🧩 BND Motif Index · M1311
The violence is on their side
In talk of political violence, each side says the violence comes mostly from the other, citing the latest threats, attacks and surveys, so its own side is the one under siege.
🗣️ Arguments🗂️ Political violence
- 3claims filed under it
- 2center shows it came up on
- 5right shows it came up on
⚠️ A story people tell, not a claim that it's true.
A motif is the shape of a story as its tellers tell it, named the way a folklorist names a tale type, so the same story told about other people, by the other side or in another year lands in the same place. Some of the claims below are true, many are false. Arguing against a story is often a story of its own, its answer (Voter fraud is answered by Voter suppression, Lawfare by No one is above the law), and we file it there; where no answer has a motif yet, the arguments against a story sit with its tellings.
🎙️ Who it came up with
the shows we follow where its claims came up (0 left-leaning, 2 center, 5 right-leaning so far), colored by the show's lean; the bar is how many of its claims each one heard
- center
- right-leaning
- crossover
"Came up on" means one of its claims was heard on the show: told, reported or argued against. We don't yet mark which. Show leans are our own grouping of the shows we transcribe.
🗣️ In so many words
the words that carry it
💬 the tellers' own words: “good, solid conservatives and MAGA voters absolutely abhor violence” “Most of the violence is coming from the left wing in this country” “the data does show that it's more often in common on the right than it is on the left” “The left they support political violence far more than the right” “there's something about the left where there's a certain amount that condones violence against the right” “these intimidation tactics are a fixture of the left right now.” “Trump and members of his administration have long blamed political violence in this country, not on the right, but on the left.”
🧶 Its claims
what's been told in this shape, in our words, by who told it: newest first in each; a claim's dots are the shows it came up on, in their lean's color (point at them for their names)
Told on the left 0
claims heard on left-leaning shows, and no right-leaning one
🦗 No claim heard only on the left so far.
Told on the right 2
claims heard on right-leaning shows, and no left-leaning one
- 2026-11-04 “The left uses intimidation tactics and political violence as a fixture of their movement.” 7
- 2026-10-29 “The left supports political violence far more than the right.” 2
Told in the center 1
claims heard only on center or crossover shows
- 2026-11-02 “Trump is responsible for the rise in political violence.” 1
M1311 · first seen 2026-10-30 · last 2026-11-04 · what this is · how the index works