
Donald Trump turned his rhetorical firepower on a new target Wednesday night in North Carolina – John Kasich – as a new Ohio poll showed the governor leading the billionaire in the Buckeye State.

'We have Ohio, where you have an absentee governor. Absentee!' Trump blared at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville during a speech that was interrupted by protesters a record 17 times and generated two arrests.

Dozens of protesters were escorted from the Cabarrus Arena to cheers from the crowd and mocking from the candidate himself.

'Go home to mommy and have her tuck you into bed,' Trump said to one protester as he was led out the arena.

'WE'LL BUILD IT TOGETHER': Trump signed a poster depicting the wall he wants to erect on America's border with Mexico during the rally on Wednesday night

Protesters are removed as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Fayetteville, N.C. Wednesday

Dozens of protesters were escorted from the Cabarrus Arena to cheers from the crowd and mocking from the candidate himself

Other anti-Trump activists flipped middle fingers, grabbed their crotches and dropped F-bombs. A protester is escorted from the arena above

SEA OF HUMANITY: About 10,000 people crowded into the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C. on Wednesday night. Trump admitted that he loves protesters as they make the event fun and allow photographers to capture the size of the crowd as they are removed from the venue

The presidential hopeful then mocked a woman after she tripped as she was thrown out by cops saying she probably would blame him or sue the venue.

The protesters including one African-American woman who screamed about 'white privilege' while wearing a T-shirt that read: 'Dear White AmeriKKKA: I'm unapologetically black!'

Law enforcement wrestled with her and another woman because they initially refused to leave.

Cumberland County Sheriff's Deputy Sean Swain said afterward that the pair were charged with trespassing because they resisted.

'When Trump staff or Event One staff tells you you have to go, and you don't go, you get charged with trespassing,' he said.

They were issued misdemeanor citations and allowed to go home.

A demonstrator is forcibly removed from U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina

Police officers remove a demonstrator during U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina

Another anti-Trump activist raised both middle fingers to the crowd as police marched him out.

'Get out of here! Go home to mommy!' Trump boomed to applause.

'Why are they allowed to do things that were not allowed to do? Nasty. It's nasty!'

A third wore a shirt reading: 'IDK [I don't know] – Not Trump Tho.'

After he stood and cursed, uniformed officers led him out, but not before he grabbed his crotch in a vulgar gesture and said: 'F*** you all!'

Trump agreed with at least one of the protesters, a man who wore the message 'Love is the answer' on a white t-shirt.

The Donald still poked fun at 'his very dirty undershirt.'

He also mocked a 'quiet' woman who stood with her arms raised – they bore the slogan 'Vets for Bernie' – and wore a shirt reading 'SAVE TRUMP'S HAIR: Hug this Bernie supporter.'

Noting her silent protest, Trump asked: 'Can't we have a little more action than this?'

At first Trump had derided the protesters as 'nasty' and 'disgusting' but then changed his tune saying he loves them as they make the event fun and allow photographers to capture the size of the crowd as they are removed from the venue.

A black demonstrator raises her fist in protest against U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as police officers approach to remove her from a campaign rally

'Go home to mommy and have her tuck you into bed,' Trump said to one protester as he was led out the arena

A demonstrator (left) against U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump exchanges insults with a Trump supporter as the protester is ejected from his campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina

Getting back to business, Trump predicted: 'I think we'll do great in Ohio. We'll do great, great, great in Ohio!'

A Fox News poll published an hour before his rally showed Kasich ahead by a 34-29 margin.

Trump had led in the five previous polls, although often by slim advantages that were within polling margins of error.

As Trump was delivering his speech, Kasich was stumping in Chicago's suburbs – and adopting some of Trump's more forceful positions.

'We need free trade but fair trade,' he said, adding later that 'we need to hit ISIS hard and then get out.'

Ohio's Republican primary is just six days away, and it's a winner-take-all contest that could save Kasich from an early exit – or might instead give Trump an avalanche of Republican National Convention delegates and help him clinch the presidential nomination.

It's clear Trump was aware of his undesirable Ohio poll numbers as he spoke to an estimated 10,000 people.

Fox released a Florida poll at the same time, and The Donald touted that one heavily because it showed him far ahead of Sen. Marco Rubio there.

'We're winning in Florida, big league – like, by a lot!' he said of the new Fox poll, which has him crushing Rubio in his own backyard by a 43-20 spread.

Trump called him 'Little Marco,' his preferred insult, and said that 'they hate him in Florida!

'He's got the worst voting record in the last 15-20 years in the United States Senate! ... who wants to vote for him?'

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a baby during a campaign rally in Fayetteville, N.C., Wednesday, left, and speaking at the rally, right

The speech came just 24 hours before a debate in Miami. Viewers can expect a new round of fireworks, the last of its kind before the crucial Florida and Ohio primaries.

Trump's reference to Kasich as an 'absentee governor' is likely a dig at the time the Ohioan has spent on the campaign trail instead of back in Columbus.

The Republican front-runner once leveled the same charge at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who later endorsed him.

Trump repeated a much-written-about voting pledge on Wednesday, asking the crowd to stand and promise to cast ballots for him.

He mocked NBC's 'Today' show for broadcasting photos of previous rally-goers with their hands in the air and likening them to a Nazi salute.

At the beginning of the rally, Trump again asked those in the audience to raise their right hands and take a 'pledge' that they would vote for him. As the event drew to a close, Trump raised his own hand and told rally attendees to 'remember that pledge'.

At first, he said he wouldn't repeat the request at the Fayetteville rally because 'they'll say it was a horrible thing.' But when many in the crowd did it anyway, Trump said, 'You want to do it?'

FEELING THE BERN: A 'Vets for Bernie' protester stood with arms raised but didn't make a sound, drawing finger-pointing and mockery from Trump

DEMOCRATS FOR TRUMP: 'We need a leader, too!' read a sign held by a Vietnam veteran who will be a crossover voter in November

A TALE OF TWO T-SHIRTS: The man on the left was ejected for causing a disturbance while the man on the right was a typical Trump rally-goer

MOMENTS BEFORE THE CLASH: This man showed off an anti-Trump t-shirt just before standing up and dropping F-bombs at people around him

NORTH CAROLINA'S FINEST: The man grabbed his crotch and hurled insults at audience members as state troopers escorted him out

The candidate autographed a poster during his speech, a homemade drawing of a giant gray wall, complete with a guard tower.

'Trump 2016: We'll build it together,' it read.

The billionaire promises in every speech to erect an impenetrable wall on America's border with Mexico to stop the flood of illegal immigrants and the illicit drug trade.

'Who's gonna pay for the wall?' he shouted at one point, in a well-rehearsed call and response.'

'MEXICO!' 10,000 people shouted in unison.

Demonstrators wearing shirts printed with the slogan 'Stop Hate, Stop Trump' raise their hands as they are forcibly removed from U.S. Republican presidential candidate's rally