Julius Caesar played that kind of politics for years and years as a young rising star of the rabble-rousing party.
Mark Antony and Marcus Caelius, two young men who profiled like white Italian Van Joneses, were his mob leaders. The mobs were armed, and contained many ex-gladiators and mustered-out veterans.
He played a virtuoso game, and in the end he won. They killed him, but he still won. Antony and Caesar's adoptive son slaughtered the senatorial opposition in the thousands, murdering them without fear of reprisal or justice. One of the first to die was Cicero, who died unjusticed. And the bad guys won. Just remember that.
Just thought I would toss that in.