When it's something this guy wants, it's called "popular opinion". When it's something he doesn't want, it's called "the power of the mob". A few days later, I bumped into a neighbor of mine whom I had seen at the meeting shaking his head in horror. I asked him what he made of it all.
"I thought I was in Nazi Germany," he said.
Oh yes, the horror. After all, who wouldn't prefer Lenin or Stalin to Hitler? (Two communist crackpots in one neighborhood. What are the odds?)
This reminds me of the protest that broke out in Florida during the last presidential election. One of the counties attempted to take the ballots behind closed doors and count them there....which resulted in the republicans in the building having a sit-in and chanting slogans. Some goofy liberal at the time saw this and said "there is a whiff of facism in the air". As if no lefties ever had a sit-in.