Letters from an American – September 16, 2025 – Heather Cox Richardson

Letters from an American, September 16, 2025

By Heather Cox Richardson

Sep 16, 2025

The phrase that kept coming up over the last several days was “make fetch happen.” It’s a reference to the film Mean Girls, when one of the characters tries to make the word “fetch” trendy, using it to mean “cool” or “awesome.” Another character eventually slaps back: “Stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen. It’s NOT going to happen!”

Over the weekend, it appeared MAGA leaders were trying to make fetch happen, hoping to distract attention from Trump’s and popular anger about the economy, corruption, the administration’s disregard for the law, and the Epstein files by trying to gin up the idea that the United States is being torn apart by political violence coming from what MAGA figures called “the left,” or “Democrats,” or just “THEM.”

Their evidence was the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk last Wednesday in Utah, although the motive of the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, remains unclear. Today the state of Utah indicted Robinson on seven counts, including aggravated murder. But a 2024 report from a research arm of the Department of Justice itself noted that “[s]ince 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists.” Julia Ornedo of The Daily Beast reported that the Department of Justice removed the report from its website after the shooting.

Editor’s Note: The report removed by DOJ is referenced in a ChatGPT response. It’s hidden from Americans, but I found the data and share it below. This reminds me of Nazi censorship of Truth, facts, history, by Trump’s DOJ.

But as G. Elliott Morris explains in Strength in Numbers, “[m]ost Americans reject political violence in all circumstances, especially when you measure it carefully.” Morris notes that only a small fraction of Americans genuinely support political violence: about 9% approve of threats against political opponents, 8% approve of harassment, 6% support nonviolent felonies, and about 4% support using violence. Morris notes that both Democrats and Republicans significantly overestimate their political opponents’ willingness to use violence and that social media elevates extremists, making them appear more numerous than they are.

Morris explains that violent acts associated with politics happen because members of that small minority respond to rhetoric coming from political leaders. Violent metaphors polarize audiences and attract “high-aggression followers.” Reducing violence requires political elites to tone down their rhetoric.

It also helps for leaders to reinforce democratic norms.

On that, President Donald Trump is in some trouble. Olivier Knox of U.S. News & World Report reported yesterday that U.S. farmers “are not OK.” Droughts and flooding from climate change as well as higher costs for fertilizer and equipment were cutting into operations even before Trump’s tariffs hit. The U.S. used to be China’s top source for soybeans, but in retaliation for the new tariffs, China has replaced the output of U.S. farmers with soybeans from Brazil. Cuts to food programs have hit small producers, while the administration’s crackdowns on undocumented immigration have created shortages of workers.

There were more farm bankruptcies by the end of July than in all of 2024. The administration appears to be considering providing emergency aid for farmers as it did during the trade wars of Trump’s first term, although those programs often help larger producers more than smaller ones.

Knox notes that agriculture, food, and related industries contributed about $1.5 trillion to the economy—about 5.5% of gross domestic product—in 2023, making up about 22.1 million jobs.

Matt Egan reported in CNN today that Americans’ credit scores “are falling at the fastest pace since the Great Recession as Americans struggle to keep up with the high cost of living and the return of student debt payments.” The average FICO score, which assesses a borrower’s creditworthiness, dropped by 2 points this year, the largest drop since 2009.

What was in that DOJ report they (Trump) tried to hide?

I asked ChatGPT to find the report for me. Here’s the response in full. 🙂

I wasn’t able to locate a publicly accessible version of the full 2024 report—but here’s what is known based on news outlets covering its publication and removal:

What the Report Was

• Title: What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism
• Authoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. (The Daily Beast)

Key Findings as Reported

According to multiple news sources (including The Guardian, People, The Daily Beast, AFP, etc.):

• Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists. (The Guardian)
  • The report reportedly documented 227 events attributed to far-right extremists, resulting in over 520 lives lost.
  • In contrast, 42 events tied to far-left extremists resulted in 78 deaths during roughly the same period. (The Guardian)
• It also concluded that militant, nationalistic, white supremacist violent extremism has increased in the U.S., and that far-right attacks continue to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism. (The Daily Beast)

Removal & Access

• The report was posted in mid-2024 but had been removed from the DOJ/National Institute of Justice website by September 2025. (The Guardian)
• As of news coverage, the report is accessible via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, though the DOJ has taken down the original page and replaced it with a notice indicating a review of materials in accordance with recent executive orders. (The Guardian)

Summary

You are referring to a 2024 NIJ report, What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism, which concluded that far-right extremists have been responsible for substantially more ideologically motivated murders in the U.S. since 1990 than far-left or Islamist extremist actors. The report counted 227 far-right incidents causing over 520 deaths, compared to 42 far-left incidents causing 78 deaths.

While the report has been removed from the DOJ site, it is still accessible through archived versions. If you’d like, I can help locate a working archived link or retrieve the report text via those archives. Let me know if you’d like me to dig that up!

Continue/Read Original Article Here: September 16, 2025 – by Heather Cox Richardson

#2025 #AI #America #ChatGPT #DepartmentOfJustice #DonaldTrump #Fetch #Health #History #Justice #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #MakeFetchHappen #MeanGirls #Opinion #Politics #RemovedReport #Resistance #Science #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

So #FernFriday isn't really a thing, but I've always thought it should be.

#MakeFetchHappen
#photography

Hey #journalists , I just made up a hashtag for when you're looking for a source on here: #sourcesiren .

I've never come across a hashtag for this purpose before, but if it catches on, it could be a way to tap into the very wide array of expertise #onhere .

So give it a shot when you're looking for sources: #sourcesiren

We can do it.

#makefetchhappen