The SPLC has long drawn criticism—not just from the right, but from libertarians and the left as well—for maintaining that hate in America is always growing, whether or not the ranks of the purportedly hateful are actually increasing. Its infamous “hate map” is representative of this problem: No matter how small and insignificant a hate group may be, it still counts toward the total number—and if it breaks apart because of infighting, it might end up counting as two groups on the next year’s list.

Even so, the SPLC hit a snag in 2020: The overall number of hate groups in the U.S. had appeared to decrease slightly since the previous year, from 940 to 838. The following year, 2021, produced just 733 hate groups.

These findings would strike most people as good news, but they cut against the SPLC’s long-documented goal of raising money by inspiring concern about rising levels of hate. (The Montgomery Advertiser’s investigative report on this subject earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 1995.) So the SPLC got creative: The 2021 map includes not just the 733 hate groups but also 488 “antigovernment groups.”

[Any law enforcement organization still partnering with the SPLC is only interested in suppressing debate on the Left’s terms. There is no other rational explanation. — Ed]