I wrote an article diving into the statistics on far-right extremist violence compared to far-left extremist violence, and to say the least, it’s not a “both sides” problem. An estimated 75% of extremist killings in the US over the past decade are attributed to far-right extremists, compared to 4% attributed to far-left extremists — and that’s on the high end of the estimates for far-left extremist violence.
https://weaponizedspaces.substack.com/p/violent-extremism-in-america-is-a

The ADL, which publishes annual reports on extremist violence, found that all but three of 29 extremist killings in 2021 were attributable to far-right extremism. Looking at data from the past decade (2012-2021), the picture remains very similar: far-right extremists are responsible for 75% of extremist killings, compared to 4% attributed to far-left extremists.

The New America Foundation, which breaks down the categories of extremist violence a bit more than ADL, found that only one extremist killing since 9/11 is attributable to left-wing extremism, compared to 122 deaths attributed to far-right extremism. Here’s what that looks like visualized:

Another analysis, conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), found that just one deadly extremist attack since 1994 was attributable to antifascists (“antifa”). During the same time period, right-wing extremists carried out attacks that resulted in 329 deaths.

But it’s about more than just the static numbers — it’s also about the rise in far-right extremist violence, which is shown below in yellow. Far-left extremist violence is shown in dark grey, and extremist violence categorized as “other” is shown in light grey. As you can see, far-right extremist violence accounts for nearly all of the rise of domestic extremism over the past two decades.

Furthermore, far-right extremist attacks are more likely to result in deaths & injuries than far-left extremist attacks. This has a lot to do with the overlap with America’s gun culture: 83% of extremist murders over the past decade were firearms-related, and far-right extremist violence is significantly more likely to involve firearms than far-left extremist violence.

I also addressed the “what about antifa?” trope that is commonly used to deflect from discussions of far-right extremism & to try to make extremist violence seem like it’s a matter of two unruly sides “clashing” with each other. But the depiction of antifa put forth by the far-right (and the former POTUS) is largely detached from reality & has become a catch-all term for any/all left-wing activists or just perceived opposition, and is commonly used to identify targets for harassment or worse.

Disturbingly, some national security & intelligence officials in the Trump admin said they were pressured into reporting false numbers and exaggerated threat profiles in order to falsely inflate the threat of violence posed by “far-left groups” and overplay their role in violence during protests. In other words, the Trump admin was trying to manufacture a threat of violence while simultaneously failing to adequately address the growing threat of far-right extremist violence. Really, really bad.