Mehdi Hasan on Monday disputed comments by Vice President J.D. Vance that blamed the political left for a rise in political violence, saying authoritative data show the opposite: most lethal extremist attacks in recent decades have been carried out by right-wing actors.
On Chris Cuomo’s NewsNation program, Hasan responded to Vance’s remarks in the wake of the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, saying Vance’s claim that the far left is more prone to political violence was “a lie” and “the exact reverse.” Hasan cited a series of studies and government statements to support his contention.
Hasan pointed to a 2023 report from the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, which examined 444 people killed by extremists between 2013 and 2022 and found roughly three-quarters of those victims were killed by right-wing extremists. He also cited a University of Maryland study prepared for its terrorism research center that found, over the period from 1948 to 2018, right-wing extremists were more likely than left-wing extremists to carry out violence. Hasan referenced remarks by FBI Director Christopher Wray, whom former President Donald Trump appointed, that identify religiously and racially motivated violent extremists — including white supremacists — as a leading domestic terrorism threat. Hasan further noted a 2024 National Institute of Justice analysis that, he said, found a majority of politically violent incidents since 1990 were attributable to right-wing perpetrators; that NIJ item has since been removed from the agency’s website with a notice saying the Department of Justice is reviewing materials in line with recent executive orders.
Vance, appearing on "The Charlie Kirk Show" after Kirk’s death, asserted that the suspect’s motive reflected far-left ideology and told listeners the country needed to respond forcefully to political violence. Hasan said such assertions were at odds with the statistics and risked inflaming tensions. "This targeting of people for their views, I thought Charlie Kirk was supposed to be a free speech martyr," Hasan said, asking why, in his view, some on the right were using Kirk’s death to call for restrictions on speech and political pressure on opponents.
Charlie Kirk was killed while speaking at Utah Valley University last week, an episode that prompted national attention and public comments from political leaders. In the days following the killing, some conservatives, including Vance and former President Trump, sought to frame the attack as driven by left-wing animus. Trump, in public remarks, used sharply worded language about those he described as "radical left lunatics," and defended moves such as ordering flags at half-staff for Kirk.
Hasan also criticized what he described as an inconsistent response from the president, saying Trump appeared not to recall another recent killing of a Democratic lawmaker when pressed about past politically motivated violence. "I mean, there was a Democratic lawmaker, Chris, I don't know how many times we have to say this, who was murdered in her home with her husband in June, by a Trump supporter," Hasan said on the program, and added that, when the incident was raised, Trump reportedly responded, "Who?"
Experts and public safety authorities have repeatedly warned that politically motivated violence in the United States can come from multiple sources, but most recent agency reports and academic analyses have identified right-wing extremist movements as the primary source of lethal domestic extremist violence. The ADL’s 2023 analysis and the FBI’s public statements have been cited by researchers and law enforcement officials as evidence of that trend, and many studies point to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as the most significant single day of politically motivated violence in recent U.S. history.
Vance’s comments and Hasan’s rebuttal come amid heightened partisan rhetoric over the policing of speech, political organizing and the role of elected officials in addressing political extremism. Authorities continue to investigate the circumstances around Kirk’s death, and political leaders on both sides of the aisle have called for calm even as they offer differing interpretations of the threats posed by ideological violence.
Hasan posted a portion of his appearance on social media, saying he had "comprehensively debunked the lie from J.D. Vance & others on the right who claim the statistics show political violence is from the left, not the right." His appearance adds to ongoing public debate about how best to describe and respond to domestic political violence as federal and local agencies monitor threats tied to a range of ideologies.