“You know what they used to do to a guy like that in a place like this?” Donald Trump said. “They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.” Trump on protester: 'I’d like to punch him in the face'

LAS VEGAS — Donald Trump wished grievous bodily harm on a protester at his rally here on Monday night, saying he’d like to punch the man in the face and see him carried out on a stretcher.

“The guards are being very gentle with him,” Trump said. “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you that.”


Trump said the protester had been “throwing punches.” By the time a POLITICO reporter spotted the protester being led from the floor of South Point Arena by security personnel, the man was not throwing punches.

According to multiple South Point security personnel, the man did not throw any punches. Trump "was just over-exaggerating," said one security guard, who asked that his name not be used.

“We’re not allowed to punch back any more,” Trump lamented. The billionaire said he missed the “good old days,” when the man would be treated differently.

“You know what they used to do to a guy like that in a place like this?” Trump said. “They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.”

The businessman then moved on to his position on waterboarding. “I think it’s great but I don’t think we go far enough,” Trump said.

The businessman said the press would portray him as a “mean guy” for that position.

“I’m just a guy who doesn’t want to be pushed around by a bunch of animals,” he said. “These are animals.”

