JD Vance blames the left for political violence. Decades of data tell another story.
Following the September assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have shaped their political agenda by blaming the left for political violence.
“Political violence, it’s just a statistical fact that it’s a bigger problem on the left,” Vance said while guest-hosting The Charlie Kirk Show podcast Oct. 15 in the aftermath of Kirk’s killing. About a minute later, he added, “Right now that violent impulse is a bigger problem on the left than the right.”
A Vance spokesperson did not answer our questions. When referring to left-wing violence, a White House spokesperson recently pointed to a Sept. 28 Axios article about a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonprofit policy research organization.
The study found that “2025 marks the first time in more than 30 years that left-wing terrorist attacks outnumber those from the violent far right.” The study also showed that for the 30 years before 2025, right-wing attacks had outpaced left-wing attacks.
“The rise in left-wing attacks merits increased attention, but the fall in right-wing attacks is probably temporary, and it too requires a government response,” the study’s authors wrote.
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