2025 Year in Hate & Extremism: Policy shifts to favor hard right

Since President Donald Trump took office for a second term, his administration has radically transformed government policy in favor of far-right interests and individuals. The federal government pulled an about-face on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, pardoning the people charged in a violent assault on the building and the Capitol Police. The administration has also shifted the focus of federal law enforcement away from violent crime investigations to sweeping immigration raids through American communities, targeting undocumented people as well as Black and Brown people — often regardless of immigration status and absent any suspicion of a violent offense. Finally, the federal government under this administration has downplayed the threat of right-wing extremist violence. []( ## Jan. 6 pardons and narrative scrubbing One of the more radical and public changes in government policy under Trump was the federal government’s approach to the attack on the Capitol. Trump swiftly issued pardons and fundamentally changed the narrative about the event and its perpetrators. This sharp reversal of federal policy foreshadowed a broad embrace of extremists and their ideologies across the administration. * * * > With their newfound freedom, the Jan. 6 participants sought retribution in 2025 for their time as often self-described political prisoners. * * * “These are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a pardon, full pardon,” [Trump said]( before holding up a list of Jan. 6 defendants the same day he was sworn in to office. Despite pushback from Trump’s allies, hard-right extremists lobbied the president for near-universal pardons and the president signed an executive order to that effect, leaving only 14 people with commuted sentences, which ended their prison time but didn’t remove their convictions. Those whose sentences were commuted included some with the most serious convictions, such as [Oath Keepers]( founder [Stewart Rhodes]( who was convicted of seditious conspiracy. Trump needed assistance in processing his pardon and commutation order, and he got it from [Ed Martin]( a Missouri attorney with a checkered political history that includes close ties to longtime John Birch Society member Phyllis Schlafly, racist comments and promotion of extreme anti-abortion views. Martin also helped organize the movement to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Martin was [appointed]( interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., within minutes of Trump’s inauguration. His nomination for the permanent position was pulled due to lack of support, but he was reassigned by Trump as director of the Weaponization Working Group for the Department of Justice and as U.S. pardon attorney, giving him outsized impact on presidential pardons. Martin also [removed any conditions]( of supervised release for those on Trump’s list. Before his appointment, Martin worked as a defense attorney for Jan. 6 participants, including one case for which he was still listed as defense counsel when processing the pardon as the prosecuting attorney, leading to multiple [bar complaints]( With their newfound freedom, the Jan. 6 participants sought retribution in 2025 for their time as often self-described political prisoners: * Five members of the [Proud Boys]( including leader Enrique Tarrio, filed a $100 million restitution lawsuit in June. The plaintiffs were represented by [Augustus Sol Invictus]( a white nationalist lawyer who attended the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. * The family of Ashli Babbitt, who died at the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, received $5 million in a wrongful death settlement with the Trump Department of Justice (DOJ). * Hard-right activist and political candidate [Jake Lang]( who was convicted and pardoned, claimed to be preparing a $50 billion class action lawsuit for wrongful incarceration against the DOJ through his legal organization, Federal Watchdog. Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s DOJ has reframed the narrative of events that unfolded during the attack on the Capitol. In February 2025, then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi [announced]( the creation of the Weaponization Working Group, which she directed to investigate “improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions” from the DOJ’s investigation into the events of Jan. 6. In December 2025, [Reuters reported]( the Weaponization Working Group was in the process of drafting a report “re-examining the Capitol attack,” likely to fit the conspiracy theory narratives trumpeted by those involved with Jan. 6. ## Trump administration law enforcement shifts make Americans less safe In 2025, the Trump administration fundamentally altered the focus of federal law enforcement by shifting personnel at law enforcement agencies away from traditional focus areas and massively increasing the budgets of agencies involved in immigration enforcement. The shift in federal law enforcement has apparently been driven primarily by the goal to deport as many immigrants who lack permanent legal status as possible. By mid-2025 it was reported that authorities were attempting to arrest at least 3,000 undocumented people from the country [each day]( Trump said the efforts would focus on the “worst of the worst,” but immigrants with green cards, registered asylum seekers and even citizens have been detained in the broad and violent actions of masked agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the country. * * * > The Trump administration’s shift away from traditional law enforcement priorities, staffing and funding, along with its embrace of dangerously aggressive and reckless immigration enforcement tactics, has made U.S. citizens less safe and more likely to be victimized. * * * To achieve this mass deportation, thousands of federal law enforcement officers who otherwise would have focused on more traditional law enforcement activities — including those with a focus on domestic white supremacist and militia-associated extremism — have been [shifted to immigration enforcement]( Such disparate agencies as the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service have been pulled into this effort. Nearly one-quarter (23%) of all FBI agents have been [reassigned]( to immigration enforcement. In the largest 25 FBI field offices around the country, the shift has been even more dramatic, with an estimated 45% of agents at these locations having reportedly been shifted. According to Sen. Mark Warner, the number of agents officially shifted to immigration enforcement represents only those agents who now spend more than half of their time in this area, but other agents have also been pulled into the effort. As of August 2025, at least 6,700 federal employees had [been shifted]( to immigration enforcement. The ATF — long a target of the far right — was particularly hard hit in the