After four years of stunning growth, the number of groups on the American radical right dropped significantly for the first time in 2013. The decline in hate groups and, especially, antigovernment “Patriot” groups was driven by a legal crackdown, the failure of various nightmarish radical predictions to materialize, the co-opting by politicians of the extreme right’s issues, and the re-election of President Obama. 

The number of hate and antigovernment “Patriot” groups fell significantly for the first time in 2013 after four years of spectacular growth. But the radical right still remains enormous by historical standards, and its capacity for terrorism is still very much alive.