On Political Violence and Domestic Terrorism Today

By Art Jipson and Paul J. Becker republished by Techdirt from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licenseTechdirt

**Suggestion: first read to get the gist, then go to the 21 links to get the evidence**

President Donald Trump claimed that radical leftist groups foment political violence in the U.S.
Stephen Miller after Kirk’s killing, said that left-wing political organizations constitute “a vast domestic terror movement.”

From our research on extremism it’s clear that the president’s and Miller’s assertions about political violence from the left are not based on actual facts.
Based on our own research and a review of related work, we can confidently say that most domestic terrorists in the U.S. are politically on the right, and right-wing attacks account for the vast majority of fatalities from domestic terrorism.

1.
Defining ‘political violence’
This article relies on some of our research on extremism, other academic research, federal reports, academic datasets and other monitoring to assess what is known about political violence.

The understanding of political violence is complicated by
a) differences in definitions and
b)the recent Department of Justice removal of an important government-sponsored study of domestic terrorists...

But different agencies and researchers use different definitions of political violence, making comparisons difficult.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security define domestic violent extremism as threats involving actual violence.
They do not investigate people in the U.S. for constitutionally protected speech, activism or ideological beliefs.

Domestic violent extremism is defined by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security as violence or credible threats of violence intended to influence government policy or intimidate civilians for political or ideological purposes. This general framing, which includes diverse activities under a single category, guides investigations and prosecutions.

Datasets compiled by academic researchers use narrower and more operational definitions. The Global Terrorism Database counts incidents that involve intentional violence with political, social or religious motivation.These differences mean that the same incident may or may not appear in a dataset, depending on the rules applied.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security emphasize that these distinctions are not merely academic. Labeling an event “terrorism” rather than a “hate crime” can change who is responsible for investigating an incident and how many resources they have to investigate it.

For example, a politically motivated shooting might be
-- coded as terrorism in federal reporting,
-- cataloged as political violence by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, (see ACLED's antifa at the link) and
-- prosecuted as homicide or a hate crime at the state level.

2.
Patterns
Politically motivated violence is a small fraction of total violent crime, but its impact is magnified by symbolic targets, timing and media coverage.

In the first half of 2025, 35% of violent events tracked by University of Maryland researchers targeted U.S. government personnel or facilities – more than twice the rate in 2024.

Right-wing extremist violence has been deadlier than left-wing violence in recent years.
Based on government and independent analyses, right-wing extremist violence has been responsible for the overwhelming majority of fatalities, amounting to approximately 75% to 80% of U.S. domestic terrorism deaths since 2001...

3.
Hard to Count
There’s another reason it’s hard to account for and characterize certain kinds of political violence ...

The U.S. focuses on prosecuting criminal acts rather than formally designating organizations as terrorist, relying on existing statutes -- such as conspiracy, weapons violations, RICO provisions and hate crime laws -- to pursue individuals for specific acts of violence.

Unlike foreign terrorism, the federal government does not have a mechanism to formally charge an individual with domestic terrorism.
That makes it difficult to characterize someone as a domestic terrorist.

The State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization list applies only to groups outside of the United States.

By contrast, U.S. law bars the government from labeling domestic political organizations as terrorist entities because of First Amendment free speech protections.

4.
Rhetoric is not evidence
Without harmonized reporting and uniform definitions, the data will not provide an accurate overview of political violence in the U.S.

However, we can make some important conclusions.

Politically motivated violence in the U.S. is rare compared with overall violent crime. Political violence has a disproportionate impact because even rare incidents can amplify fear, influence policy and deepen societal polarization.

Right-wing extremist violence has been more frequent and more lethal than left-wing violence. The number of extremist groups is substantial and skewed toward the right, although a count of organizations does not necessarily reflect incidents of violence.

High-profile political violence often brings heightened rhetoric and pressure for sweeping responses. Yet the empirical record shows that political violence remains concentrated within specific movements and networks rather than spread evenly across the ideological spectrum. Distinguishing between rhetoric and evidence is essential for democracy.

Trump and members of his administration are threatening to target whole organizations and movements and the people who work in them with aggressive legal measures – to jail them or scrutinize their favorable tax status.

But research shows that the majority of political violence comes from people following right-wing ideologies.

We have to be prepared.
We have to keep the wording clear.
No conflating like the Right.
No doubt talk, fear, threats or hate like the Right.
Every single day is always right time for us to non-violently fight the Right.