A study from the Wall Street Journal shows that anti-government violence hit a 30-year high in 2025, a trend that has held into 2026.
Analyzing U.S. terrorism incidents compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies between 1994 and 2025, the study found that “domestic attacks and plots against the U.S. government are at their highest levels since at least 1994,” with attacks from the “extreme left” edging out over the extreme right.
“For the first time in 20 years, they are coming from extremists on the left in greater numbers than the right, the center’s data shows,” it noted. “Of the 20 attacks and plots recorded in 2025, the center categorized 10 as originating from the extreme left and eight as coming from the extreme right”:
Half the incidents from the extreme left last year appear to have been aimed at immigration officers or facilities in response to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Another was an attempted attack on the Dickinson County Republican Committee Headquarters in Michigan.
Violence from the extreme-right has also climbed. A Democratic state lawmaker and her husband were killed in Minnesota last June. One police officer was killed in August after a man who had been critical of the Covid-19 vaccine fired 500 rounds outside the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At least three people were killed in 2025 in attacks labeled “extreme right,” while only one death was cited from an attack by “extreme left.” The study did not mention the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, likely because the alleged perpetrator, Tyler Robinson, has been awaiting trial.
The study also found Molotov cocktails were a popular weapon used in several attacks last year, including the one on Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence and the two attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The study comes after a man, now identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, allegedly intended to target the president and several of his cabinet members during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday night. A resident of the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, Allen allegedly traveled across the country by train and came to the Washington Hilton armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives.
“Administration officials (not including Mr. [Kash] Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” he allegedly wrote in his manifesto before later adding, “I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done.”
Authorities apprehended Cole Tomas Allen as he tried to storm a security checkpoint on the floor above where the event was being held, firing two shots before the U.S. Secret Service apprehended him. Only one Secret Service agent sustained gunfire but was saved by his bulletproof vest. No further injuries were sustained.
During a press conference following the incident, President Donald Trump, who had previously survived two assassination attempts, encouraged Americans to peacefully resolve their differences.
“I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts in resolving our difference peacefully. We have to we have to resolve our differences. I will say, you had Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Conservatives, Liberals, and Progressives. Those words are interchangeable perhaps, but maybe they’re not,” Trump said. “But yet everybody in that room, big crowd, record-setting crowd, there was a record-setting group of people. And there was a tremendous amount of love and coming together. I watched, I watched and I was very, very impressed by that.”
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