When JJ Holmes, 12, witnessed Donald Trump mocking a man with a disability, he knew he had to take action. So he turned up at a rally to heckle him.

JJ Holmes, 12, has been enamoured with the 2016 US presidential election.



For months, the US boy, who has severe cerebral palsy, had been sitting on his knees at his home in Florida, using his nose to type searches on his iPad for Mary Poppins plays and Trump events, his mother said.



Throughout the election, he had been itching to go to a rally – to express his disdain for Trump, who came under fire last year for mocking a reporter with a disability, she said.

"I wanted to go because Donald J Trump made fun of disabled people," JJ said to The Washington Post, using his computer vocalisation device.

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On Saturday, JJ got his wish: His mother, Alison Holmes, agreed to take him to a Trump rally in Tampa.



On Saturday morning, Holmes woke up her son at 3am, asking him if he still wanted to go.



It was, after all, a two-hour drive in the wee hours from their home in Longwood to Tampa, with long lines and pushy protesters likely. They also possibly faced the boot.

JJ made a pouty face – his Trump imitation – as his signal that he was ready to roll, his mother said.



She said JJ had preprogrammed chants, such as "Dump Trump" and "Trump mocks the disabled", into his computer vocalisation device. Once he was inside the arena, he pushed a button to say his piece, his mother said.



"It wasn't that loud," she said about his chants, adding: "Trump was laughing about how his supporters drown out JJ. So my daughters and I started chanting."



She said the crowd around them turned rowdy.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Trump supporters did not respond kindly after JJ, his two young sisters, and his mum started chanting slogans.

Trump supporters across the arena joined in – then Trump reportedly spoke out from the stage.

"Oh, we have a Hillary Clinton person. Are they paying that person US$1500?" Trump said, according to Fox News. "Get him out, please. Get him out."

The crowd started chanting "USA! USA! USA!"

"I must tell you, the Bernie Sanders protesters had much more enthusiasm and spirit than this one," Trump added.

"The problem with these Hillary protesters is my people make all the noise ... You can't even hear the person."

At the same time, Alison Holmes said, Trump supporters near them started pushing her son's wheelchair. The boy and his family were escorted from the arena, she said.

"I thought we may get kicked out," she said. "But I didn't think they'd start shoving his wheelchair."

Some people also criticised Holmes for taking her son to the rally, accusing her of using him to protest.

"He's not some puppet I wheeled in there," Holmes said. "This was him – this was all him."

Trump's media representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

MEETING WITH THE US PRESIDENT

Outside, a reporter who covered the rally heard JJ hoped to one day meet Obama.

The reporter called Valentina Pereda, Florida press secretary for the Hillary Clinton campaign.

The idea? See how close they could get JJ to the rope line at an event Sunday in Kissimmee, Florida, where Obama was speaking in support of Clinton.

Perhaps he would shake JJ's hand on his way down the line.

"I tell the reporter to share my number with JJ's mother and the only thing I can do is escort them into President Obama's rally the following day," wrote Pereda on Facebook. "No chance for VIP treatment and much less to meet the President."

With help from a friend who travels with the president, Pereda devised a plan for the Sunday event.

"I point him to where in the VIP area JJ is sitting with the hope that when POTUS would work the ropeline, he'd somehow remember JJ's story and spend two extra seconds with him," she wrote.

"And with that, I was satisfied with [what] was to be accomplished. A handshake."

But that wasn't all that happened.

JJ was unexpectedly wheeled out of the VIP area for a special meeting with the US President.

"JJ erupts into cheer ... his smile almost bursting out of his face. His body overcome by light, when just the day before it almost succumbed to hate," said Pereda.

The boy's mother said he told the president he loved him, thanked him for the handshake.

JJ said meeting Obama was the highlight of his weekend, but nothing beat standing up to Trump at his own rally.

"Are you happy you went to the Trump rally?" his mother asked. JJ responded: "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"

"He was over the moon," his mother said. "He really feels he made a stand."