September 8, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michael Waterloo, PCADV, mw*******@***dv.org, 717-545-6400 x209
The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV) is appalled by President Trump’s statements earlier today that equated intimate partner violence to a “little fight with the wife.” Domestic violence (DV) is not only a precursor to homicides in the home, it is also a common factor in community violence, including mass shootings, where perpetrators often have a history of committing domestic violence.
More than 10 million people are abused in the United States each year, with 1 in 3 women, 1 in 4 men, and nearly half of all LGBTQ+ individuals experiencing domestic violence in their lifetimes.
Women experiencing domestic violence are five times more likely to be killed by their abusers when their abuser has access to a gun. In Pennsylvania, 104 people died from domestic violence in 2024, and 64% of those died from gunshot wounds. In the last 10 years, more than 1,500 people have died from domestic violence-related incidents in Pennsylvania. PCADV and its member programs serve an average of 90,000 domestic violence victims and their children every year.
Domestic violence thrives in silence. Abusers use isolation as a primary tool of control, and silence reinforces this tactic. When victims feel that their experience is too shameful to discuss, or that their concerns will be dismissed by others, they are pushed further into isolation, making it even harder to recognize the abuse and seek help.
It is dangerous and dishonest for the Trump Administration to dismiss violence between intimate partners as a “little fight” and to suggest that DV incidents falsely inflate community violence statistics. We must not minimize domestic violence. Everyone deserves to be safe at home.