Joseph Robinette Biden, our only president, just provided us with a classic example of postmodern wordplay. In a recent speech to graduating seniors at Howard University, the octogenarian pol described “white supremacy” as the “most dangerous terrorist threat” — at least on the domestic front — to the United States. That’s arguably true, but it’s worth unpacking what exactly this means, and why Uncle Joe was so eager to announce it.
It is actually accurate that, largely because riot and “common crime” deaths do not count toward terror-death totals (“terrorism,” roughly, is the use of paramilitary force against civilian populations to achieve a political aim), right-wing domestic terrorists do kill more U.S. citizens per year than do left-wing domestic terrorists. However, according to the centrist and well-respected Center for Strategic and International Studies, the average number of annual deaths caused by all American-based terrorists between 2014 and 2021 was 31.
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