The Left have a political Violence Problem.
Hidden in Plain Sight: How Left-Wing Violence & Extremism Goes Unnoticed & Mostly Unreported 2016–2025
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WASHINGTON, (Politicrux), July 9, 2025 –While the liberal media and much of the left are swift to uncover alleged white supremacists and alleged violent conservative extremism, a glaring blind spot persists when it comes to comparable violence from the left, which often goes largely ignored. For example, Vance Boelter who assassinated Minnesota congresswoman Melissa Hortman was portrayed repeatedly as a “white male” in headlines and was framed as a lone actor, yet virtually no coverage probed his left-wing political associations. Or the fact he was a Democrat who was appointed to the Minnesota Governor's Workforce Development Board by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz at one time.
Unfortunately, a pattern of violent episodes tied to left-wing actors has unfolded and multiplied across the United States from 2016 through mid-2025 yet it has received scant attention despite it being ideologically driven extremism. From mass shootings and targeted assassinations to campus occupations and coordinated property attacks, the chronology reveals a sustained rising tide of left-wing political violence that has often been framed as “protest unrest” or “lone wolf rampages. “Conversely when a single incidence of conservative violence occurs it dominates headlines, and even moderate commentary calls it “extremism.”
When left-affiliated perpetrators strike, coverage typically emphasizes mental health, protest context or non-governmental affiliations. This article examines numerous occasions over the last decade with respect to where and when this has occurred (there are many to choose from), drawing on public records and contemporary reporting to explore the motivations, tactics and underreported ideological dimensions of each.
On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen’s rampage at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub left 49 dead and 53 wounded, yet few noted that Mateen had been a registered Democrat since 2006, and he spoke of both his allegiance to ISIS and his anger at U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Investigators found that he railed against American airstrikes in Syria and Iraq while citing solidarity with Islamic extremists. Media coverage emphasized the terrorist dimension, which was accurate although incomplete, while glossing over his political affiliation and left leaning philosophy. His dual grievances, foreign policy outrage and radical Islamist ideology, foreshadowed a decade of multifaceted motives driving left wing actors to violence.
On July 7, 2016, in Dallas, Army Reserve veteran Micah Xavier Johnson ambushed a Black Lives Matter protest with an AR-15, killing five officers and wounding nine before police deployed an explosive robot to end the standoff. Johnson was according to reports enraged by the killings of Black men by law enforcement, and he admired socialist leaders, circulating Marxist texts on social media. He viewed his actions as resistance against institutional racism in America (a democrat platform), yet headlines treated him as an isolated “anti-police extremist” rather than part of an ideological current. His manifesto referenced collective struggle much more than mental health crises, underlining that his violence was driven by a coherent, if radical, political worldview.
On June 14, 2017, James T. Hodgkinson—an avowed Bernie Sanders supporter—opened fire on Republican members of Congress during a charity baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia. He wounded five, including Majority Whip Steve Scalise, before dying in the ensuing shoot out. Court filings and online posts reveal Hodgkinson believed the Republican Party was destroying the country and explicitly targeted lawmakers to “send a message.” Coverage largely focused on his guns and mental health history, downplaying the partisan animus that propelled him. His attack marked a historical continuation of left leaning individuals pursuing assassination attempts which started back on September 6, 1901, when Leon Czolgosz shot Republican President William McKinley.
During ‘Free Speech Week’ in 2017, on April 15 in Berkeley violent street battles erupted when Antifa activists attacked a conservative rally with rocks, smoke bombs and flagpoles. Witnesses counted more than 20 serious injuries and significant property damage. The clash underscored Antifa’s willingness to use violence against who they perceived had fascist ideologies, yet mainstream narratives described it as isolated unrest. ANTIFA organizers later circulated tactical guides for similar actions nationwide, making Berkeley the crucible for a violent strategy that would spread to other cities, and it did.
On June 29, 2019, while covering demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, journalist Andy Ngo was ambushed by Antifa aligned protesters who beat him with bike locks, fists and pipes until he suffered a brain haemorrhage. Protest leaders subsequently praised the assault as “direct action against fascists,” framing violence as a legitimate tool. Police reports and Ngo’s own account detailed how attackers coordinated their assault, donning identical black clothing and masks to conceal their identities. Coverage in left leaning outlets often described Ngo’s beating as collateral damage in a chaotic protest environment, rather than a targeted, ideologically driven attack.
