Top study exaggerating threat of right-wing extremism draws data from the SPLC
A 2023 study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on ideologically motivated violence in the U.S. from 1994 to 2025 has drawn scrutiny for relying on data from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which faces federal fraud charges. The study attributes most domestic terrorism to far-right actors, a claim widely circulated after a recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Critics argue the study underrepresents left-wing violence by applying narrow definitions of terrorism that exclude events like the 2020 riots and the 2021 Waukesha parade attack.
- ▪The CSIS study on domestic extremism used data from the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate Map to classify perpetrators’ ideologies.
- ▪The Southern Poverty Law Center faces federal fraud allegations for allegedly inflating the threat of right-wing groups and paying operatives within extremist movements.
- ▪The CSIS study classified the 2017 Charlottesville car attack as terrorism but excluded the 2021 Waukesha parade attack despite its lethal impact.
- ▪Events such as antifa violence during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and anti-ICE confrontations in 2025 were not categorized as terrorism due to lack of 'lethal force' or 'psychological impact' per the study’s criteria.
- ▪The storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters in 2021 was included in the study as an act of ideologically motivated violence.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
In the wake of another assassination attempt against President Donald Trump, Democrats and the media are citing a study with questionable sourcing that exaggerates the threat of right-wing extremism while downplaying political violence on the Left. That study, published last year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in response to conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, analyzes instances of ideologically driven attacks in the United States from 1994 to 2025.
…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Washington Examiner.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from Washington Examiner
