Trump official’s false claims about 'left-wing terrorism' brutally fact-checked
In a Sunday, September 28 post on X, formerly Twitter, Deputy White House Press Secretary Abigail Jackson echoed President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance's claim that the majority of domestic terrorism in the United States is coming from the left. Jackson posted, "Democrats, calling your political opponents Nazis has consequences. Study: Left-wing terrorism climbs to 30-year high."
Jackson tried to prove her point by linking to an article by Axios reporter Zachary Basu. But Jackson's critics, including the Daily Beast's Tom Latchem and former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, are pointing out that Basu's reporting doesn't say what she claims it does.
Olbermann tweeted, "Wow! Left wing terrorism is all the way up to one quarter of right wing terrorism. Bad news, lady: your employers are the terrorists."
Latchem, in an article published on September 29, explains, "When one of Donald Trump's most prominent mouthpieces came across an article she believed backed the government's claim that left-wing terrorism is engulfing America, she didn't miss the opportunity to share it online. Unfortunately for the MAGA loyalist, who is at the heart of White House communications, the article cited didn't say anything of the sort."
Latchem notes that Basu's Axios article "did report that left-wing attacks have 'outpaced' far-right incidents so far this year for the first time in three decades — but not that left-wing terrorism is at a 30-year high."
Axios changed the headline for Basu's article and added an editor's note at the end: "This headline has been corrected to reflect that left-wing terrorism is outpacing far-right terrorism for the first time in 30 years (not that left-wing attacks overall are at a 30-year high)."
The article's headline now reads, "Study: Left-wing terrorism outpaces far-right attacks for first time in 30 years."
Basu reported, "Far-right violence has historically been more frequent and more lethal, but plunged dramatically over the first six months of 2025."
Latchem observes, "The underlying study behind the Axios article, from the Center for Strategic & International Studies, found that, through July 4, 2025, researchers logged five left-wing plots or attacks versus a sharp drop on the far right. Yet it also revealed left-wing violence remained far less lethal over the past decade, with 41 attacks and 13 deaths since 2016, compared with 152 attacks and 112 deaths from the right over the same period.
The authors also warned against using the data "as an excuse for a crackdown on legitimate organizations."
Read Tom Latchem's full article for the Daily Beast at this link (subscription required).