Well, at least nobody broke any windows, turned over vehicles or set fire to stuff.

So I suppose there’s that.

Thursday evening at my alma mater — Brighton High School, in Cottonwood Heights — Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Sycophant, held what was ostensibly billed as a “town hall meeting.”

They only called it that because “totally unproductive shouting match” didn’t quite have the same patriotic ring to it.

RELATED: Chaffetz faces harsh criticism during packed town hall

As with a number of other Republican Congresspersons around the country, Chaffetz was the latest to fall victim to what can only be described as “The Trump Effect.” Mobs of Democrats — frustrated that they couldn’t somehow manage to field a candidate who could beat the single-least-qualified presidential contender since dryer lint — have begun taking out that frustration on their elected Republican representatives.

Chaffetz got a particularly angry earful Thursday because he’s the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. And as such, everyone seems to think he ought to be able to do what no one else has — torpedo the most unlikely political juggernaut ever to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

RELATED: Rep. Jason Chaffetz says he’s withdrawing proposal to sell off public lands

Thursday night’s gathering wasn’t exactly a recipe for tolerance and understanding, as neither side seemed all that interested in listening to the other. The idea behind the town hall meeting, Chaffetz himself said, was to give him an opportunity to hear the concerns of the people of his district, and to answer any questions they had.

But no one seemed the least bit interested in what anyone else had to say. The auditorium was packed with people who booed Chaffetz at every turn, chanting “Do your job!” and barely giving him a chance to answer the questions they angrily hurled at him.

And then, of course, there was Chaffetz. While I give him points for remaining calm and polite, he also had to have known that most of those people wouldn’t have voted for him if he were the last politician on earth. So it’s not likely he gave a rat’s rear end what any of them had to say.

That point was driven home by the fact that only one person in the room had access to a microphone, and he wasn’t about to give it up to anyone else. You’d think that if a politician holding a town hall meeting in a high school auditorium were truly interested in hearing what folks had to say, he’d at least provide them with some sort of sound amplification.

I watched the debacle unfold on the Salt Lake Tribune’s video of the meeting. It felt like one of those “Who’s Your Baby Daddy?” segments on a tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, where everybody’s screaming all at once. Wildly entertaining, to be sure, but completely devoid of any redeeming social value.

It was just like the Old Testament tale of Daniel in the lions’ den. Except that in the Bible story, Daniel hadn’t really done anything to deserve being eaten by lions. Oh, also in the original version, God sent an angel to shut the lions’ mouths. In Thursday’s re-enactment, the lions’ mouths were anything but shut.

Just in case you missed all the fun, here’s the transcript of the evening’s festivities:

ANGRY CROWD: BOO!

CHAFFETZ: Hold on, hold on.

ANGRY CROWD: BOOOOOO!

CHAFFETZ: Calm down. Let me answer.

ANGRY CROWD: BOOOOOOOOOO!

CHAFFETZ: Shhhhh. Just relax.

Now picture 75 more minutes of the above exchange, and you didn’t miss a thing.

Of course, I must say that for all the drama of the Chaffetz affair, it sure beats the last town hall meeting I attended. That one, featuring Utah Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Bootlicker, took place about a year ago.

Filled with conservative Republicans, that meeting ended up being nothing more than a bunch of like-minded folks standing up — one after another — to shower Stewart with softball questions like “Why do you, personally, love America more than all Democrats combined?” and “Seriously, what’s God REALLY like?”

It got so bad that it took every ounce of energy not to stand up and scream “Get a room!”

Protesting is a time-honored tradition, and it can be an effective way of resisting authority. All these marches on Washington and Congressional offices and various other government buildings have been inspiring, and they’re having a positive effect.

But the optics of Thursday’s event weren’t good for the home team: A calm and collected conservative Congressman trying to have a civil conversation while an angry liberal mob shouts at him.

I get that folks are upset. I’m upset, too. Mostly because I never would have thought anyone could get me to actually feel sorry for the man they’re now calling “The Seductive Beaver.”

Hundreds of people were turned away from Thursday’s meeting. Afterward, they stood outside the school, at one point engaging in a rapid-fire call-and-response. 

“Tell me what democracy looks like!” they chanted, before answering their own request with “This is what democracy looks like!”

And I suppose they could be right. I guess — sometimes — democracy is angry groups of people shouting down those who don’t think or speak or act the way they want them to.

But if that’s really what democracy is supposed to look like, how will we tell it apart from Trump’s ochlocracy?

Contact Mark Saal at 801-625-4272, or msaal@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @Saalman. Friend him on Facebook at facebook.com/MarkSaal.