From what other freepers with more inside knowledge have posted over the years the DC calculus goes like this, 1 person in the streets is worth 100 letters which are worth 10,000 emails. So, yes, they do pay attention to the streets. In fact, I would submit that is why the GOP is so spineless. Their base never takes it to the streets. Which is also why the BSM so vigorously suppresses them from doing so by calling them racists Nazi White Supremacists.
In case you had not noticed, when nobody shows up for Antifa to beat on the just destroy property, burn cars, smash stores. So, no, ignoring them does not work.
They’re going to destroy property anyway. Getting out there and in their faces just gives them the opportunity to spin it as YOUR fault, and to link you to the neo nazis/white nationalists, etc. And the media will be glad to report it that way.