Their images and videos became Exhibit A for the winning 2024 campaign of President Donald Trump and his loyal followers, as Democratic rival Kamala Harris struggled to steer her party toward a more centrist presentation. Younger and louder representatives of the Left’s farthest-flung fringes seemed unable to suspend their very public and performative shows of boundless and negative emotions. The Trump team exploited those moments of zealotry to alarm average flyover voters.

Whether those extreme sentiments played out as unreasoned and self-righteous tantrums, screaming, intolerance, or outright hatred, they all emerged in the name of supporting an agenda that protesters insisted was so enlightened and compassionate that it warranted vitriolic rhetoric. However, the Republican sweep of the White House and both houses of Congress hints that something about enthusiastic progressive expression led the sort of noncommitted voters Harris sought to reject the then-vice president’s message.