{"id":2597778,"date":"2026-05-01T15:41:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T19:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-study-exaggerating-threat-of-right-wing-extremism-cites-the-splc\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:44:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T19:44:48","slug":"top-study-exaggerating-threat-of-right-wing-extremism-cites-the-splc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-study-exaggerating-threat-of-right-wing-extremism-cites-the-splc\/","title":{"rendered":"Top study exaggerating threat of right-wing extremism cites the SPLC"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftop-study-exaggerating-threat-of-right-wing-extremism-cites-the-splc%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2597778&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The passage argues that a CSIS-backed study on ideologically motivated political violence-cited by Democrats and major media after attempts on President Donald Trump\u2019s life-relies on questionable methods that overstate \u201cfar-right\u201d terrorism while minimizing violence associated with the Left.<\/p>\n<p>It claims opponents of the Trump effort seized on a Wall Street Journal graph based on the CSIS findings to argue right-wing radicals where responsible for most domestic terrorism as 1994, but the author says the study\u2019s credibility is undermined by several choices in how incidents were categorized and selected.<\/p>\n<p>Key criticisms include:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; **SPLC as a source:** The study reportedly used data from the Southern Poverty Law Center\u2019s \u201cHate Map,\u201d even though the SPLC had faced legal allegations of exaggerating claims about radical-right groups and other controversies. The author also notes that Charlottesville (2017) was counted as terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; **Left-wing violence excluded by definition:** Non-lethal or crowd-escalation actions-such as Molotov-throwing by antifa-related actors during the 2020 unrest-were often excluded because the study said they lacked lethal force or clear intent for broader political goals. The author contrasts this with incidents included under broader \u201cpremeditated\u201d and \u201cpolitical objectives\u201d criteria.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; **Selective inclusion of major events:** The author suggests the study omitted or treated as \u201cspontaneous\u201d forms of violence seen in events like waukesha (parade attack) and other 2020-2025 activism and resistance. By contrast, the January 6 Capitol attack was included.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; **Economic vandalism labeled differently:** early-2025 attacks on Tesla and related sites were classified as \u201ceconomic vandalism\u201d rather than terrorism, even though prosecutors sometimes sought terrorism-related enhancements in similar cases.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; **Reclassification of antisemitism:** The study allegedly created an \u201cethnonationalist\u201d category that re-labels pro-Palestinian violent acts away from \u201cleft-wing,\u201d which the author and a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >cited journalist argue effectively reframes antisemitism<\/a> to avoid crediting antisemitism on the Left. The author also claims some recent anti-Israel attacks were carried out by people who identified as socialists but were still coded in a way that diminished their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-this-conservative-group-is-breaking-the-bureaucratic-bloat-wrecking-red-states\/\" title=\"How This Group Is Breaking The Bureaucracy Wrecking Red States\">left-wing association<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>the passage concludes that the CSIS study\u2019s methodology-particularly its source selection and motive categorization-skews results toward right-wing violence narratives and fuels political messaging after attacks on Trump.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p>In the wake of another assassination attempt against President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Donald-Trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a>, Democrats and the media are citing a study with questionable sourcing that exaggerates the threat of right-wing extremism while downplaying <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/political-violence\/\">political violence<\/a> on the Left.<\/p>\n<p>That <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.csis.org\/analysis\/left-wing-terrorism-and-political-violence-united-states-what-data-tells-us\">study<\/a>, published last year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in response to conservative activist Charlie Kirk\u2019s assassination, analyzes instances of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-the-racist-left-smears-clarence-thomas-as-an-angry-black-man\/\" title=\"Why The Racist ... Smears Clarence Thomas As An \u2018Angry Black Man\u2019\">ideologically driven attacks<\/a> in the United States from 1994 to 2025.