A year ago, as Election Day approached, then-Sen. JD Vance lied about Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio. When he was pressed to explain why he said things that were untrue about a community in his own state, Vance said on Sept. 15, 2024, that he was willing “to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention.”
Exactly one year to the day later, the Ohio Republican, now the vice president, proved he’s still willing to create stories in pursuit of his political goals.
Vance, guest-hosting Charlie Kirk’s podcast in the aftermath of the activist’s slaying, told listeners, “People on the left are much likelier to defend and celebrate political violence.” Then he added that, as far as he’s concerned, the national scourge is not “a both-sides problem” because the left is worse than the right.
And then he went just a bit further.
Vance: "While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies, it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far-Left."
— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-09-15T18:28:00.035Z
“While our side of the aisle certainly has its crazies,” he said, “it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left.”
I realize that many Republicans want this to be true. In fact, by some measures, they seem to need it to be true to justify a broader crackdown on the left, which helps explain why Donald Trump has incessantly repeated the claim in recent days.
The morning after Vance’s comments, a reporter asked the president about Utah Gov. Spener Cox’s message emphasizing the importance of nonviolence. “I agree with it 100%,” the president replied, “but most of the violence is on the left.”
That’s demonstrably untrue. Vance’s claim about the “statistical fact” is neither statistical nor a fact.
The available research from recent years makes clear that right-wing violence has been more dangerous in the U.S. than left-wing violence. As The New York Times’ David Leonhardt explained in 2022, the American right “has a violence problem that has no equivalent on the left.”








