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)