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/4548750\/minnesota-nonprofit-hospitals-millions-overseas\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Minnesota nonprofit hospitals generating fortune off of government program spent millions overseas<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/4545019\/splc-paid-aryan-nations-operatives-bankrupting-neo-nazi-group\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>SPLC kept paying Aryan Nations operatives after bragging about bankrupting them<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/4542548\/top-lobbying-firm-does-bidding-entity-linked-uyghur-repression\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Top lobbying firm does bidding of entity linked to Uyghur repression<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>The heavily skewed data analysis, attributing each incident\u2019s motive to either the Left or the Right based on the perpetrator\u2019s presumed political orientation, is receiving renewed attention among opponents of Trump in the aftermath of a third attempt on the president\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Two days after the alleged assassin, believed to be <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/crime\/4544533\/whca-suspect-tied-left-wing-activist-group-wide-awakes\/\">a left-wing activist<\/a>, was handcuffed at the annual White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner, the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> created <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/policy\/the-year-of-the-molotov-cocktail-american-antigovernment-violence-hits-a-30-year-high-bca03a67\">a graph<\/a> visualizing the CSIS study\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4548641\/vance-left-political-violence-whcd-shooting\/\"><strong>JD VANCE SAYS THE LEFT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR POLITICAL VIOLENCE AFTER WHCD SHOOTING<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The graph, which has since been widely <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DXpkAooE_AD\/?img_index=2\">circulated<\/a> on social media by liberals claiming that it is proof of right-wing violence\u2019s prevalence in the U.S., purportedly shows that \u201cfar-right\u201d radicals were responsible for the vast majority of domestic terrorism attacks over the past three decades.<\/p>\n<p>Upon closer inspection, there are several eyebrow-raising components to the CSIS study that call into question its credibility.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-study-cites-splc-as-a-data-source\">Study cites SPLC as a data source<\/h2>\n<p>In the study\u2019s methodology section, the authors of the initial CSIS report mentioned that they drew their conclusions from a variety of data sources, including the Southern Poverty Law Center\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/hate-map\/\">Hate Map<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Less than a week before the shooting that targeted Trump and his top officials, the SPLC was <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4538115\/southern-poverty-law-center-fraud-indicted\/\">indicted<\/a> on federal fraud charges for allegedly manufacturing hysteria around radical-right \u201chate groups\u201d by making them appear to have more influence and on-the-ground activities than they did in actuality.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/4540622\/splc-allegedly-spent-million-infiltrating-national-alliance\/\"><strong>SPLC ALLEGEDLY SPENT OVER $1 MILLION INFILTRATING HATE GROUP IT PUBLICLY CLAIMED WAS \u2018ALMOST IRRELEVANT\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Authorities say that the SPLC even <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/crime\/4540209\/splc-money-informant-unite-the-right-richard-spencer-national-policy-institute\/\">paid one operative<\/a> to help coordinate the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a neo-Nazi drove into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one victim and injuring dozens of others.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the CSIS study counted the 2017 Charlottesville car attack as an act of terrorism.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-left-wing-insurgency-was-intentionally-left-out\">Left-wing insurgency was intentionally left out<\/h2>\n<p>Other forms of escalation at demonstrations, such as <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/antifa\/\">antifa<\/a> militants throwing Molotov cocktails toward law enforcement during the 2020 <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Black-Lives-Matter\/\">Black Lives Matter<\/a> riots, were generally excluded from the CSIS study because they \u201clacked lethal force\u201d or evidence that the agitators wanted to \u201cpsychologically impact\u201d the masses or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sec-eyes-forcing-companies-to-disclose-data-on-social-issues-sparking-politicization-concerns\/\" title=\"SEC Eyes Forcing Companies To Disclose ... On \u2018Social\u2019 Issues, Sparking \u2018Politicization\u2019 Concerns\">achieve political goals<\/a> through violent means.<\/p>\n<p>Charlottesville met the criteria for the CSIS study\u2019s terrorism designation since the convicted killer made statements suggesting \u201ca desire to spread fear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It appears the study simultaneously left out the 2021 Waukesha parade massacre in which a black motorist, who <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/11\/24\/darrell-brooks-called-for-violence-against-white-people\/\">posted<\/a> content comparing police to the Ku Klux Klan and called for violence against white people, mowed down a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin. All six victims, including an 8-year-old child, were white.<\/p>\n<p>Riots, though they may involve violence that threatens to kill or harm political targets, often police officers, were omitted as \u201cspontaneous\u201d outliers driven by \u201copportunistic criminal activity that does not target human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By these parameters, the study accordingly seemed to disregard the well-organized racial justice uprisings of 2020, as well as the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4412995\/liberal-activists-aggressive-ice-watch-tactics-target-federal-officers-minneapolis\/\">highly sophisticated activist resistance<\/a> against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2025 that expressly intended to impede deportation operations. Most of the anti-ICE confrontations, which involved rapid response networks hunting down ICE agents in the streets, \u201cdid not reach a level of violence that satisfied this study\u2019s definition of terrorism.