October 1, 2025 • 8 mins
What we know based on the most recent study conducted by the Network Contagion Research Insitute and Rutgers University’s Social Perception Lab, is that in general, there’s a far greater tolerance and even appetite for political violence on the Left.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Your questions, Brian's answers. It's time for today's Q and
A of the day. This is the Brian Mud Show. Yeah,
Today's Q and A. Are there more left wing or
right wing threats?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
This has brought to you by mom Listen Ashes check
Mark collections. Each day feature a listener questions since by
one of these methods. You may email me Brian Mud
at iHeartMedia dot com, hit me up on socil at
Brian Mudradio. May also use the iHeartRadio talkback feature. We'd
love it if you would love us. Just going to
the app, make us your top preset. While you're in there,
look for the little microphone button. You see it, you
(00:37):
tap it. You may lay down a message right there,
maybe for a future Q and A, perhaps like this.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Hey Brian, love the show, Love you Joel, Brian. Can
you help me out with right wing extremists attack statistics?
Last week Tarlof and gutt Feld got into it. She
cited some study saying that right wing attacks were far
more prevalent. Betterman came out trying to tone down left
wing extremism, but cited a study from this Center for
Strategic Studies or CSIS, and even that showed that there
(01:05):
were far more right wing attacks. Are there far more
right wing attacks? That seems counterintuitive, but maybe you can
help me out with it, Thanks buddy.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, so it's a great question, and it's not only
a hot topic of debating the wake of the assassination
culture we've sadly seen play out in recent years in
recent weeks, but it's also a topic that's easily manipulated
and often is when discussed. So I'm going to start
with addressing the report you've referenced from the Center for
Strategic and International Studies. The report, which was released following
(01:36):
the assassination of Charlie Kirk, is entitled left Wing Terrorism
and Political Violence in the United States. What the data
tells us? And from that study, here are the key points.
They say that from ninety four through two thousand, there
was an average of zero point six left wing incidents annually,
and the following figure. A following decade, that figure doubled
(01:58):
to one point three year. Then they said numbers began
to grow substantially. From between twenty sixteen to twenty twenty four,
there were an average of four left wing incidents per year.
Through July fourth of this year, so prior to the
Charlie Kirk assassination, there were five left wing attacks or plots,
(02:20):
which sets a trajectory for a record breaking year in
the last thirty years. Okay, so that's straight from their study. Therefore,
by their definition, left wing violence has reached record levels
in the United States this year. However, in the same study,
over the prior ten years, one hundred and fifty two
so called right wing attacks had taken place, compared to
(02:41):
only thirty five by left wing extremists. With that said,
this year, their study shows five left wing attacks compared
with only one right wing attack this year. So should
that hold, it would be the first time of the
thirty one history of that study than left wing violence
(03:03):
would be higher than right wing violence. Now another key
source for related information is the Anti Defamation Leak. The
ADL produces an annual report entitled Murder and Extremism in
the United States. The ADL's most recent report, which includes
information from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty four, that's even
more extreme in its characterizations. According to the ADL, seventy
(03:28):
six percent of all deaths resulting from extremism over the
prior ten years we're due to right wing extremism with
only four percent only four percent left wing. Notably, while
both reports indicate far more right wing violence than left
(03:48):
wing violence, there's a considerable disparity between the two reports
that overlap for nine of the ten years that are
in focus. So how could that be the case. Why
are they coming up with different numbers and data. Well,
the significance in the disparity is indicative of what's most
responsible for the narrative that there is just more right
(04:12):
wing extremism than left wing extremism. It's subjectivity. It's all
subjectivity by those classifying extremists attacks. So I'll explain, over
the prior decade, the largest rise in violent extremism has
been against Jews and most commonly by white supremacists. Now,
(04:35):
attacks by white supremacists have been categorized right down the line,
and by both of these entities, by the way, as
right wing. Now this is notable because, for example, according
to Gallup, seventy five percent of Republicans are supportive of Israel,
the Jewish state and Jewish people more broadly, will only
(04:59):
twenty one one percent of Democrats are supportive of Israel,
with fifty nine percent of Democrats most recently supporting Palestinians
over Israelis, So how does that wash related? American Jews,
according to surveying by the American Jewish Committee, believe that
(05:20):
Republicans are addressing anti Semitism better than Democrats. So the
matter of anti Semitism isn't the only issue that can
be called into question. Regarding what's defined as a left
wing versus right wing extremism, however, it's a massive one.
