Protests in the United States are rooted in the first amendment. The freedom of speech and freedom of assembly protects the right of Americans to protest against a perceived wrong, whether it’s a pro-life protest, anti-war or even the toxic Ku Klux Klan.

The protests taking place during Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, however, are a joke.

The people doing it are not trying to “raise awareness.” They’re not trying to persuade people. They’re doing it for the spectacle. Nothing more.

Watch this:

#RT @rosariodawson: RT @PiperPerabo: I was just arrested for civil disobedience in the Kavanaugh hearings.

Many citizens before me have fought for the equal rights of women. I can’t be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take… pic.twitter.com/vnsNxVKWG3

— HollywoodProgressive (@hollywoodprogre) September 4, 2018

Actress Piper Perabo can be seen as part of a group of women (including anti-Semite, Linda Sarsour) getting hauled out of the hearing room after standing and screaming mostly incomprehensible drivel. At the end, you can hear one screaming, “PLEASE VOTE NO!.”

I am sure Ben Sasse was convinced.

That’s essentially what’s happened since the hearings started. The cranks started shouting the moment committee chairman Chuck Grassley opened the hearings. Democrats love it because it riles up the left-wing base. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to find some of it was coordinated with Democratic members of the panel.

But here’s the all-important question: What good are the protests doing? What is the end goal?

There doesn’t seem to be one other than they know the cameras are rolling and the more outrageous and (as Ben Sasse put it) hysterical they are, the better chance they’ll wind up on social media and cable news.

Because it’s all about them.