Secret Santa: Best intern ever

Alysa sleighed this one.

Good morning, readers!

Next up in our Secret Santa series, we revisit intern Alysa Horton’s report on a college group’s mission to hunt down Antifa.

It’s an entertaining story that she wrote for the Education Agenda about performative outrage, but there’s nothing performative about how bummed we are that Alysa’s internship is ending.

That being said, she’s moving on to do some really cool things next year — even cooler than hunting Antifa.

“It’s Antifa hunting season at ASU” is easily one of the best headlines of the year — and it’s also my favorite story from our ridiculously cool intern, Alysa Horton.

Alysa came to the Agenda already fluent in ASU politics. As the former editor-in-chief of the State Press, she knows the campus theater, the personalities and the way certain groups try to manufacture a moment and call it news.

So when College Republicans United announced an anti-Antifa press conference, she knew exactly what kind of spectacle she was walking into.

Those kinds of performative political rallies can be difficult to write about — they’re unserious, but the politics behind them aren’t.

But Alysa reported it straight, with the right amount of scene-setting and the perfect little reality checks — including details like that only four members of the college group showed up, led by a guy who graduated five years ago.

Alysa heads to D.C. next year to finish her master’s degree, and while I’m sad we’re losing her, I’m genuinely excited to watch what she does next. If this story is any preview, she’s going to be a menace to bad political theater wherever she lands.

Your subscription helps pay for Alysa’s upcoming contract as our D.C. correspondent.

It’s Antifa hunting season at ASU

Anti-fascists beware …

Alysa Horton, Oct 29, 2025

The College Republicans United group was back at it on ASU’s campus last Thursday with a new mission: Convince students to report “Antifa” to the FBI.

The group rallied support from a mere four members, most of whom aren’t students, for the event. That’s assuming you don’t count Paul Reevs, a Republican running for David Schweikert’s seat in Congressional District 1, who was the group’s guest of honor.

CRU’s invitation to the gathering bragged about their special guest, while bashing the Young Democratic Socialists of America at ASU and sharing information about Antifa — which President Donald Trump declared a “domestic terrorist organization” last month.

Armed with posters and not much knowledge of Antifa, the group spread out between the Nipple of Knowledge (as the kids call Hayden Library) and the Memorial Union — one of the most highly trafficked areas on campus.

“Our mission is to prevent violence and to let people know that that is not going to be allowed in a civil society,” pro-fascist protester Kevin Decuyper said.

Kevin Decuyper is a former top aide to Sheriff Joe Arpaio. / Photo by Matthew Marengo

Decuyper, who said he was the chairman of the group despite graduating more than five years ago, has a history as a known extremist and neo-Nazi. In 2019, the New Times published a collection of leaked chats that showed Decuyper and the rest of CRU made racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic comments.

Those comments are not to be confused with another, more recent, scandal of racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic Republican youth texts. In that one, the leaders of the Young Republicans, including the Arizona chapter, called for the rape of a rival Republican activist and one even said, “I love Hitler.”

ASU’s branch of the Young Democratic Socialists of America set up a table right next to CRU. Harold Branch, a member of YDSA, was quick to interrogate Reevs, the congressional candidate, about why he would align himself with CRU when they have a known history of extremism.

“I’m not joining a party. I’m joining a cause. The cause today is to recognize that there’s no place for violent criminals on campus,” Reevs said. “...I’m not here to take a side. I’m not here to get dragged into a conversation on a topic that does not represent what I’m trying to do.”

As the YDSA members stepped up to debate Reevs, and herds of students stood around gawking, the CRU members left their honored guest to fend for himself.

Micajah Jackson, a “proud” participant in Jan. 6, was at the event to support CRU, but later changed the conversation to how smart he thinks Nazis were.

“Their IQ was so much higher than the so-called Neo Nazis in America that it’s a joke. The Nazis of World War II were high-IQ, shaved-faced, professional men with families,” Jackson said.

Micajah Jackson waits to be approached by ASU students. / Photo by Matthew Marengo

Jackson graduated from Grand Canyon University and now runs an extremist Twitter account with more than 11,000 followers. Aside from the events he attends with CRU, he has no known connection to the university.

The only current student we were able to identify as part of CRU was Isaiah Alvarado, who studies anthropology and German. Alvarado was one of the event leaders earlier this year when CRU made headlines for asking students to report “their criminal classmates to ICE for deportation.”

ASU student Isaiah Alvarado models the latest fashion. / Photo by Matthew Marengo

ASU President Michael Crow defended the decision to allow the January event, saying it didn’t cross the line of intimidation that would make the university cancel it.

“Our judgment was that communication that they were projecting was borderline, but right at that edge,” Crow said to the State Press at the time.

But for students who witnessed CRU’s most recent “hunt” of fellow students, that’s not good enough.

Devan Clyde, was walking past the campus event last Thursday when he heckled the organizers and said they didn’t understand what Antifa was — people against fascism.

When asked why he thought this event was happening on ASU’s campus, he said he wasn’t surprised.

“ASU says that they have a longstanding tradition of standing up for freedom of speech, I would argue that they tend to … from my observations, prioritize the speech of conservative groups on campus rather than liberal or leftist groups on campus,” Clyde said. “I know they would strongly dispute that, but that’s based on my experience.”