Rising violent extremism linked to leftist and pro-Palestinian suspects in the U.S. flies in the face of legacy media narratives that President Donald Trump’s return to office would embolden right-wing extremists.
Law enforcement has grappled with a wave of alleged or confirmed arsons, shootings, threats against government officials and mass rioting stemming from outrage at Trump’s policies or U.S. support for Israel. In the months following Trump’s reelection, media outlets and “experts” quoted in their articles predicted that America might see a resurgence of mostly right-wing or white supremacist violence on his watch.
US Republican candidate Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by secret service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
“That analysis never made any sense, but was always the a priori assumption of research conducted by left-leaning academics incentivized to tell the government the narrative it wanted to hear, in order to receive more government ‘countering violent extremism’ funding,” Kyle Shideler, senior analyst at the Center for Security Policy, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “No matter how many attacks were organized by jihadist terrorists or committed anarchists or communists, ‘Extremism’ was a problem to be found only on the political right, and specifically was the fault of their main political opponent’s rhetoric.”
“Whether Donald Trump won or lost, either result was taken as evidence for an increase in ‘Far Right’ extremism,” Shideler, who has a history of briefing law enforcement officials, told the DCNF. “Even a decrease in ‘hate groups’ could be identified as evidence of their growing power. Heads we win, tails you lose,” Shideler added, referencing media coverage of a Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) report which claimed that extremist groups decreased in 2024 as their views “entered the mainstream.”
The SPLC did not respond to a request for comment.
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Author: Kyle Shideler
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