WATCH: Rubio speaks at conference on political terrorism

By — Farnoush Amiri, Associated Press Farnoush Amiri, Associated Press By — Meg Kinnard, Associated Press Meg Kinnard, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/watch-rubio-speaks-at-conference-on-political-terrorism Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH: Rubio speaks at conference on political terrorism World Jul 16, 2026 3:58 PM EDT Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday convened leaders from more than 60 countries to take part in the Trump administration's latest effort to quell what it calls "left wing" political terrorism, a marquee issue for Republicans heading into the midterm elections. Watch Rubio's remarks in the video player above. This focus comes even as studies show that there are very few reported cases of such incidents in the U.S., especially compared to historically higher levels of far-right violence. WATCH: Trump hails U.S. exceptionalism, warns of communist 'threat' in speech at Mount Rushmore With sweeping statements about the "alarming rise" of political violence by the left, Rubio and other U.S. officials painted a dark image of the future if the "communists and Marxists" perpetrating these supposed acts are not defeated. He urged officials in attendance — mostly from European and Latin American countries — to unite to address the issue, which he says has been a "blind spot" in counterterrorism doctrine. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. "So many people in positions of power have repeatedly dismissed acts of violence and even terrorism as legitimate forms of political expression, so long as they served a left-wing cause," Rubio said in opening remarks. "A bomb planted by a neo-Nazi group was 'a nefarious and murderous act of evil.' It is, but a bomb planted by a Marxist revolutionary; well, that's just merely a tragic excess of idealism." A report published last year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that left-wing terrorism attacks as of July 4, 2025, had surpassed those from the far right for the first time in more than 30 years. However, a closer look at the data reveals that the uptick reflects a very low starting level and a concurrent drop on the far right. There was an average of 0.6 left-wing incidents annually from 1994 through 2000, compared with an average of 20.6 on the right, the report shows. From 2016 to 2024, there were an average of four per year on the left and 22.7 per year on the right. Those numbers had dropped dramatically on the right as of early July 2025, with only one incident. Meanwhile, there had been five from the left. But the report's authors note that right-wing terrorism could easily return to elevated levels and that it is important to fight terrorism on both sides of the political spectrum. President Donald Trump and his allies have prioritized talking points against the far left ahe