Proper-wing extremists have killed 112 folks over the last decade, in line with a brand new report from the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research—and that’s greater than the variety of deaths dedicated by left-wing extremists and jihadists mixed.
Proper-wing extremists carried out 152 terrorist assaults between 2016 and July 4, 2025, in line with the CSIS report. That is excess of the 35 assaults from left-wing extremists and 25 assaults from jihadists.
The report comes as President Donald Trump and Republicans have blamed Democrats and the left for the homicide of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, and have used Kirk’s dying as a rationale to go after Democratic teams, politicians, and even comedians who don’t assist Trump.
“For years, these on the unconventional left have in contrast great Individuals like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. This type of rhetoric is instantly accountable for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our nation as we speak and it should cease proper now,” Trump stated in an deal with from the Oval Workplace the day Kirk was killed.
Apart from blaming the left for Kirk’s homicide, Republicans have been claiming that Democrats and the left are extra violent—though the info says in any other case.
“The issue is on the left. It isn’t on the proper, like some folks wish to say,” Trump said earlier in September. “While you have a look at the agitators—you have a look at the scum that speaks so badly of our nation, the American flag burnings in every single place—that is the left. That’s not the proper.”
The truth is, the Trump administration even reportedly faraway from the Division of Justice’s web site a research that stated right-wing extremists dedicated extra violence than different ideological teams.
To make sure, the CSIS report discovered that left-wing violence is on the rise this yr. However it’s nonetheless outweighed by the variety of assaults carried out by right-wing extremists in latest historical past.
Folks place lit candles under a photograph of slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at a vigil on Sept. 11 in Orem, Utah.
The Trump administration misleadingly pointed to the CSIS report back to justify their efforts to go after Democratic teams and progressive benefactors like George Soros.
“Democrats, calling your political opponents Nazis has consequences,” White Home deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson wrote in a publish on X, linking to an Axios article on the report.
However awkwardly, by posting a chart displaying the variety of extremists assaults, Jackson as an alternative publicized the truth that right-wing extremists have dedicated the lion’s share of the latest violent assaults on this nation.
Even worse for Trump and Republicans is that the CSIS report means that the very type of rhetoric they’ve been spreading since Kirk’s assassination may result in extra violence down the street.
“Although the vast majority of Americans would never commit partisan violence and oppose it, widespread polarization and misperceptions that the other side is far more violent than it actually is creates a dangerous environment where extremists can more easily rationalize using violence,” Daniel Byman and Riley McCabe, the authors of the CSIS research, wrote of their report.
“Development in even a tiny minority who’re keen to commit partisan violence has the potential for super penalties contemplating the flamable political local weather in america and the truth that symbolic and strategically necessary political leaders are among the many potential targets,” they continued.
Certainly, the FBI just lately arrested a person who threatened to shoot up a Satisfaction parade in Texas as a option to avenge Kirk’s homicide, The Guardian reported over the weekend.
“Fk their parade, I say we lock and load and pay them back for taking out Charlie Kirk,” Joshua Cole, whom the FBI arrested, allegedly wrote in a publish on Fb, in line with The Guardian.
“Theres only like 30 of em we can send a clear message to the rest of them,” Cole allegedly wrote in another post, allegedly adding, “come on bro let’s go hunting fairies.”
In the end, Trump and Republicans’ try and blame their opposition celebration for Kirk’s homicide, slightly than simply the deranged murderer, is harmful and inflammatory.
“The rise in left-wing attacks merits increased attention, but the fall in right-wing attacks is probably temporary, and it too requires a government response,” the CSIS authors wrote of their report. “In any case, many of the prescriptions for fighting terrorism effectively apply to violence from both the left and right. These include ensuring proper counterterrorism resourcing, avoiding overreactions, and having leadership unequivocally condemn such attacks.”