When John Brown Gun Club member Willem Van Spronsen approached Tacoma’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center on July 13, 2019, armed with an AR-15 rifle and a propane bomb, he told officers he intended to “shut down concentration camps” (hyperbolic language used by the left) and was prepared to die for the cause. When he ignited his device, law enforcement returned fire, killing him and severely damaging a patrol vehicle. Activist blogs extolled him as a martyr, yet most news reports referred to the incident as an “anti-immigration protest turned violent,” omitting his explicit extremist ideology. Van Spronsen’s actions illustrate how hyperbolic language and direct-action militancy on the left can escalate into deadly weaponization.
On December 10, 2019, David Anderson and Francine Graham, inspired by liberal antisemitic conspiracy theories and solidarity with Black liberation, carried out a massacre at a kosher market in Jersey City. They killed a police detective and three civilians before dying in a shootout with law enforcement. Their manifesto decried “Zionist occupation” and claimed the police served a corrupt establishment. Coverage focused on the hate crime aspect, rarely framing it as left-wing political extremism. The attack stands as one of the deadliest antisemitic incidents in recent U.S. history driven by radical left-wing ideology.
The death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, ignited nationwide protests that in some locations devolved into outright insurrections. On June 8, 2020, demonstrators in Seattle’s ‘Capitol Hill Occupied Protest’, set fire to the East Precinct building amid chants of “burn it down” and “defund the police.” The autonomous zone that followed persisted for weeks, featuring armed patrols and graffiti celebrating violent left-wing resistance. While many outlets hailed the CHOP as a successful experiment in self-governance, few acknowledged its origins in extremist ideologies advocating law enforcement abolition through force.
As the summer of 2020 surged with demonstrations, the human cost extended far beyond looted storefronts and burning precincts. An Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project analysis identified a growing number of protest-related fatalities nationwide between May and September, from accidental shootings to suspected vehicular assaults at demonstrations and over 1000 ordinary citizens caught up in the protests were injured. The PBS NewsHour reported that more than 50 protesters and bystanders had died in the swell of unrest, a figure that continued climbing as clashes spread to new cities. Meanwhile, the National Fraternal Order of Police and the Police Chiefs Association documented over 2,000 law enforcement officers injured—sustaining anything from concussions to gunshot wounds, while attempting to manage crowd control during what their leadership termed “violent riots.” Many departments saw more officers hurt in those three months than in several years of standard patrol duty, underscoring the unprecedented ferocity of clashes that blurred the line between protest and pitched battle. Victims on both sides told investigators they believed they were defending democracy, either against racist policing or authoritarian government, highlighting the dangers of liberal media hyperbole and how deeply political violence had penetrated American civic life.
During the same summer, Portland and Oakland saw targeted arson attacks on federal courthouses and spray painting of slogans like “ACAB,” standing for “All Cops Are Bastards,” alongside anti federal government messages. Videos captured masked attackers dressed in black lobbing Molotov cocktails at officers and setting vehicles ablaze. Arrest records detail premeditated coordination, messaging apps full of tactical advice and statements praising anarchist theory. News coverage commonly subsumed these actions under “protest violence” or used terms like ‘mostly peaceful protests’ without analyzing their roots in organized left-wing extremism.
Across Minneapolis, Seattle and Oakland in the summer of 2020, dozens of police cruisers and federal vehicles were firebombed, incurring millions of dollars in damages. Perpetrators often claimed solidarity with Black Lives Matter but also invoked anarchist and Marxist slogans. Police blotters described “coordinated attacks on law enforcement property,” yet mainstream reports emphasized civil unrest over the ideological frameworks orchestrating the violence. This widespread, synchronous assault on law enforcement assets highlighted a networked approach to left wing political violence.
On August 29, 2020, Michael Reinoehl, a self-described Antifa supporter, shot and killed Patriot Prayer follower Aaron Danielson during Portland protests. The FBI ascertained at a later date Reinoehl believed Danielson was a “fascist operative” and posed an existential threat to progress. U.S. Marshals tracked him down and killed him during an attempted arrest, describing the encounter as a firefight. Coverage framed his death as the fall of a “vigilante protester,” rarely addressing the left-wing ideological warfare he saw himself waging.
