The number of hate groups in the U.S. has almost doubled in two years

If you think that there is more hate in America right now, you’re right. Or at least there are a lot more hate groups, according to the latest annual report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The group’s annual “Year in Hate and Extremism” report finds that the number of hate groups in the U.S. nearly doubled between 2021 and 2023, with more than 1,400 groups across every state.

“In 2023, the SPLC documented the highest number of active anti-LGBTQ+ and white nationalist groups we have ever recorded,” the report says. SPLC cites the rising number of attacks on libraries hosting drag queen story hours, the relentless attacks on trans youth, and the murders of O’Shae Sibley and Laura Ann Carleton as emblematic of an increasingly dangerous and hostile environment for LGBTQ+ people.

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The hate-influencer has furthered “an anti-LGBTQ+ disinformation campaign that mobilizes right-wing extremist groups in violent attacks.”

“The activities of hate and antigovernment groups and the experiences of those they target for abuse, exclusion, and violence exemplify what happens when racist, dominionist (a theocratic ideology that holds only Christians have the right to control government and society) and nationalistic conspiracy theories are operationalized,” the report states.

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The timing of the increased hate is hardly coincidental. SPLC says that the spread of the groups is a concerted effort to influence the 2024 election. Rather than looking at the January 6 insurrection as a one-time event, SPLC says that the past two years have been preparations to bring the goal of the insurrection—the establishment of a right-wing, anti-pluralistic government—to fruition.

The report notes that Christian supremacy was a recurring theme throughout 2023, with the idea that only a particular kind of Christian has the right to control government. The report lays out in detail the ramifications of this philosophy, called New Dominionism, which repeatedly characterizes LGBTQ+ people as literal “demons.” Among the fans of this philosophy is House Speaker Mike Johnson.

“The goal of this new dominionism is to disrupt both more mainline versions of Christianity and U.S. democracy, and in its wake, take control of state and society and yoke everyone to their authoritarian vision of the world,” the report concludes.

What is frightening is how mainstream so much of this hatred has become. The Republican party has become the repository of many of the worst impulses in society, giving credence to conspiracy theories, racist tropes, and anti-LGBTQ+ lies that in the past resided solely on the fringes. It has even given comfort to the most violent groups, such as the Proud Boys, whom Donald Trump famously told in 2020 to “stand by” when given the chance to condemn them.

The election in November will be an opportunity to repudiate the hatred. But given how deep the rot is, one election won’t make it go away.

For the foreseeable future, we’re stuck with a country where one side feels that to get what it wants requires more than votes. It requires repression and violence.

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