As protests against police brutality spread across the country, President Trump looked impotent, unable to offer anything reassuring and tweeting angrily from inside a White House under siege.

But Trump has hit on a solution: designate “antifa” a terrorist organization, to make it look as if the protests have been taken over by radical terrorists, and to create the impression that he’s getting fearsomely tough in response.

In an interview with us, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told us that the designation itself, which has no legal basis, appears to be a “characteristically political act."

Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, also said that if this particular designation were to translate into meaningful policy actions by the administration, numerous House Democratic committees would scrutinize both the initial designation and the policies flowing from it.

“What the administration is trying to do is delegitimize peaceful protests,” Schiff told us.

Trump’s new push appeared to gain momentum Monday. In a conference call with governors, Trump handed the phone to Attorney General William Barr, who claimed law enforcement must “dominate the streets,” which would require the police to develop “adequate force” and the “dynamic ability to go out and arrest the troublemakers.”

How to do this? Barr said the federal government will get involved: "The structure we’re going to use is the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”