Looking forward to another opportunity to help correct America’s under-incarceration problem! pic.twitter.com/nllaYT0aLX
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) February 2, 2026
It’s unclear if the group has any plans to also protest on Friday, when Knowles is scheduled to take the stage.
Knowles commented further on the leftist group’s protest plans during his show on Tuesday.
“There’s a Nashville antifa — even in Nashville. Nowhere is sacred, I guess. This is the ‘rally against transphobia.’ They’re still on this; they’re still on the trans thing,” Knowles said. “They never give it up because it’s the apotheosis of liberalism, because the transgender ideology is the culmination of centuries of the liberal impulse for radical liberation from everything, including morality, social order, religion, God, and even the self.”
Knowles is used to leftists and anarchists showing up to make a scene when he speaks, and in one instance, three years ago, a protest became violent.
In 2023, a leftist protester attempted to disrupt an event featuring Knowles at the University of Pittsburgh by setting off homemade smoke bombs and shooting a firework into a crowd of protesters and police officers, injuring one person. The protester, 37-year-old Brian DiPippa, was sentenced to five years in prison.
Knowles has enraged radical leftists for years over his strong stance against gender procedures. During a 2023 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Knowles argued that “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely — the whole preposterous ideology, at every level.”
The comment sparked a firestorm from leftists who falsely claimed that Knowles was arguing for the eradication of trans-identifying people.
The Nashville antifascist group said in its flyer that the Freedom Conference “will include leadership sessions, and a lineup of right-wing voices from media designed to ‘confront the Left’s narratives’ and mobilize young conservatives across campuses and communities.” Other featured speakers at the event include CNN conservative contributor Scott Jennings, conservative activist Robby Starbuck, and pro-life activist Abby Johnson.
The anarchists told people to meet at a Lutheran church just a block away from the hotel in downtown Nashville where the conference is being held.
The antifascist group says it’s “a collective of anonymous individuals based in Nashville, Tennessee, united in the mission to combat Fascism in all its manifestations.” The group focuses on protesting the Trump administration’s policies and “rejecting oppressive social norms … such as racism, sexism, xenophobia, capitalism, and transphobia.”
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