In the aftermath of the Republican National Convention in early August 2020, a mob of protesters—many chanting anti-Trump slogans—surrounded Senator Rand Paul’s motorcade in Washington, D.C. Witnesses reported protesters smashed vehicle windows and threatened the senator’s life until Capitol Police intervened. Several arrested admitted their actions were fueled by anger at the administration’s handling of the pandemic and racial justice issues. Media accounts labeled it “street intimidation” but neglected its explicit left wing partisan motivation.
In 2021, Black nationalist Othal Wallace ambushed a Daytona Beach police officer, claiming in court that he viewed law enforcement as “instruments of white supremacy" (a common liberal media trope). He shot the officer in the back of the head and was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Wallace’s statements during trial cited historical grievances dating back to slavery and police enforcement of segregation. Coverage in local outlets noted his liberal ideological motivations but little national media attention framed it as left-wing terrorism.
When Nicholas Roske was arrested on June 8, 2022, outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home carrying a handgun, knife, pepper spray, burglary tools and 37 rounds of ammunition, Roske told FBI agents he’d been driven in part by the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. He had planned to target Justice Kavanaugh and two other conservative justices “in a bid to alter the High Court for decades.” His arsenal and planning materials which included maps of justices’ neighborhoods spoke to a premeditated plot. This also occurred just weeks after a New York Times opinion writer urged pro-abortion activists to escalate public intimidation of Kavanaugh. Media coverage at the time noted only the weapons cache and Roske’s mental health evaluation, burying the political strategy behind his attempted assassination. They did this despite the fact Roske’s social media feed featured calls for “direct action” and other liberal talking points as well as links to New York Times opinion pieces urging pressure on conservative justices.
On March 27, 2023, 28-year-old Aiden Hale—born Audrey Elizabeth Hale and identifying as a transgender man—stormed Nashville’s Covenant School, killing three nine-year-old students and three staff before being shot by police. In diary entries released by Metro Nashville authorities, Hale railed against “white privilege” and “Christian indoctrination,” professing a desire to “kill all the white kids” as revenge for perceived historical injustices (a common theme in the Democrat party in recent years fitting with their reparations narrative). Investigators noted that while Hale struggled with mental health issues, journal passages repeatedly echoed left-leaning grievance and liberal narratives found in some activist media—linking U.S. foreign policy interventions and systemic racism to violent reprisal. A subsequent “manifesto” leak revealed strategic planning, including site diagrams and target selection motivated by personal history at the school, underscoring how ideological conviction and psychological turmoil combined in a deadly calculus. Activist blogs initially hailed Hale’s actions as “direct action” against white supremacy, even as mainstream outlets oscillated between treating it as a hate crime and a tragedy born of untreated depression. The Covenant shooting thus exemplifies how radicalized left-wing ideology—when fused with mental health breakdown—can manifest in spectacular violence that defies easy categorization however a political motivation is apparent.
The spring of 2024 witnessed a wave of pro-Palestinian “student intifada” protests on major university campuses, including Columbia, UCLA and the University of Arizona. Encampments occupied administrative buildings for weeks, defying mask bans and campus rules, while protesters chanted “from the river to the sea” in calls for Israel’s elimination/genocide. Clashes with campus police turned violent when officers used batons and tear gas; students hurled projectiles in response. Administrators reported widespread property damage and threats to Jewish students. Media coverage described them as “solidarity demonstrations” but largely ignored their genocidal rhetoric and violent tactics.
On July 13, 2024, Thomas Matthew Crooks, age 20, fired an AR-15 style rifle at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing the former president’s ear and killing one attendee and seriously wounding one other. Investigators recovered social media posts reflecting Crooks belief that Trump’s policies were “fascist” and warned of an “authoritarian coup,” using slogans like “stop the authoritarian coup” to illustrate his motive. Prosecutors introduced these posts as evidence of motive. Media narratives focused on gun control debates rather than labeling it an attempted political assassination by a left-wing extremist, despite the Democrats calling Trump Hitler and a fascist for months.
In West Palm Beach on September 15, 2024, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh aimed an SKS rifle at Trump’s motorcade during a golf course event. Secret Service agents disarmed him without a shot fired. In interrogation, Routh declared that removing Trump was “necessary to save democracy”, Democrats had continually alleged Trump was a threat to Democracy. Court documents revealed his planning included surveillance of security details and purchase of military grade weaponry. News coverage framed it as another “deranged attack on the former president,” excluding its explicit ideological dimension.
