While a student, Trifa joined the Iron Guard, and was a contributor to its Orăştie-based Libertatea newspaper; in 1940, during the National Legionary State (the period when the Iron Guard was in power), he was elected president of the National Union of Romanian Christian Students, a Legionnaire organization."The Case of Archbishop Trifa", in Time, September 8, 1980 Radu Ioanid, Pogromul de la Bucureşti. 21–23 ianuarie 1941 , at Idee Communication ; retrieved October 26, 2007Z. Ornea, Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească, Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, Bucharest, 1995, p. 329