shift, with roughly 80% of the agency’s agents reassigned to immigration enforcement. Even the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), which normally focuses on the security of diplomats and embassies in the U.S. and abroad, was forced to shift 24% of its personnel. The reassignment of federal law enforcement officers to immigration enforcement has stripped personnel from key areas of law enforcement including white-collar crime, counterterrorism, organized crime and cybercrime. The impact on cybercrime is likely to be felt, as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) still lacked a [permanent director]( at the end of 2025. The Trump administration has been dumping huge amounts of money into immigration enforcement. Provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act included $170 billion for immigration enforcement over the following four years. This funding includes nearly $30 billion to pay for additional enforcement and removal activity, including the hiring of additional ICE agents. It additionally includes $13.5 billion to reimburse state agencies for their immigration enforcement efforts. Beginning with the “Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement To Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens” [executive order]( signed on April 28, 2025, the Trump administration has sought to supercharge state and local agencies to adopt federal law enforcement priorities and punish any state or local officials either taking action to stop such collaboration or even simply stating their opposition. The Trump administration’s shift away from traditional law enforcement priorities, staffing and funding, along with its embrace of dangerously aggressive and reckless immigration enforcement tactics, has made U.S. citizens less safe and more likely to be victimized. ## Trump administration actions increase threat posed by far-right extremism As it goes all in on immigration enforcement, the Trump administration has also sought to downplay the threat posed by hard-right extremism. White supremacist violence — most frequently targeted at Black and Brown people — has been at the root of hate-based and political violence since the founding of the U.S. During Trump’s first term, [law enforcement officials often raised concerns]( that white supremacists would view his bigoted rhetoric as a call to violent action. * * * > Many experts believe that the president’s decision to excuse and even celebrate people charged with Jan. 6 criminal offenses will embolden extremist groups, leading to an increase in political intimidation tactics and future violence. * * * In 2025, the Trump administration, along with congressional majorities, ignored and downplayed this threat. They undermined and defunded programs and initiatives designed to prevent white supremacist and hard-right extremist violence, and they actively promoted a skewed, partisan assessment of the actual threat landscape. Moreover, many experts believe that the president’s decision to excuse and even celebrate people charged with Jan. 6 criminal offenses [will embolden extremist groups]( leading to an increase in political intimidation tactics and future violence. Additionally, the U.S. Senate has confirmed many Trump loyalists to key administration positions — including [FBI Director Kash Patel]( [Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth]( and Joe Kent, former [National Counterterrorism Center director]( — who have [promoted racist, misogynistic and/or bigoted programs and views]( Dozens of prosecutors at the DOJ were fired after working on [criminal cases stemming from the Jan. 6]( attack. The DOJ’s Domestic Radicalization and Violent Extremism Research Center of Excellence was also halted, another step in undermining and defunding efforts to prevent hate crimes and extremist violence. Additionally, the [DOJ terminated hundreds of violence prevention grants]( awarded to law enforcement agencies, nonprofit organizations and state and local governments — including 56 hate crime prevention and anti-extremism grants. The cuts come at a time of [near-record-high rates]( of reported hate crimes. These policy shifts have also occurred at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD). At DHS, the Trump administration [gutted]( the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, which has previously awarded nearly $90 million to community groups and law enforcement agencies in 41 states and the District of Columbia that work to prevent terrorism and targeted violence, such as mass shootings. The administration also [dismantled a national database]( used to track domestic terrorism and hate crimes, discern trends in extremist tactics and develop strategies to address them. At the DOD, the Trump administration contravened [a 2021 law]( banning Confederate names for military assets and [reverted nine Army bases]( to names associated with Confederate leaders. The administration also eliminated an inspector general position charged with oversight of DOD diversity and inclusion programs and supremacist and extremist activity as part of the reauthorization of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, which Trump signed on Dec. 18, 2025. The administration gutted efforts to tackle hard-right extremism and downplayed — and even [defended]( — the threat of right-wing extremist violence. The DOJ removed [a June 2024 peer-reviewed study]( from its website that concluded that far-right attacks continue “[to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism]( On Sept. 22, 2025, Trump issued an overly broad, vague [executive order]( designating “antifa” — a term often applied to people and community-based organizations opposing white supremacy, racism and the far right more generally — as a domestic terrorist organization. The administration also escalated the focus on left-wing organizations. On Sept. 25, 2025, Trump issued the [National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM 7]( which threatened a range of potential [IRS and criminal investigations]( in an attempt to silence political opponents and disfavored organizations promoting progressive causes. Two senior officials described the administration’s plan in an interview in which _The New York Times_ summarized that the goal was to categorize left-wing activity that led to violence as domestic terrorism, an escalation that critics said could lay the groundwork for crushing anticonservative dissent more broadly. The current partisan, skewed view of political violence, coupled with the promotion, normalization and mainstreaming of extremist and bigoted ideas, has led to a significant inflection point. Through its attempts to [silence nonprofit organizations]( ignore or downplay the very [real threat]( far-right and white supremacist extremist violence, and eliminate or misallocate [violent extremism prevention resources]( the Trump administration has created an environment that is less safe. _Illustration at top by Eoin Ryan._