On December 4, 2024, Luigi Mangione, citing anti-corporate grievances, shot United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York hotel. Mangione told investigators the insurance industry “feeds off the sick” and that his attack was meant as “a warning shot across Wall Street.” Thompson died at the scene, prompting a federal terrorism investigation. Reports in financial media noted the business impact but rarely discussed Mangione’s left-wing ideological motives. Following the assignation Mangione became a pin up darling in many Left-wing circles, and he even had a musical written about him called "Luigi: The Musical"
On May 22, 2025, Elias Rodriguez attacked visitors at Washington, D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum, killing two Israeli embassy staffers while shouting pro-HAMAS slogans. The Department of Justice charged him with federal hate crimes, noting his membership in the Party for Socialism & Liberation and online posts praising militant Palestinian factions. Most news outlets categorized it as a hate crime, with scant discussion of its roots in left-wing international solidarity & extremism. Which many in the modern Democrat party appear to support as is exemplified by Ilhan Omar who has equated the United States and Israel with terrorist groups Hamas and the Taliban and also claimed Israel is only supported because they provide campaign donations.
In March 2025, small violent left-wing cells aligned with labor rights and anti-Musk sentiment firebombed Tesla dealerships in Loveland, Colorado, and Kansas City, Missouri. On March 7, Cooper Jo Frederick’s Molotov cocktails set several electric vehicles ablaze. On March 17, Owen McIntire destroyed charging stations and Cybertrucks, citing exploitation of gig workers. Both attackers released manifestos online denouncing corporate monopolies and surveillance capitalism. Coverage labeled the incidents “eco vandalism” or “anti-technology protests,” neglecting the extremist organizing behind them.
On the evening on 1 June 2025 at the University of Colorado Boulder, Mohamed Sabry Soliman hurled a Molotov cocktail into a pro-Gaza rally, injuring 13 and later causing one fatality. Soliman told campus police he acted to “protect Palestinian lives from genocide” and had received tactical training from overseas networks. The university reported the protest was coordinated through encrypted channels and that coded slogans guided violent actions. Mainstream coverage referred to it as a “clash between pro and anti-Israel protesters,” without exploring the ideological extremism underpinning it.
Following this on 4 June 2025, following a coordinated multi–agency immigration, money laundering and people smuggling raid in downtown Los Angeles, what began as a protest against ICE enforcement rapidly devolved into full‑blown violence with 1000’s of rioters surrounding the Roybal Federal Building and other sites, hurling rocks, chunks of broken concrete and even human excrement, at United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and local police, slashing tires, setting fires, and defacing taxpayer‑funded property in a brazen display of contempt for the administration’s crackdown .
Subsequent federal investigations uncovered that the unrest was neither impromptu nor under‑equipped: demonstrators arrived wearing tactical helmets and shields, each piece retailing at well over $100 and an FBI sting later revealed that a single supplier had delivered “tens of thousands of dollars’ worth” of protective gear to the crowd, pointing to clandestine third‑party financing intended to sustain and escalate the disorder DeepNewz. Yet, despite extensive video evidence and multiple officer injuries, major cable networks like CNN and MSNBC referred to these clashes as “mostly peaceful” over 200 times, and mainstream reports made scant reference to the far‑left groups identified by law enforcement as organizers of the unrest outkick.comnbclosangeles.com.
On June 14, 2025, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Vance Boelter donned a police uniform before assassinating Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband in their home. He carried a dossier naming more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers he called “traitors” and surrendered only after a standoff. However, the media barely touched on the fact he was a Democrat with an antipathy to recent decisions members had voted on.
Subsequent to this on July 4, 2025, there was a coordinated, military‑style assault on the Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas, that left an Alvarado police officer wounded after masked assailants wearing body armor and tactical gear opened fire on ICE officers. Initially they set off fireworks aimed at the facility and defaced government vehicles to draw agents outside of the facility perimeter and once officers stepped outside gunman hiding in the undergrowth fired upon them with two AR-15 semi-automatic rifles. Following the attack Federal authorities arrested and charged 11 suspects with attempted murder of federal officers, terrorism and weapons offenses under local and federal statutes ICEABC News. Court records reveal the group used anti‑fascist flags, flyers and spray‑painted slogans reading “resist fascism” and “fight ICE terror with class war,” underscoring their left-wing, politically motivated campaign of violence ABC News. Yet in coverage by ABC News and NBC News, the incident was referred to simply as a “planned ambush” or “organized attack,” with little mention of the ideological underpinnings or domestic terror implications ABC Newsfeeds.nbcnews.com. Critics argue this pattern of neutral or euphemistic labels for left‑wing violence mirrors a broader media tendency to obfuscate such threats, a concern even acknowledged by acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons, who warned that “disinformation and dangerous politically‑motivated rhetoric spreads” when motives are downplayed ICE.
