Following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, President Donald Trump asserted that radical left groups are instigating political violence in the United States and suggested they should face legal consequences.
Trump remarked, “The radical left causes tremendous violence,” and claimed that their actions are more pronounced compared to those from the right.
Stephen Miller, a senior advisor to the president, also commented on Kirk’s death, referring to left-wing political organizations as a “vast domestic terror movement.”
Miller pledged that the administration would leverage all available resources to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and eradicate these networks to restore safety in America.
Nevertheless, the claims made by Trump and Miller regarding politically motivated violence necessitate careful scrutiny of evidence and data to fully understand the nuances involved. Research indicates that the assertions regarding leftist violence lack empirical support.
Analyze our findings and previously conducted studies, and it becomes evident that the majority of domestic terrorists in the United States lean politically to the right, with right-wing perpetrators responsible for most fatalities associated with domestic terrorism.
Escalating Political Violence
Understanding political violence is further complicated by varying definitions and the recent removal of a crucial government-funded study on domestic terrorism by the Department of Justice.
Recent trends show that political violence in the United States has increased significantly, taking various forms that often go unrecognized. During the 2024 election cycle, nearly half of all states reported threats against election workers, which included social media death threats, intimidation, and doxing.
Kirk’s assassination underscores the escalating danger posed by politically motivated violence. Tyler Robinson, the individual charged with the murder, allegedly documented his plans for the attack online.
