The “peaceful protester” lifted up his shirt to show me where he’d been hit by rubber bullets the night before — three or four round, red welts about the size of quarters. This was late afternoon on June 1, about an hour before Trump made his much-criticized walk from the White House across Lafayette Square to St. John’s Episcopal Church.

The “peaceful protester” in question had been atop the maintenance structure in Lafayette Square the night before and was among those who set it on fire, he said. In fact, being shot by the rubber bullets of riot-clad park policemen and other law enforcement agents excited him enough to make him want to burn everything down, including the White House itself.