The Trump inauguration featured the usual array of public nuisances and troublemakers that are now a feature of public events. If world leaders meet in a city, that city has a riot by anarchist loonies bused in by guys like George Soros. If a country celebrates one of their traditions, lunatics show up to ruin it for everyone. In this case, paid employees inspired supporters of Democrat pressure groups showed up in the Imperial Capital to harass citizens as they attempted to enjoy the spectacle of crowning our new emperor.

I’ve long argued that public protests are anti-democratic, anti-liberal and an assault on civilized order. They are unnecessary in a social democracy. We have elections where the issues of the day can be debated. There’s simply no need to be out in the streets causing trouble. These people yesterday were not there to raise awareness. They were there to intimidate and frighten people. While we cannot ban such things, the punishments handed out for causing trouble should be draconian. Put the rioters in a city jail for a couple of years and this comes to an end.

Normal people will tolerate a fair bit of this, just as long as they can avoid it when going about their business. There’s also an entertainment factor that gives these rioters some room to maneuver. The press loves covering these idiots and people will watch it on TV. Of course, most of the nation’s press corp wishes they could be rioting and looting so they pretend that the rioters are a serious, organic response to oppression. The struggle myth remains a powerful force in Progressive politics.

Property destruction used to be the preferred action of these rioters as it avoided the moral hazard of physical confrontation. If they rumbled with the cops, they could get a beating or worse. If they assaulted people on the streets, something similar could happen. Plus, judges are tough on perps who attack innocent bystanders and cops, while they are lenient on property crimes. Insurance pays for the damage and the miscreants don’t have any money, so it is easier to just let the rioters go.

That’s changing as we keep seeing with Trump events. These lunatics show up and throw eggs, batteries, urine bombs and worse. There were reports that rioters were crapping in their own hands so they could fling it at people. Milo Yabadabadoopolis keeps having his events cancelled because the authorities worry about potential violence. Given that a guy was shot at his last event, it is not an unreasonable fear. It’s the extreme version of the heckler’s veto. Instead of shouting down the person on stage, the heckler opens fire on the audience.

The question that comes to mind is when do we see the other side of this. So far, it has been all leftist crazies assaulting normies, who quietly take it. To their credit, the normies know the media is looking for a reason to blame all of it on them so they have adopted a passive approach to it. Videos are posted on-line and appeals are made to the authorities to do something about the violence. The assumption is the public will side with the victims over the lunatics, even if the press does the opposite and blames the victims.

So far, it has been remarkable that nothing serious has happened. These protesting lunatics are not terribly clever. All it would take is a bit of forethought to lure them into an ambush. How long before some armed normies turn up at an event and wait for the lunatics to give them a reason? The fact that it has not happened is encouraging, but maybe we have just been lucky. There are a lot of young men at Trump events. The alt-right is mostly young men. Young men tend to push back.

The other side of this is something that came to mind watching Richard Spencer get attacked on the street while doing an interview. At the risk of breaking the code, Spencer is an attention hound, who I suspect set this up hoping something like this would happen. Doing an interview on the street in front of the lunatics is just asking for trouble. The video was posted by his followers and he has been talking about it nonstop ever since. It’s good public relations for him and his cause. It makes him sympathetic, but also gives him street cred.

Of course, young men looking for street cred of their own will see this as a chance to be part of the action. They can stand guard while guys like Spencer conduct interviews and give speeches. This has been the attraction for black militants since the 60’s. Given the choice between wearing cool outfits and carrying a gun or submissively taking a beating from the cops, young black men naturally are drawn to groups like the Panthers, the Nation of Islam and recently, Black Lives Matter.

It is another example of the dangerous game being played by our Progressives rulers. While the public becomes increasingly dissatisfied with the current order, the ruling class becomes increasingly hostile to the people. By encouraging this sort of mayhem we see outside public events, they are encouraging a response to it. I don’t have much interest in Spencer and the preppy Nazi stuff, but if I’m forced to choose between him and the anarchist rioter, it is not a hard choice.

I’ve been making the point for a while now that Trump and his election are a warning shot across the bow of the ruling class. The public is increasingly frustrated by the unresponsiveness of the ruling class. Reform is long overdue. The support for and election of Trump is that message. If the ruling class ignores it or actively subverts it, what comes next will be much worse. The status quo is untenable, but we are not at a crisis. More videos of citizens being assaulted by leftist mobs and people start thinking the time for half measures has passed.