Summerville claimed that all extremist murders are right-wing. Tell that to prosecutors in Charlie Kirk’s case who revealed that the suspected killer is a leftist ideologue steeped in trans ideology.
The suspect, Tyler Robinson, confessed in text messages to his trans lover that he targeted Kirk specifically for his politics. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox confirmed Robinson had adopted “leftist ideology.” Robinson’s bullet casings carried antifascist inscriptions. He expressed outrage at Kirk’s views on LGBTQ issues, lived with a transgender partner, and planned the killing for over a week.
This was not random. It was political, ideological, and left-wing. By the Cato Institute’s own standards, Kirk’s murder should be counted, but don’t expect the left to admit it.
Summerville rattled off statistics, claiming, “From 2022 to 2024, there were 17 extremist murders. All of them are right-wing.” She then waved around a Cato Institute report as proof. That debate pushed me to dig into Cato’s study, and what I found is devastating for the narrative.
Cato begins its dataset in 1975, conveniently skipping the bloody era of left-wing terrorism just before that during the Civil Rights era.
For example, the Black Panther Party wasn’t just running breakfast programs. Between 1968 and 1973, they were involved in shootouts with police and also undertook assassinations. Their offshoot, the Black Liberation Army, executed multiple officers into the mid-1970s.
The Weather Underground launched bombings of the U.S. Capitol (1971), Pentagon (1972), and State Department (1975). These attacks killed and injured Americans while terrorizing cities. Founders of the violent group, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, are the husband/wife duo that helped start the political career of Barack Obama. Their son became San Francisco DA.
By starting their log after 1975, Cato wipes away the most violent period of left-wing extremism in modern American history.
On air, Summerville declared, “It’s not in any way that the left is responsible for the violent extremism.” That’s only possible if you play games with definitions. The study ignores non-fatal violence, including billions in BLM riot damage, thousands of officers assaulted, and businesses torched. None of this was counted.
The study also reclassifies Antifa and Black Lives Matter (BLM) as anarchists not leftists—but make no mistake, they are leftists.
When I pointed out Democrats like Kamala Harris fundraised to bail rioters out of jail in 2020, Summerville insisted, "BLM and Antifa are not left-wing organizations. They’re anarchists."
This is absurd. Democrats literally knelt in Congress—and across the country— to support BLM during the George Floyd riots. Calling Antifa and BLM “not left-wing” is a word game.
The report also minimized school shootings carried out in service to leftist ideology. The minimization is likely because many recent shooters and suspects have been identified as trans—and that movement is a holy grail for Democrats.
Additionally, foiled bombings, assassination attempts, and violent threats don’t exist in Cato’s numbers, even though the FBI treats them as deadly serious.
Political violence intimidates, silences, and spreads fear. But if no one dies, Cato pretends it never happened.
Cato also downplays Islamic terror, lumping it into a separate category as though it has nothing to do with US politics. Yet that is the left providing cover for jihadis. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar dismissed 9/11 with, “Some people did something.” Her fellow “Squad” member, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, was censured for spreading Hamas propaganda and demonizing Israel after October 7.
Former Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal posted a 9/11 tribute mourning “all lives lost,” including the hijackers. That is just the tip of the many Democrats who back the enemies of America over the United States itself.
When Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home was firebombed on Passover in a clearly antisemitic attack, Democrats tried to brand it “right-wing violence.” In reality, it was a pro-Hamas extremist. Those who back Hamas in the US are affiliated with the left.
The same Democrats who want to wash their hands of Islamic terrorism are the ones amplifying its apologists here at home.
Cato’s selective dataset also excludes or mislabels multiple deadly left-wing attacks in recent years:
- Aaron “Jay” Danielson (Portland, 2020): Gunned down by Antifa militant Michael Reinoehl after a pro-Trump rally. Reinoehl later said, “I had no choice, I had to act.”
- Dallas Police Ambush (2016): Micah Johnson murdered five officers during a BLM protest.
- NYPD Ambush (2014): Ismaaiyl Brinsley executed two officers in their patrol car after posting about revenge for Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
- Tacoma ICE Firebombing (2019): Antifa militant Willem Van Spronsen attacked a detention facility with firebombs and a rifle.
- David Dorn, a retired St. Louis police captain, was shot dead while protecting a store from looters.
- Italia Kelly, 22, killed in a Davenport, Iowa, protest crossfire.
- Chris Beaty, a former Indiana University football player, was murdered during the Indianapolis rioting.
- In Seattle’s CHAZ/CHOP zone, multiple teenagers were gunned down in shootings after the city surrendered several blocks to Antifa and BLM militants. Victims included 19-year-old Lorenzo Anderson and 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr.
Summerville even admitted her sleight of hand: “If I want to assign Antifa and BLM to a separate category, then it refutes the statistics. But when I’m debating here, I often include it on purpose.”
There it is. The left wins the argument by moving categories around. Pretend Antifa and BLM don’t count as “left,” and suddenly the numbers “prove” conservatives are the problem.
But reality doesn’t bend so easily. Democrats fundraised for rioters. They bailed them out. They cheered what they lied and called “mostly peaceful” protests while cities burned. Pretending Antifa and BLM aren’t left-wing is as ridiculous as pretending the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers were “just social clubs.”
From all available evidence presented by authorities so far, Charlie Kirk’s murder was political, ideological, and rooted in left-wing rage. Yet within hours, the narrative machine rolled out: “violence is a right-wing problem.” When that fails, pundits and elected leaders demand that conservatives condemn political violence on "both sides."
Cato’s report is already being used to whitewash left-wing violence and smear conservatives. But the facts it leaves out, from the bombs of the Weather Underground, to the bullets of the Black Panthers, to the police ambushes, to the killings during BLM riots and Seattle’s CHAZ, to the antifascist inscriptions on the bullets that killed Charlie Kirk, prove otherwise.
Political violence is not rare. It is not one-sided. And if we keep pretending it is, we’ll only see more of it.
