ARGUMENT: PRTISAN POLITICS & VIOLENCEU.S. Domestic Terrorism Is Increasingly Motivated by Partisan Politics

One of the most alarming trends in terrorism is the growth in anti-government extremism. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) researcher Riley McCabe, writing in Lawfare, analyzes the rise of anti-government violence and how it has changed in recent years, going from opposition to federal authority in general to more partisan violence.

McCabe writes:

The research I conducted for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reveals that, since 2016, there has been a dramatic rise in domestic terrorist attacks and plots against government targets motivated by partisan political beliefs. This includes attacks and plots against elected officials, political candidates, political party officials, political staff and workers, and their offices by terrorists with opposing political views.

The record is damning. From January 2016 to April 2024, there were a total of 21 domestic terrorist attacks and plots against government targets motivated by partisan political beliefs, compared to a total of just two such incidents in the more than two preceding decades tracked in the CSIS dataset. These partisan political motivations were tracked as distinct from other ideologies, such as anarchism, Salafi-jihadism, white supremacy, and general anti-government sentiment. Increased levels of polarization and the mainstreaming of violent political rhetoric probably contribute to this rapid increase in partisan attacks.

Conspiracy theories, particularly election denialism, are also a primary driver of this trend. Less than two weeks after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, two men devised a plan to destroy the John L. Burton Democratic Headquarters in Sacramento because they believed the 2020 presidential election was rigged. More than a year and a half later, on Oct. 28, 2022, David DePape broke into the San Francisco home of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, seeking to hold her hostage, and attacked her husband. DePape was motivated by a mix of conspiracy theories, including that Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats were responsible for undermining the integrity of the 2020 presidential election. After losing his race in the November 2022 midterm elections, Solomon Peña, a former Republican candidate for the New Mexico House of Representatives, allegedly orchestrated a series of shootings targeting the homes of Democratic politicians whom he blamed for manipulating the vote.

McCabe concludes:

Despite their low fatalities, the increase in domestic terrorist attacks and plots against government targets motivated by partisan political beliefs can have a politically chilling effect…. In addition to campaign staff and election workers, voters, demonstrators, political candidates, and elected officials alike must now grapple with this increased threat. The heightened risk of terrorist attacks motivated by partisan beliefs does not just endanger individual lives but also threatens the democratic process itself, casting a shadow over open discourse and discouraging civic engagement. As the political landscape grows more polarized, safeguarding democratic institutions and protecting those who participate in them have become crucial not only for security but also for the preservation of democratic ideals in the United States.