I suppose the worst damage done is that expressions like "the people he left lying in his wake of destruction" can get used.

The whole thing was irritating, even upsetting. But that's the kind of language you might use about a drunk driver who ran into a bus queue. You might even use it of someone who wrote particularly damaging poison pen letters to vulnerable people.

But to talk that way in this context is over the top. If it goes on like this there's a real danger it'll build up and it'll do as much damage to this place as the original nonsense did.