\u201d But the 2021 storming of the Capitol building by Trump supporters made the list.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/4421197\/guerrilla-ice-watch-groups-backed-left-grantmakers\/\"><strong>GUERRILLA-LIKE \u2018ICE WATCH\u2019 GROUPS BACKED BY TOP LEFT-WING GRANTMAKERS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn many cases, rioters lack the strategic intent to achieve broader political objectives,\u201d says background information on the CSIS study\u2019s data selection process. \u201cHowever, some riots, such as the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, are included in the CSIS dataset if they involved actors who clearly premeditated their violence and had clear political objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The study also intentionally omitted a string of incendiary attacks across the country on <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Tesla\/\">Tesla<\/a> vehicles and dealerships in early 2025, labeling them as \u201cacts of economic vandalism.\u201d At the time, the wave of firebombings meant to financially harm <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Elon-Musk\/\">Elon Musk<\/a>, then the Trump administration\u2019s head of the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Department-of-Government-Efficiency\/\">Department of Government Efficiency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, the study conceded that economic sabotage, attacks against infrastructure, is sometimes considered \u201ceconomic terrorism.\u201d In some cases brought against the anti-Musk activists, prosecutors sought <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3354196\/bondi-charges-tesla-vandalism\/\">terrorism enhancements<\/a> in their charging decisions.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-antisemitism-reclassified\">Antisemitism reclassified<\/h2>\n<p>According to the study\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/s3fs-public\/2025-09\/250924_Byman_Left_Methodology.pdf?VersionId=6ihLr9qXxjtrdgK8jhBx6euyUWOcKl06\">codebook<\/a> explaining how the CSIS researchers categorized motivations by perceived political alignment, pro-Palestinian violence was labeled \u201cethnonationalist\u201d rather than left-leaning.<\/p>\n<p>This was despite the CSIS research team acknowledging that opposition to Israel is \u201ca political position traditionally (though not always) associated with left-wing politics in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The study] literally created an entirely new category so that they could absolve the Left of antisemitism,\u201d Jewish journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RealAmVoice\/status\/2049184492448043383\">remarked<\/a> on <em>Real America\u2019s Voice<\/em>. \u201cAttacks on Jews and Jewish institutions, if they are done in the name of Palestinian freedom, become ethnonationalist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The study\u2019s authors failed to acknowledge that two of the most recent anti-Israel attacks on U.S. soil, which they coded as \u201cethnonationalist,\u201d instead of revolutionary-left, were allegedly carried out by self-proclaimed socialists.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3816498\/liberals-rely-on-skewed-studies-to-claim-right-wing-violence-is-more-common\/\"><strong>LIBERALS RELY ON SKEWED STUDIES TO CLAIM RIGHT-WING VIOLENCE IS MORE COMMON<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The arsonist convicted of setting fire to Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA)\u2019s residence in support of Palestinians shared anarchist material on social media and joked about being <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2025\/04\/15\/new-york-times-coverage-cody-balmer-arson-facebook-radical-record-antifa-socialism-josh-shapiro\/\">\u201ca registered socialist.\u201d<\/a> The suspected gunman accused of murdering two Jewish staffers at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., was previously <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/pslnational\/status\/1925468146024034305\">affiliated<\/a> with a chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the CSIS study classified violent antisemitism as inherently \u201cright-wing,\u201d although the Israeli embassy shooting and the arson attack against Shapiro, a practicing Jew, were seen as antisemitic violence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course there are antisemites on the Right,\u201d Ungar-Sargon said. \u201cBut the Right is fighting them tooth and nail, whereas on the Left, antisemitism is being totally mainstreamed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After Trump assassination attempt, critics cite a skewed CSIS report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3767,"featured_media":2597779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-832314762.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[69373,78953,15303,4866,78952],"class_list":["post-2597778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-media-critique-2","tag-right-wing-extremism-2","tag-splc","tag-study","tag-threat-exaggeration"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-832314762.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3767"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2597778"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2597782,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597778\/revisions\/2597782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2597779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2597778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2597778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2597778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}