Everything You Know About Political Violence Is Probably Wrong
Since 2016, Americans have argued fiercely not only about whether political violence is rising but about who is responsible. One dominant narrative attributes the problem primarily to the radical right: white nationalism, militias, election denial. A competing narrative insists that violence emanates just as strongly from the radical left, manifested in riots, assaults on police, and organized disruption in cities and on campuses. These claims are not merely rhetorical; they shape public trust, elite behavior, law enforcement priorities, and—most dangerously—the willingness of partisans to condemn violence committed by those they regard as allies. But what does the evidence actually show?
America’s political violence problem is neither one-sided nor symmetrical. Taken together, the evidence from federal threat assessments, terrorism databases, protest incident data, and congressional security records points toward the same conclusion. Political violence in the United States declined for nearly two decades after the 1990s and then rose sharply...
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