Today was a day of multiple pro-Trump rallies at several different sites across the nation. I’m assuming there was some kind of coordination, but maybe not. Who knows? Who cares?

There was one at Huntington Beach, CA, that had some minor violence attached to it. A small number of anti-Trump hoods showed up with their trademark bandanas covering their faces. At some point, one of them decided it would be a lot of fun to pepper spray someone’s wife, because what’s more fun than pepper spraying someone, right?

Violence erupted at a Make America Great Again rally in Huntington Beach on Saturday when an anti-Trump protester allegedly doused the female organizer of the event with pepper spray and was immediately set upon by a group of Trump supporters.

After spraying the march organizer, the man, wearing a black mask, was tackled by a group of flag-waving Trump supporters, who started punching and kicking him, according to witnesses at the scene.

The crowd then chased the man, who jumped over a fence and started running along Pacific Coast Highway, where he was detained by California Highway Patrol officers.

A handful of other counter-protesters fled the scene.

Here are some other assorted images.

https://twitter.com/Admitonesin/status/845738202996637697

Trump supporters, protestors clash during violent rally today in Huntington Beach via contributed video #SoCal #potus #police pic.twitter.com/Dd3DtGjhpi

— Scott Schwebke (@TheChalkOutline) March 25, 2017

Violence erupts in Huntington Beach between protesters and Pro-Trump marchers. @ocregister #protest #HuntingtonBeach #trump pic.twitter.com/3mBuJu2Ukz

— Kevin Sullivan (@sullikevphoto) March 25, 2017

Man in black mask chased onto PCH, marchers said he pepper sprayed them #MAGAMARCH in #HuntingtonBeach pic.twitter.com/ZPNWJaVYol

— Ben Brazil (@_benbrazil) March 25, 2017

And here’s the hero that started it:

https://twitter.com/frankjtristan/status/845736153969942528

And there is a question that occurred to me when watching the media during this episode:

https://twitter.com/KamVTV/status/845743834566836224

It is a fine line dividing a bunch of yahoos getting into a punch-up because there are cameras around and people with cameras wanting a little action and egging it on. At some points in the video, some of the “journalists” seem to be encouraging the anti-Trump protesters. Nothing like a little riot incitement to create some good visuals for an otherwise boring story.

I don’t have a lot of support from folks on my side, but I think this ethos we’re allowing to develop where it is perfectly okay to punch, and now pepper spray, people with whom you disagree politically–if they are Trump supporters, that is–is not only imbecilic but dangerously stupid. Eventually, someone is going to get killed. In a situation like today, the guy who used the pepper spray deserved whatever he got, though he obviously didn’t get what he deserved. (My gosh, where did these guys learn how to throw a punch? Heidi’s Slapfight Self-Defense School?) We are close to institutionalizing this kind of crap as a way of life in America and it is simply wrong.