Washington Examiner columnist Guy Benson argued that critics are quicker to blame conservatives for political violence than to examine the Southern Poverty Law Center’s controversial “hate map.”
Benson’s comments came as House Republicans scrutinized the organization’s hate-group designation process during a Judiciary Committee hearing, raising broader questions about the SPLC’s practices and recent allegations surrounding its operations.
“The hate map that this group puts out included FRC, which was shot up by a leftist, and Charlie Kirk. And we know what happened there,” Benson said on Fox News’s The Big Weekend Show Saturday.
The SPLC is a nonprofit organization based in Montgomery, Alabama, whose mission, according to its website, is to change the trajectory of racial injustice and fight white supremacy.
On April 21, 2026, the organization was indicted on 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
The organization continued to face scrutiny Tuesday when Republicans questioned why its widely cited hate map excludes violent antifa-affiliated groups, the pro-abortion-rights group Jane’s Revenge, and Islamic organizations that oppose LGBT rights.
Benson noted that the allegations against the SPLC resembled “textbook wire fraud.” He then drew a comparison to the aftermath of the 2011 shooting that wounded former Democratic Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, in which he recalled critics on the left blaming former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
“There was a terrible shooting at a grocery store parking lot that targeted Gabby Giffords, then a Democrat member of Congress. At the time, many people on the Left blamed Sarah Palin for that because she had a map targeting certain congressional districts, one of which was Gabby Giffords,” Benson said.
“We had a huge national conversation about that, the blame flying everywhere. The shooting turned out to be completely divorced from politics, the shooter had never seen the map, it had nothing to do with that,” Benson said.
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Benson argued that, despite critics raising concerns about the possible consequences of such labeling, the issue has not generated the same level of public discussion or media attention that surrounded Palin more than a decade ago.
“Interestingly, we haven’t had a similar conversation about the hate map of the group that has actually, at least arguably, helped get some people targeted and killed,” Benson said.