Anti-government violence in the United States has surged to a 30-year high, driven by a sharp increase in attacks from both the far left and far right, according to a new analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Rising Tide of Political Violence
The CSIS report identified 20 domestic attacks and plots in 2025, marking the highest frequency of such incidents since records began in 1994. Of these, 10 were attributed to far-left extremists, while eight were linked to the far right. The remaining two were classified as other or unknown. This represents a significant escalation from 2024, which saw 10 incidents, and a stark contrast to 2021, when only two attacks were recorded.
The surge has been fueled in part by violence targeting immigration officers and facilities in response to the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. The weekend shooting at a Washington dinner attended by President Donald Trump and senior officials is the latest in a string of attacks on government officials and facilities.
Political Reactions
President Trump commented on the trend, stating that political violence has "always been there" but blaming the Democratic Party for stoking tensions with what he termed "dangerous" hate speech. "People are assassinated. People are injured. And I'm not sure that it's any more now than there was," Trump said. "I do think that the hate speech of the Democrats much more so is very dangerous."
Lawmakers from both parties condemned the rise in political violence. Former President Barack Obama urged Americans to reject violence, saying, "It's incumbent upon all of us to reject the idea that violence has any place in our democracy." New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani echoed this sentiment, calling political violence "absolutely unacceptable."
Historical Context
The CSIS analysis notes that political violence has steadily increased since the late 2010s, with notable spikes in 2022 and 2025. The 20 incidents in 2025 eclipsed the previous peak of 10 in 2024. Attacks from the extreme right resulted in three deaths last year, while one death was attributed to extreme left violence.
Former FBI agent Katherine Schweit, author of Stop the Killing: How to End the Mass Shooting Crisis, compared the current climate to the late 1960s and early 1970s, a period marked by political instability and high-profile assassinations. "Political violence begets more political violence," she warned, emphasizing the need for peaceful discord as the foundation of democracy.
Notable Incidents
- In September 2025, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead at a rally in Utah.
- In June 2025, Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed by a man disguised as a police officer.
- President Trump survived two assassination attempts in 2024, one at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and another in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The CSIS classifies attacks based on court documents and contemporaneous reporting. The data includes attacks on officials and facilities linked to the government, reflecting a broader trend of escalating political violence across the United States.
