I'm pretty sure Spencer got punched in the face because he's a Nazi.

As for the rest of it, it's a little hilarious to act like the non violent protests aren't the majority of activity. Just the Women's marches (which aren't just about Trump but are obviously responsive to his presidency) were more in number, both location wise and participation wise, than any violent actions that have happened. If you want to limit it to immigration protests, the non violent protests yesterday had higher participation than the totality of anti-Trump violence (http://dcist.com/2017/01/theres_a_rally_planned_at_white_hou... ).

Millions of people showed up to supposedly protest Trump, yet Hillary Clinton couldn't consistently rally even a thousand people without help from A-rank celebrities.

You can't just punch people in the face because they're Nazis. There's no way to do that that doesn't lead to an escalating violence cycle.

My comment is an analysis of the motivation for the punch not an analysis of punching as a tactic.

> You can't just punch people in the face because they're Nazis

Sure you can.

> Do these things count as "anything that matters"?

No. Those aren't protests, they're vigilantism.