What do you think was more optically advantageous for the left, a bunch of patriot front idiots getting arrested just for marching, or antifa and the proud boys brawling?

We're not at the point of civil war. Optics are still more important than punching them.

Actually, portraying your enemy as both strong and weak is crucial to fascism. To nazis, the jews were simultaneously subhuman and also in control of the world. To the alt right, the left is simultaneously soy boy beta cucks and nazi punching radicals. If you remove yourself from their narrative, it fails apart. And instead of brave defenders of western culture under attack from crazy leftist extremists, they simply become weird motherfuckers waving nazi flags in (current year).

I'm not gonna say don't punch nazis, but don't do it in an organized fashion at a rally where they hope to provoke a reaction.