Trump on a punch thrown at his Clemson rally: ‘He got whacked’

The President of the United States has a new policy on hecklers. He does the commentary.

Wednesday night at Clemson’s arena in Pendleton, South Carolina, about 20 minutes into the speech, another protester stood up. Local TV reports punches were thrown, and officers walked the man out. Trump had been watching. “Wow. Thank you. That was great,” he said. “Man, I love that. I watched that.” He did ask, “Is everybody okay?” Then he got to the question he actually cared about: “Who’s the guy that threw that punch?” Found him. “You reminded me of Evander, the Real Deal Holyfield that way.” The former heavyweight champ was in the building, so at least the comparison was peer-reviewed.

Then came the scouting report. The protester was “this lunatic,” and also “a very unattractive looking guy,” from a man who said in the same breath that he isn’t supposed to talk about looks. The guy “got whacked,” Trump said, and he said it three times, the last with timing notes: “as he’s in the process of the screech, he got whacked.” He even gave hecklers credit for courage, because, in his words, “it’s really dangerous to do that” at a Trump rally. That’s not a warning, it’s a brochure.

Same speech, a few minutes earlier, he was billing protesters as paid “$250” who go home so mom “slaps them around.” The night before in Greenville, he hoped the crowd wouldn’t get angry if he treated a “possible threat” “very, very rough.” On Wednesday the crowd took care of the rough part, and he took care of the review.