Hate in America 2025
Trump is lying again. Following the murder of right wing activist Charlie Kirk, he is falsely accusing liberals of promoting violence and political “terrorism.” With his usual fact free demagoguery, he claims, “The radical left causes tremendous violence” and in “a bigger way” than right wing extremists.
The truth is exactly the opposite and is well documented by numerous reliable sources including the right wing CATO Institute. The vast majority of racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and religious hate crimes are perpetrated by right wing extremists.
Hate crimes are the result of individual bigotry toward other people. Political violence is perpetrated by individuals and organized groups to make a political statement or engender fear. Lynching Blacks, murdering gays or bombing churches are hate crimes. Murdering politicians or storming the capitol are political crimes.
Unlike crime in general (another thing Trump lies about) hate crimes have roughly doubled in the last decade. According to the website USAFacts, incidents increased from 5,843 in 2015 to 11,679 in 2024.
According to a CATO Institute article, political violence is extremely rare (but also increasing). Since 1975 political murders have only been 0.35% of all murders. Other sources say right wing extremists accounted for 63% of politically motivated killings between 1975 and 2025. Left wing extremists were responsible for only 10%.
Online disinformation and increasingly extreme rhetoric are drivers of both hate crimes and political violence. Many, especially right wing, politicians, talk show hucksters and social media “influencers” are throwing fuel on the fires of hate. Trump has a long history of making inflammatory statements.
I wrote about hate in the past (“Hate in America,” December 13, 2018) and this article is an update.
In 2018 the PBS program “FRONTLINE” aired “Documenting Hate: New American Nazis.” The program asked the question, “Where does the hate come from?” My answer is the hate has always been here in America. We delude ourselves if we think we are not a violent, racist society.
FRONTLINE interviewed Kathleen Belew, University of Chicago history professor and author of “Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America.” She said, “There is a connection between violence and the aftermath of war. Post war periods correspond to white power increases.” She has also said in a New York Times interview, “White-power activity in the United States is not new, nor has it been as shadowy as we may have imagined.” She describes the movement as having a diverse membership and being widespread across the country.
Public radio also had a program on the Reconstruction period (“Deconstructing The Myths Of Reconstruction,” 1-A, November 19, 2018). Reconstruction was the 12 years of social and political restructuring in the former Confederate States after the Civil War. During this time, 53,000 blacks were murdered for their political activity. After Reconstruction failed, systematic segregation and the suppression of equal rights known as Jim Crow continued until the 1960s. During this time thousands of blacks were lynched or murdered all over the country.
Professor Jill Lepore in her recent book “These Truths: A History or the United States” points out that racism has been common in America since 1619 when the first African slaves were brought to Virginia. Slavery was a major issue during colonial times. Compromises that protected slavery were included in the writing of the Constitution. Unwillingness to limit slavery led to the Civil War. Many political battles since have been rooted in racism and the lingering sectional, cultural, political and economic animosities from that conflict.
The denial of rights for Chinese and Japanese immigrants is another racist stain on our history. Racism and hatred of Native Americans have shaped the development of our country. The genocide of native peoples was made possible by the racist beliefs that these “savages” were godless and less than human. White, Christian “civilization” was superior and we had the Manifest Destiny to take all the land. Professor Lepore discusses the many inconsistencies between our stated ideals of equality, opportunity, and “inalienable rights” and our actions.
White-on-white violence has also been common in our history. Between 1830 and 1860 there were at least 80 incidents of violence between members of Congress. In 1856, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina almost beat Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner to death with a cane on the floor or the Senate. All through our history there have been riots, killings, and police beatings of various immigrant groups, ethnic minorities, and labor activists. During the late 1800’s there were numerous violent range wars between cattlemen and homesteaders over competing interests in the West.
In 2017, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) identified 953 hate groups across the country. These include the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, religious extremists, black nationalists, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic groups. Advocating violence is not a requirement for being listed as a hate group and there are other violent groups (gangs and militias) that are not listed as hate groups. In addition to hate groups, the SPLC lists 689 anti-government groups that were active in 2017 including 273 armed militias. The SPLC said Minnesota had 13 local cells of various hate groups and Wisconsin had 16.
We now have Islamophobia, immigrants being labeled as “criminals” who are “invading” the country, and mass shootings in churches and synagogues. Excessive use of force by police against blacks is common. Every day 96 people are killed with guns and hundreds more are shot and injured. The FBI says hate crimes rose by 17 percent in 2017 to 7,175 reported incidents.
Freedom comes with limits and responsibilities. Your right to swing your arm stops at the nose of your neighbor. Society has a right and obligation to restrict your freedom when it negatively impacts others. You do not have a right to incite hate, violence or engage in intimidation or verbal assault. Nor should people be allowed to form militias and to carry guns in public. When people march with the symbols of hate, like the confederate flag, torches, and burning crosses, they are engaged in terrorism. This should not be protected free speech.
It is time to rein in the hate mongers. It is time to demand more civility in our public life. But what Trump is doing, and other Republicans are supporting, is not what is needed. Their overblown rhetoric is intended to create fear, divide people and appeal to the bigotry of their political base. This will only increase hate and motivate more violence.