Evidence suggests anti Semitism is a problem largely of the left,
(05:44):
Yet the violence, when it is ensues, has almost entirely
been characterized as being right wing violence. To give you
an idea, seventy five percent. If you take a look
across these studies, seventy three quarters of all violence defined
as right wing over the prior decade was conducted by
(06:07):
white supremacists. Beyond that massive question of the accounting of
the anti Semitic attacks, there are also massive gaps in
what most of us would identify as left wing violence.
For example, Black Lives Matter kind of a thing, right,
(06:27):
the riots? The violence, yeah, well, significant omissions, just not
there in the data. Not an ideological situation, Yeah, those
riots were not ideological according to either of these studies.
By the way, Antifa attacks and riots left wing right, yes, not,
(06:52):
according to these reports, they just in most cases don't
even exist.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
No, they're just people.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, no, no ideology there no wow. Yeah. Okay. So
when you take anti Semitic attacks and universally say that's
right wing, and then you omit things like black Lives
matter rights and antifa attacks, the narratives that you've been hearing,
(07:19):
that's what you get. So due to these factors, it's
easy for those false narratives to be created. But what
really it gets down to in all this is who
the arbiter of the data keeping is what bucket they
choose to put violent acts in in addition to what
attacks are omitted from being viewed ideologically. So what we know,
based on the most recent study conducted by the Network
(07:41):
Contagent Research Institute in Rutgers University's Social Perception Lab that
I talked about a lot in the wake of the
Charlie Kirk assassination, is that there is far greater tolerance
and even appetite for political violence on the left. Quoting this,
the studies findings says, the data reveal a structure endorsement
of political violence targeting figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
(08:04):
The attitudes are not fringed. They reflect an emergent assassination culture,
grounded in far left authoritarianism and increasingly normalized digital discourse.
A significantly higher share of left leaning respondents expressed some
degree of justification for acts of lethal violence. So, as always,
(08:28):
there are two sides of stories, one side of facts.
Those are the facts.
Your questions, Brian's answers. It's time for today's Q and
A of the day. This is the Brian Mud Show. Yeah,
Today's Q and A. Are there more left wing or
right wing threats?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
This has brought to you by mom Listen Ashes check
Mark collections. Each day feature a listener questions since by
one of these methods. You may email me Brian Mud
at iHeartMedia dot com, hit me up on socil at
Brian Mudradio. May also use the iHeartRadio talkback feature. We'd
love it if you would love us. Just going to
the app, make us your top preset. While you're in there,
look for the little microphone button. You see it, you
(00:37):
tap it. You may lay down a message right there,
maybe for a future Q and A, perhaps like this.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Hey Brian, love the show, Love you Joel, Brian. Can
you help me out with right wing extremists attack statistics?
Last week Tarlof and gutt Feld got into it. She
cited some study saying that right wing attacks were far
more prevalent. Betterman came out trying to tone down left
wing extremism, but cited a study from this Center for
Strategic Studies or CSIS, and even that showed that there
(01:05):
were far more right wing attacks. Are there far more
right wing attacks? That seems counterintuitive, but maybe you can
help me out with it, Thanks buddy.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, so it's a great question, and it's not only
a hot topic of debating the wake of the assassination
culture we've sadly seen play out in recent years in
recent weeks, but it's also a topic that's easily manipulated
and often is when discussed. So I'm going to start
with addressing the report you've referenced from the Center for
Strategic and International Studies. The report, which was released following
(01:36):
the assassination of Charlie Kirk, is entitled left Wing Terrorism
and Political Violence in the United States. What the data
tells us? And from that study, here are the key points.
They say that from ninety four through two thousand, there
was an average of zero point six left wing incidents annually,
and the following figure. A following decade, that figure doubled
(01:58):
to one point three year. Then they said numbers began
to grow substantially. From between twenty sixteen to twenty twenty four,
there were an average of four left wing incidents per year.
