It’s already become a cliché, but this is one reason why we have President Donald Trump. As Trump supporters celebrated the eve of the inauguration with a dance at the National Press Club (called “The DeploraBall” as a play on attacks on their character), Trump’s opponents gathered in the street outside to protest, and … events played out exactly as one would have guessed. NBC Washington’s Shomari Stone reported from the scene after smoke bombs got thrown by the crowd, which then complained that police used pepper spray to disperse them:

A weekend of protests over the inauguration and presidency of Donald Trump began Thursday night with police in Washington, D.C., using pepper spray on protesters demonstrating outside a pro-Trump event.

Hundreds rallied outside the National Press Club, where the event billed as DeploraBall, was being held, NBC Washington reported. Some demonstrators set off smoke devices in the middle of the crowd, and police in riot gear blocked entrance to the event.

Well, let’s get the sequence correct — and Stone himself did that on his Twitter feed. He was on scene when this broke out, and this clip shows pretty clearly that protesters had already become an unruly mob while police stayed in position outside the building. As the unrest grew, demonstrators started setting off smoke bombs well before police took any action (warning — language NSFW):

#BREAKING. Smoke devices. I'm at 14th St. & F St. Protesters set off "smoke devices." Some scream "F- Trump." #Inauguration #NBC4DC pic.twitter.com/cxyvH3Dv2Z

— Shomari Stone (@shomaristone) January 20, 2017

NBC’s Phil McCausland reported on the pepper spray, but notice the difference between the time stamps in the two tweets:

https://twitter.com/PhilMcCausland/status/822274330478440451

Riot police arrived because of the riot we saw in Stone’s tweet, which went out more than two hours earlier. That’s two hours of rioting before police finally took steps to disperse the crowd.

And we can expect more of that too:

They could be a small taste of what’s to come. Dozens of groups have been planning for weeks to descend on the city’s capitol during inauguration week and make their opposition to the incoming president known.

Some, like the ANSWER Coalition — which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism — are planning to be a vocal and visible presence near the inauguration, but not to engage in any potentially illegal activities. …

But still others hope to create some chaos. That’s the case with Disrupt J20, a group organizing a series of protests with the direct aim of disrupting the inauguration.

“We must take to the streets and protest, blockade, disrupt, intervene, sit in, walk out, rise up, and make more noise and good trouble than the establishment can bear,” reads the group’s manifesto.

What exactly are they protesting? Trump hasn’t put a single policy in place; he hasn’t even taken the oath of office yet. Barack Obama is still president for another three-plus hours. The answer, of course, is that they are essentially protesting democracy and elections. The Left has melted down in a collective temper tantrum at having lost in 2016. They don’t want rational self-government — they want validation for their dictatorial impulses.

Just how long will this tantrum last? Right now it looks like it will last every day for the next four years, and that will almost inevitably produce a second term for Donald Trump. Masks are slipping over the last few weeks, and regardless of one’s misgivings about Trump himself, the Left is demonstrating that the alternative was much, much worse.