2d (edited) • General Discussion
Facts vs Political Myth-Making: The Empirical Reality of Domestic Terrorism in the USA.
The current administration’s rhetoric—and the broader discourse in certain parts of American society—often portrays left-wing extremism as a primary domestic terrorist threat. But the federal government’s own research—and studies from independent academics, peer-reviewed criminological research, intelligence agencies, and even libertarian policy institutions—tell a very different story.
According to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice:
“Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists, including 227 events that took more than 520 lives. In this same period, far-left extremists committed 42 ideologically motivated attacks that took 78 lives.” (Chermak et al., 2024)
This conclusion is corroborated by peer-reviewed criminological research demonstrating that far-right extremist violence has been significantly more prevalent and lethal than far-left violence in the United States (Duran, 2021).
Federal intelligence agencies have reached similar conclusions. A joint strategic assessment by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security found that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs)—a category that includes white supremacist and far-right ideological actors—were responsible for the most lethal domestic extremist violence and assessed that they “likely would continue to be the most lethal DVE threat to the Homeland” (FBI & DHS, 2021).
Yet this same NIJ article was later removed from the DOJ website, as documented in official congressional materials and reported by independent media (U.S. House of Representatives, 2025; Mediaite, 2025). Why remove publicly funded research that informs citizens about the empirical reality of domestic terrorism?
Independent academic analysis further confirms these findings. Sociology professors Art Lipson and Paul Becker conclude:
“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… By contrast, left-wing extremist incidents… have made up about 10% to 15% of incidents and less than 5% of fatalities.” (Lipson & Becker, 2025)
They further state:
“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.” (Lipson & Becker, 2025)
Even the Cato Institute—a libertarian, generally right-leaning think tank—reports similar conclusions. According to their analysis:
“Since January 1, 2020, terrorists have murdered 79 people in attacks on US soil… Right-wing terrorists account for over half of those murders, Islamists for 21 percent, left-wingers for 22 percent…” (Nowrasteh, 2025)
When the statistical outlier of 9/11 is excluded, Cato finds that right-wing extremists account for approximately 63 percent of terrorist murders, compared to 23 percent for Islamist extremists and 10 percent for left-wing extremists (Nowrasteh, 2025).
Taken together, federal research, peer-reviewed criminology, intelligence assessments, independent academic analysis, and libertarian policy research all point to the same conclusion: the commonly repeated narrative that left-wing terrorism represents the dominant domestic threat does not align with empirical evidence (Chermak et al., 2024; Duran, 2021; FBI & DHS, 2021; Lipson & Becker, 2025; Nowrasteh, 2025).
So why does political rhetoric continue to insist otherwise?
Why would federally funded research documenting these findings be removed from public access?
Why would political leaders make claims that contradict their own government’s intelligence assessments, criminological research, and empirical data? Is this simply ignorance—or is it deliberate?
Is fear being amplified and directed for political purposes?
Is a distorted threat narrative being used to mobilize anger, consolidate loyalty, and justify policies that might otherwise face greater scrutiny?
If empirical evidence clearly identifies the most lethal domestic extremist threat, why are national security priorities and public rhetoric so often directed elsewhere?
Why are immigrants—legal and illegal—so often framed as a far greater danger?
Democratic societies cannot function when empirical reality is replaced by ideological storytelling. Truth cannot be surrendered to political myth-making—or to any narrative designed to inflame fear rather than reflect reality. Truth is not partisan. And it should never be subordinate to propaganda.
References:
Chermak, S., DeMichele, M., Gruenewald, J., Jensen, M., Lewis, R., & Lopez, B. E. (2024). What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism. National Institute of Justice. https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/what-nij-research-tells-us-about-domestic-terrorism
Duran, C. (2021). Far-Left versus Far-Right Fatal Violence: An Empirical Assessment of the Prevalence of Ideologically Motivated Homicides in the United States.
Federal Bureau of Investigation & Department of Homeland Security. (2021). Strategic Intelligence Assessment and Data on Domestic Terrorism. https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/counterterrorism/fbi-dhs-domestic-terrorism-strategic-report.pdf
Lipson, A., & Becker, P. (2025). Analysis: What data shows about political extremist violence. PBS NewsHour. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/right-wing-extremist-violence-is-more-frequent-and-deadly-than-left-wing-violence-data-shows
Mediaite. (2025). DOJ Deletes Its Own Study From Website Showing ‘Far More’ Domestic Terrorism Committed by ‘Far-Right Extremists’. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/doj-deletes-own-study-website-032537612.html
Nowrasteh, A. (2025). Politically Motivated Violence Is Rare in the United States. Cato Institute. https://www.cato.org/blog/politically-motivated-violence-rare-united-states
U.S. House of Representatives. (2025). DOJ Quietly Deletes Study on Politics of Domestic Terrorists. https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/118612/documents/HHRG-119-JU00-20250917-SD056-U56.pdf
P.S. If short on time, I really recommend reading the NIJ article (first one from top to bottom in the reference list).
P.S. 2.0: In the case of Europe, from the readings I did, Jihadist terrorism is the most lethal threat, followed by left-wing attacks.
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Facts vs Political Myth-Making: The Empirical Reality of Domestic Terrorism in the USA.
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