Through July fourth of this year, so prior to the
Charlie Kirk assassination, there were five left wing attacks or plots,
(02:20):
which sets a trajectory for a record breaking year in
the last thirty years. Okay, so that's straight from their study. Therefore,
by their definition, left wing violence has reached record levels
in the United States this year. However, in the same study,
over the prior ten years, one hundred and fifty two
so called right wing attacks had taken place, compared to
(02:41):
only thirty five by left wing extremists. With that said,
this year, their study shows five left wing attacks compared
with only one right wing attack this year. So should
that hold, it would be the first time of the
thirty one history of that study than left wing violence
(03:03):
would be higher than right wing violence. Now another key
source for related information is the Anti Defamation Leak. The
ADL produces an annual report entitled Murder and Extremism in
the United States. The ADL's most recent report, which includes
information from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty four, that's even
more extreme in its characterizations. According to the ADL, seventy
(03:28):
six percent of all deaths resulting from extremism over the
prior ten years we're due to right wing extremism with
only four percent only four percent left wing. Notably, while
both reports indicate far more right wing violence than left
(03:48):
wing violence, there's a considerable disparity between the two reports
that overlap for nine of the ten years that are
in focus. So how could that be the case. Why
are they coming up with different numbers and data. Well,
the significance in the disparity is indicative of what's most
responsible for the narrative that there is just more right
(04:12):
wing extremism than left wing extremism. It's subjectivity. It's all
subjectivity by those classifying extremists attacks. So I'll explain, over
the prior decade, the largest rise in violent extremism has
been against Jews and most commonly by white supremacists. Now,
(04:35):
attacks by white supremacists have been categorized right down the line,
and by both of these entities, by the way, as
right wing. Now this is notable because, for example, according
to Gallup, seventy five percent of Republicans are supportive of Israel,
the Jewish state and Jewish people more broadly, will only
(04:59):
twenty one one percent of Democrats are supportive of Israel,
with fifty nine percent of Democrats most recently supporting Palestinians
over Israelis, So how does that wash related? American Jews,
according to surveying by the American Jewish Committee, believe that
(05:20):
Republicans are addressing anti Semitism better than Democrats. So the
matter of anti Semitism isn't the only issue that can
be called into question. Regarding what's defined as a left
wing versus right wing extremism, however, it's a massive one.
Evidence suggests anti Semitism is a problem largely of the left,
(05:44):
Yet the violence, when it is ensues, has almost entirely
been characterized as being right wing violence. To give you
an idea, seventy five percent. If you take a look
across these studies, seventy three quarters of all violence defined
as right wing over the prior decade was conducted by
(06:07):
white supremacists. Beyond that massive question of the accounting of
the anti Semitic attacks, there are also massive gaps in
what most of us would identify as left wing violence.
For example, Black Lives Matter kind of a thing, right,
(06:27):
the riots? The violence, yeah, well, significant omissions, just not
there in the data. Not an ideological situation, Yeah, those
riots were not ideological according to either of these studies.
By the way, Antifa attacks and riots left wing right, yes, not,
(06:52):
according to these reports, they just in most cases don't
even exist.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
No, they're just people.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, no, no ideology there no wow. Yeah. Okay. So
when you take anti Semitic attacks and universally say that's
right wing, and then you omit things like black Lives
matter rights and antifa attacks, the narratives that you've been hearing,
(07:19):
that's what you get. So due to these factors, it's
easy for those false narratives to be created. But what
really it gets down to in all this is who
the arbiter of the data keeping is what bucket they
choose to put violent acts in in addition to what
attacks are omitted from being viewed ideologically. So what we know,
based on the most recent study conducted by the Network
(07:41):
Contagent Research Institute in Rutgers University's Social Perception Lab that
I talked about a lot in the wake of the
Charlie Kirk assassination, is that there is far greater tolerance
and even appetite for political violence on the left. Quoting this,
the studies findings says, the data reveal a structure endorsement
of political violence targeting figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
(08:04):
The attitudes are not fringed. They reflect an emergent assassination culture,
grounded in far left authoritarianism and increasingly normalized digital discourse.
A significantly higher share of left leaning respondents expressed some
degree of justification for acts of lethal violence. So, as always,
(08:28):
there are two sides of stories, one side of facts.
Those are the facts.
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