Upon his swearing-in as the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden called for unity.

Apparently, protesters in Denver, Portland and Seattle didn’t get the memo.

According to broadcast, print and online media reports, protesters dressed in black from head to toe — reportedly Antifa members — spraypainted and smashed windows on the Democratic Party of Portland’s building. They held banners that read “We are ungovernable” and “We don’t want Biden — We want revenge!” The banner denouncing Biden further indicated that the revenge is for “Police Murders,” “Imperialist Wars” and “Fascist Massacres.”

Demonstrators reportedly involved with the Black Lives Matter movement burned an American flag in the streets in Denver, and many sites in Seattle sustained vandalism.

So much for unity.

Those people, and others, protested in droves during President Donald Trump’s last year in office. They demanded change. They demanded defunding the police. They demanded a change in national leadership.

They got it. Trump left the White House on Wednesday morning and went to his Mar-A-Lago club in Florida to begin his post-presidency life. The Democrats now hold a majority in Congress.

That, however, doesn’t seem to be enough. They want more, and they aren’t looking for it quietly.

While they have the right to protest, they should do it peacefully to make their voices heard. As was noted repeatedly in 2020, and again since Jan. 6, violence and rage never solve anything.

— Tribune News Service