Violence isn’t just a left-wing problem, as Hinson claims

Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for the U.S. Senate, made an astounding claim this past week about political violence.

Hinson was talking with reporters on a conference call Tuesday, less than a week after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. A reporter from The Gazette asked Hinson about critics of Kirk who argue that some of his rhetoric fueled political polarization.

“The truth is political violence in America is almost exclusively left-wing violence directed at people on the right,” Hinson said.

“I don’t think it’s an American problem. I think it’s a left-wing problem,” she said.

A quick online search will reveal Hinson is wrong. Now well-quoted research from the Cato Institute shows, in the last five years, 81 people have been killed by political violence in the U.S. Right-wing terrorists are blamed for more than half of those murders, at 54 percent. Left-wing violence accounted for 22 percent.

Since 1975, according to Cato, most terrorism deaths occurred on Sept. 11. Among the remaining numbers, right-wing terrorists, including “those motivated by white supremacy, anti-abortion beliefs, involuntary celibacy (incels), and other right-wing ideologies, accounted for 391 murders. Left-wing terrorists, “motivated by black nationalism, anti-police sentiment, communism, socialism, animal rights, environmentalism, anti-white ideologies, and other left-wing ideologies,” murdered 65 people.

“The government can and should vigorously pursue justice for Kirk and all the others murdered by politically motivated terrorists, but it can and should do so without new political witch hunts, expanded government powers, and a revived war on terrorism” wrote Cato’s researcher Alex Nowrasteh

.New York Times columnist Thomas B. Edsall also pointed to a global threat assessment by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“Violent far-right perpetrators, such as white supremacists, anti-government extremists and violent misogynists, have committed the most U.S. terrorist attacks in recent years, but violent far-left perpetrators such as antifascist extremists, anarchists and violent environmentalists have also orchestrated a growing percentage of terrorist attacks,” the center found.

Have you ever felt utterly demoralized at a corpse counting contest? I have. But one thing the numbers also show is deaths attributed to political violence are very rare.

Hinson did not have to make an easily refutable false claim. But accuracy was not the true objective of our “recovering journalist.”

These claims are being made all over the Trump MAGA universe. And they are designed to create a pretext for taking an array of measures to punish left-wing groups and individuals. It’s a dog-eared page in the authoritarian instruction manual. The goal is to stoke anger among their supporters and fear among their opponents.

Nongovernmental organizations on the left appear to be the first target, along with efforts to exact revenge on anyone who conservatives say “celebrated” Kirk’s death on social media. Trump’s top policy advisor, Stephen Miller is vowing to eliminate “a domestic terror movement.”

“With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, eliminate and destroy this network and make America safe again for the American people,” Miller said on a podcast, hosted by Vice President JD Vance.

“While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies,” Vance said, “it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left.”

Well, except for the actual statistics measuring political violence.

An issue review published in January by Megan Kurten, an adjunct professor at American University who researches political conflict, explored one aspect of our politics that can breed violent actions.

In layman’s terms, it’s known as lying.

“Lying is effective at increasing potential electoral or financial gains, especially in polarized climates where emotive responses are common in politics,” Kurten wrote. “If unconstrained by law or norms, politicians and media will spread disinformation in pursuit of those gains, resulting in increasingly deep and fractured perceptions of truth between political groups.

“Atop this pile of conflict kindling, emotional or threat-based rhetoric ignites those reinforced exclusionary attitudes, producing the sparks for violent mobilization by individuals or groups seeking to “help their political team win” using whatever means necessary,” Kurten wrote.

So, basically, politicians who feed their followers lies, such as claiming all political violence comes from the left, can spark violence.

“Emotionally, political scientists have found convincing evidence that negative emotions – specifically fear, anger, disgust, hate, anxiety, loss, uncertainty – are more mobilizing than positive ones, like enthusiasm, hope, joy, or gratitude,” Kurten wrote.

“When leaders use this dynamic to play “fear politics,” there is significant potential for individual or collective violence on behalf of one identity against another,” Kurten wrote, citing a 2022 study on the causes of civil wars.

A 2022 study, authored by researchers from the University of Maryland, American University, the University of Pennsylvania and Krakow University in Poland, arrived at findings like the CATO Institute study.

“In short, our individual-level examination found that among radicalized individuals in the United States, those adhering to a left-wing ideology were markedly less likely to engage in violent ideologically motivated acts when compared to right-wing individuals,” the study found.

Of course, left-wing individuals and groups are hardly pure as the driven snow.

A snap YouGov poll taken in the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination found that overall, 72 percent of Americans say political violence is never justified to achieve political gains. But acceptability rises to 22% among liberals ages 18 to 44.

The poll also found that 75 percent of liberals blame conservatives for violence, while 73 percent of conservatives blame liberals. Go figure.

The grief being felt by many conservatives is understandable. But using that grief as an excuse to demonize, punish and oppress your political opponents is unacceptable and un-American.

The assassin was motivated by leftist ideology, according to Utah’s governor, but his personal responsibility shouldn’t provide an opening for crushing the free speech of scores of liberal people and groups who had nothing to do with the crime. Even if they are critical of Kirk’s often incendiary rhetoric.

We’re in a very dangerous moment, folks.

Trump now has the authoritarian fuel he needs to set fire to our political liberties and rights, truth be damned. Irresponsible politicians such as Hinson are handing him the match. They should not be allowed to get away with it.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com