A recent letter spoke to the “No Kings” gathering in Enumclaw (“I’m glad Trump supporters showed up,” published Oct. 22).

A peaceful protest of some locals and outsiders is always appreciated especially when compared to the recent violent disruptions in some U.S. cities.

The letter’s author bemoaned “…these protests have had little impact on Trump or his policies.” He continued, “I feel that until these protests get much more disruptive to business as usual, they (administration) will take little notice of them.”

Does this mean a wee-bit of rioting, rock hurling, Molotov cocktails, slashing tires, screaming, smashing windows, setting fires, looting etc., should be the “peaceful” order of the day? How does that workout?

Let’s take a stroll down the memory lane of 2020-present.

1) Minneapolis had $500 million in damages and 1,500 properties were destroyed. (The second most destructive civil riot in history — Watts was worse.)

2) During the “Summer of Love” Seattle had millions of dollars in losses due to vandalism, violence, looting in/around 100 businesses in downtown, Chinatown and the International District. Seattle paid out $10-plus million in injury lawsuits. The CHOP Zone suffered $3.6 million damage to businesses and residences.

3) According to AXIOS, $1-plus billion insurance payments went to 20 states for damages.

4) Recent anti-Israel protests have had a $1.51 billion economic impact in the U.S. Globally the impact reaches $10 billion. (Insurance Journal)

5) Portland has had $23 million damages due to protests. Damages to the downtown courthouse, police vehicles, injuries, fires, etc. And, it continues every weekend to date. The Antifa have now rented a vacant building in Portland so they can respond quicker to do their “peaceful protesting.”

6) Recently the protesters have taken to doxing Ice Agents, Police and Border patrol agents and demanding that they should remove their masks. How about the protesters removing their masks and giving up their names and addresses — fair is fair.

7) Anyone notice these cities are in blue states?

In conclusion, are we sure we want “…protests (to) get much more disruptive…”? Nope!

If a petulant child keeps throwing a tantrum, do we smile and say “if you stop, we’ll give you some candy”? I know what I got when I was a demanding brat…it worked too. Worked with four sons as well.

George Terhaar

Enumclaw