On Thursday’s The Moment with fill-in host Jonathan Lemire, MS NOW justice and intelligence reporter Ken Dilanian downplayed the threat of left-wing extremism in a segment that fearmongered over changes to counterterrorism agencies. He called the shifted focus an “obsession with left-wing terrorism,” even with assassination attempts against conservative figures in recent years, including the three against President Trump.
The segment was focused on an online MS NOW article by Dilanian titled, “Trump has been dismantling post-9/11 counterterrorism protections, Senate report says.”
Dilanian detailed some of his report to Lemire, as he said, ”what the Trump Administration has done is dismantled that counterterrorism infrastructure that was built up right after 9/11 and then sort of honed and perfected over the last 25 years.”
On Thursday’s The Moment, MS NOW Justice and Intelligence Reporter Ken Dilanian completely downplayed left-wing extremism and said counterterrorism agencies have shifted their focus to an “obsession with left-wing terrorism (...)." pic.twitter.com/hFfqgw4K6K
— Nick (@nspin310) July 30, 2026
He complained about firings, especially from the DOJ’s National Security Division, which he made sure to mention included “worked on cases like the classified documents case.”
But then Dilanain turned to whine about a newfound focus on left-wing extremism, and scoffed, “They've also sort of shifted the focus to this obsession with left-wing terrorism, when actually in recent years, far right extremists have been a serious threat.”
It was not exactly an unfounded “obsession,” especially after the assassination of Charlie Kirk and three known assassination attempts against Trump, most notably in Butler during the 2024 campaign. Dilanian also has defended the FBI for initially ruling the 2017 congressional baseball shooting a suicide by cop scenario instead of an obvious example of left-wing violence.
Dilanian seemed to have an obsession of his own over the shifted focus on the left-wing extremists, as the second paragraph of his written online story read, "The 37-page report also accuses the administration of skewing its focus on domestic terrorism almost exclusively to left-wing groups, ignoring significant threats from far-right and white supremacist extremists.“
MS NOW analyst Michael Fienberg agreed with Dilanain and went further to say “the threat from right-wing domestic terrorism is a much more salient one in this day and age than left-wing domestic terrorism” before he feared “come 2028, we might have a crisis on our hands.” pic.twitter.com/K7QpoKWT5E
— Nick (@nspin310) July 30, 2026
After Dilanian was done, MS NOW national security and intelligence analyst Michael Feinberg agreed with Dilanian as he called the alleged changes to counterterrorism “fairly dangerous.”
Feinberg then joined Dilanian's comments in minimization of left-wing terrorism: “And Ken's also right, the threat from right-wing domestic terrorism is a much more salient one in this day and age than left-wing domestic terrorism. And that's not a judgment on political ideologies in general. These things switch. There have been periods where it's the opposite”
He arguably went further than Dilanian as he feared the possibility another January 6th riot due to the focus shift on left-wing extremists: “And what I fear is happening is that by refusing to admit that that might be a problem in the future, they're not being monitored or investigated now, which means they're going to have a good four years to regroup in a way that the January 6th investigations prevented.”
Feinberg closed with an ultimate fearmonger, “And it's almost guaranteeing that, you know, come 2028, we might have a crisis on our hands.”
The term “obsession” might be a better fit for Dilanian and Feinberg’s comments.
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW’s The Moment
July 30, 2026
2:2:12 PM Eastern
(...)
KEN DILANIAN: You know, we've been reporting on this as kind of a slow-rolling disaster, but what this report by the Homeland Security Democrats does is it puts it all together and says, look, what the Trump Administration has done is dismantled that counterterrorism infrastructure that was built up right after 9/11 and then sort of honed and perfected over the last 25 years.
And there's a number of elements to this. The biggest thing is they've just downsized the FBI counterterrorism division and the Justice Department's National Security Division, and they've gotten rid of a lot of the most the foremost experts in terrorism, including people that worked on cases like the classified documents case, because that was a national security case, right? So, they've rid the government of fundamental expertise.
They've also sort of shifted the focus to this obsession with left-wing terrorism, when actually in recent years, far-right extremists have been a serious threat. And Chris Wray, the former FBI director, used to talk about that all the time. They don't even pay attention to that. The far-right extremists are not even mentioned in their counterterrorism strategy. So, you have downsizing, shifting of priorities.
(...)
2:23:41 PM Eastern
JONATHAN LEMIRE: So, Michael, let's go to you now. What is your verdict? How - I mean, how much less safe? I mean, how dangerous is these cutbacks?
MICHAEL FEINBERG: I think they're fairly dangerous because the threat landscape facing the United States from external enemies has not really changed. If anything, it's probably a little bit heightened because of the war we started with Iran. But at the same time, as Ken noted, we have been de-prioritizing counterterrorism investigations, maybe not overtly, but by moving resources and personnel away from them.
And Ken's also right, the threat from right-wing domestic terrorism is a much more salient one in this day and age than left-wing domestic terrorism. And that's not a judgment on political ideologies in general. These things switch. There have been periods where it's the opposite. But January 6th and the subsequent pardons of everybody convicted for the actions there really emboldened the right-wing domestic terrorist sphere.
And what I fear is happening is that by refusing to admit that that might be a problem in the future, they're not being monitored or investigated now, which means they're going to have a good four years to regroup in a way that the January 6th investigations prevented. And we know what happens when these people are upset with the results of elections. And it's almost guaranteeing that, you know, come 2028, we might have a crisis on our hands.
(...)
