Vance's Dangerous Distortions

There’s truth—"conformity with fact or reality”—and then there are the many ways to mask and/or manipulate truth.

In an interview with Fox host Jesse Watters, Vice President JD Vance—who, in his elevated position, should have easy access to verifiable facts—claimed that one in five liberals (20 percent) believe that political violence is acceptable, while just one in 25 conservatives (4 percent) hold that same noxious view. At best, Vance misread the stats. At worst, he lied.

Two Dramatically Different Poll Results

Vance was, no doubt, referring to a YouGov survey conducted over the three days directly following Charlie Kirk’s murder. That survey found 10 percent of “liberals” agreed that political violence is always or sometimes acceptable. Twenty-four percent of respondents who describe themselves as “very liberal” agreed that political violence is always or sometimes acceptable—and that is, of course, a disturbing statistic. But liberal views should not be defined by those on the fringe.

Bottom line: Among traditional Democrats, the true figure for the percentage of liberals who believe political violence to be justified is half the figure cited by the vice president (10 percent, not 20 percent).

It also should be noted that in a PBS/Marist poll conducted in April of 2024, 28 percent of Republicans compared to 12 percent of Democrats agreed that “Americans have to resort to violence to get the country back on track.” Timing of these surveys affects the results.

Opinions Versus Acts

Vance went on to claim that “the problem is much bigger and much more malignant on the far left.” If by “the problem” Vance was referring to polling results, then, based on the above-cited YouGov survey, he might be close to accurate. But if—rather than judging the problem based on feelings expressed in response to polling questions—we judge based on actual incidents of political violence, we get a dramatically different result. According to the right-leaning libertarian think tank Cato Institute,

Right-wingers are the second most common motivating ideology [first was Islam, based on the 9/11 attacks], accounting for 391 murders and 11 percent of the total. The definition here of right-wing terrorists includes those motivated by white supremacy, anti-abortion beliefs, involuntary celibacy (incels), and other right-wing ideologies.

Left-wing terrorists murdered 65 people, or about 2 percent of the total. Left-wing terrorists include those motivated by black nationalism, anti-police sentiment, communism, socialism, animal rights, environmentalism, anti-white ideologies, and other left-wing ideologies. 

Assertions Versus Reality

Then, while hosting Kirk’s podcast, Vance stated point-blank, “He [Kirk] never said anything like that. He never uttered those words.” By “those words,” Vance was referring to the accusation that Kirk said several prominent Black women—Michelle Obama, Joy Reid, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—were “affirmative action picks,” and “you [speaking directly to the women] do not have the brain-processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously.” Again, Vance lied. Click here to see the proof. Although, in a sense, Charlie Kirk did not "utter" those words; he spewed them with obvious venom. Watch the video and see for yourself.

Sadly, most of the viewers/listeners of that Vance podcast and the Jesse Watters interview will never bother to fact-check Vance’s claims; they’ll accept them as facts and move on with their busy lives. As a result, their understanding of politics and national events will be a bit more distorted. And those increasingly distorted views will increasingly steer their political choices, choices that often impact the safety and welfare of their community and perhaps the entire nation.

 If Americans who value truth and our nation’s democratic norms fail to adequately address these far-right assaults on truth, totalitarianism will win.