In light of these types of attacks on ICE officials and facilities, a growing cohort of Democratic lawmakers—including Senators Alex Padilla and Cory Booker with the VISIBLE Act and Representatives Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez through the No Masks for ICE Act—have moved to ban non‑medical face coverings for ICE officers, rhetorically asking “what are they trying to hide?” The Guardian. Yet this push comes as ICE agents and their families face mounting threats: agency leadership reports officers have been doxxed on social media, received death threats against themselves and their loved ones, and even seen their homes targeted—conditions that prompted a nearly 700 percent rise in assaults on agents in 2025 and have led many to wear masks for basic security YahooNewsweek. Critics argue that stripping agents of protective face coverings under these volatile circumstances recklessly endangers them and their families, amounting to a form of passive terrorism by using political theater to expose federal officers to avoidable harm.
These types of reckless political theatre by Democrat representatives and the many instances of violence and extremism reveal a continuum that mainstream narratives have too often misclassified or minimized. Left wing actors invoked grievances ranging from police brutality and corporate greed to foreign policy outrage and solidarity with oppressed peoples abroad. They deploy tactics from doxxing to mass shootings and arson to Molotov cocktails and assassination plots, demonstrating organizational planning and ideological cohesion. Recognizing these incidents as part of an ideological extremist current, not isolated acts of unrest, is essential for an honest appraisal of domestic security threats from the left. Only by naming every perpetrator, every motive and every method can policymakers and the public confront the full scope of American political violence, left, right and beyond. However, at this time many left leaning media outlets and Democrat lawmakers are disingenuous in this regard.
Amid the avalanche of recent left-wing violence, what matters most is understanding the ideology and motivations driving each attack. Whether an individual embraced Marxist or anarchist goals, published a manifesto citing revolutionary aims, or claimed solidarity with oppressed peoples abroad, the violence they committed was rooted in a coherent political belief system, not merely a mental health crises or spontaneous unrest. Labeling these actions as “extremism,” “protest,” “vigilantism” or “terrorism” without naming the specific ideology, allows media and other institutions to gloss over true motives and downplay harm for political expediency. True clarity requires highlighting what side of the isle this type of violence is coming from, consistently, redefining whose ideology is at stake, ignoring it or blaming something else is just a political smokescreen which is used to hide an inconvenient truth. One the left does not want you to consider.
Moreover, rhetoric and hyperbole matters. For example, reporting by “Must Read Alaska” highlights how some affluent, white liberal voters have urged Democratic representatives to “be willing to get shot” while protesting ICE facilities or federal agencies, “there needs to be blood to grab the attention of the press and the public” (mustreadalaska.com). Such rhetoric becomes especially dangerous when viewed alongside an AMAC Newsline analysis that warned of a growing 'violence problem' within the Democratic base, noting that constituents were telling lawmakers that “civility isn’t working” and they were advocating for “violence to allegedly protect their democracy” (amac.us).
These sentiments have been echoed across social media platforms, from Twitter posts by commentators amplifying calls to accept personal harm in resistance, to Facebook pages sharing Axios reports stating the left should "get shot" for the anti-Trump resistance. Meanwhile some social media pundits are also calling for the assassination of the president and at the same time blatant lies and fear mongering are being promulgated by Democrat congressional representatives, which terrify their constituents in the name of resisting Donald Trump.
Divisive language risks normalizing political violence (something it would appear the left is comfortable with at this time), and it is setting a dangerous precedent that may prove irreversible as we move forward. Some of the lefts political rhetoric even borders on the tactics of terrorist groups like Hamas, which deliberately put civilians in harm’s way, so they are killed or injured to advance a political cause. This underscores how extremist left-wing rhetoric regardless of whether it is from the media or lawmakers can mirror the methods of recognized terrorist organizations and divide a country.