Resources for covering Trump counterterrorism strategy

The Trump administration’s counterterrorism strategy and officials describing the strategy have invoked misinformation related to transgender people and “left-wing violence.” The Trans Journalists Association strongly cautions newsrooms and journalists reporting on the strategy’s release to avoid perpetuating inaccurate claims about acts of mass violence committed in the United States. 

Here’s what you need to know.

• Reporting questions to consider
• Background information
• Relevant coverage guidance from the Trans Journalists Association
• Additional coverage support on domestic terrorism and extremism

Reporting questions to consider 

• Are you relying on government framing as the primary lens for this story? 
• What specific evidence does the administration cite to link trans identity to terrorism risk? Have you asked for it, scrutinized it, and reported on whether it exists?
• Does your story contextualize what’s happening within the documented history of governments using national security frameworks to target and persecute marginalized groups?
• Could the way your story is structured (its headline, framing, lede, pull quotes, etc.) function as a vector for the very misinformation you’re reporting on?
• This escalation of federal anti-trans policy will continue to impact trans communities. How might it impact non-trans communities, too? 

Background information

On Wednesday, May 6, 2026, the release of a report detailing the administration’s new counterterrorism strategy amplified inflammatory rhetoric about trans people. It partially states: 

“Americans have witnessed the politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives committed by violent left-wing extremists, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk by a radical who espoused extreme transgender ideologies. 

In addition to cartels and Islamist terror groups, our national [counterterrorism] activities will also prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.”

Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council Dr. Sebastian Gorka told reporters: “We see a threat, we will respond to it, and we will crush it, whether it is the cartels, the jihadists or violent left-wing extremists like antifa — and like the transgender killers, the nonbinary, the left-wing radicals who killed my friend, Charlie Kirk, we will take them on, head on.”

Rooted in Project 2025’s goal of narrowing interpretations of gender, sexuality, and race in federal policy and rolling back the rights of diverse communities, the second Trump administration's anti-trans policies began when he took office in January 2025. In the year-plus since, such expressly political goals have resulted in healthcare restrictions for youth and adults; reversals to policies that protected trans people from discrimination; the literal erasure of LGBTQ+-inclusive data collections; and ongoing challenges to trans people having access to public spaces. 

Claims about increases in “left-wing extremists” and “pro-transgender” violence invoke ongoing and well-documented patterns of mis- and disinformation.

In 2023, then-former President Donald Trump said baselessly that there had been an “incredible rise” in the number of trans shooters, becoming the highest-profile figure to spread this claim. This was untrue then, and it remains untrue now. Anti-trans actors have persistently falsely claimed that mass shooters are disproportionately transgender or that transgender people are more likely to commit crimes. These claims now reliably resurface online when shootings occur.

The reality is much more complex, as documented by multiple fact-checks:

• FACT FOCUS: No ‘incredible rise’ in transgender shooters from the Associated Press 
• Mass shooters are not disproportionately transgender, contrary to claims from Snopes
• Fact Check: Majority of US mass shooters are cis men, not transgender or non-binary people from Reuters
• At least 43 outlets shared anti-trans misinfo after Charlie Kirk shooting: TJA from Xtra

This targeted misinformation and disinformation reflects ongoing political attempts to criminalize transgender people.

Additionally, “transgender ideology” remains a term coined for and used in anti-trans political messaging to falsely equate identity with politics, which is a way to frame transgender identity as a political choice rather than an innate identity. The phrase itself is unclear — similar to how “the homosexual agenda” is an amorphous term with no real definition — and used exclusively to attack a minority group for political gain. 

Relevant coverage guidance from the Trans Journalists Association

• Covering executive orders that target trans Americans
• Understanding anti-trans misinformation about mass shootings and extremist activities
• Identifying trans people during breaking news
• TJA urges caution in reporting on details of Charlie Kirk shooting investigation
• Visible, yet vulnerable: What journalists can learn from how we covered the attack on trans rights in Trump’s first 100 days
• The Trans News Initiative

Additional coverage support on domestic terrorism and extremism

• Domestic Terrorism and White Supremacy: What Reporters Should Know from the National Press Foundation
• The Oxygen of Amplification: Better Practices for Reporting on Extremists, Antagonists, and Manipulators Online, Proposed Editorial Strategies from Data & Society Research Institute
• Political extremism: 5 ways journalists can improve coverage and mitigate harm from National Press Club Journalism Institute
• Reporting on people with extreme views? Ditch the shortcuts. from Poynter
• A harm reduction playbook for covering populists from Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

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