Want to punch protester in the face: Donald Trump

Donald Trump, known for making controversial comments, also did not spare his nearest Republican rival Ted Cruz, calling him “sick” at the campaign rally ahead of the Nevada primary. The protester, the third one to interrupt him at the event and who Mr Trump claimed had thrown punches at security guards, drew the candidate’s ire. 

As the man was being escorted away, Trump repeatedly told the crowd that he wished for the “old days”, adding, “You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher.” 

“I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell ya,” the 69-year-old was quoted as saying by the New York Times. Trump has faced criticism over his response to protesters before as well. 

After a Black Lives Matter demonstrator was pushed to the ground at one of his events in November, Trump said in an interview after the episode that “maybe he should have been roughed up” before later pulling back from his comments. But in Las Vegas, he held nothing back, and the crowd of thousands met every one of his lines with cheers. 

Addressing another protester, a man holding a sign that read, ‘Veterans to Trump: End Hate Speech Against Muslims’, Trump repeatedly said, “Get him the hell out” as the crowd booed the man’s exit. 

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio received boosts Monday in his drive to become the mainstream Republican alternative to front-runner Donald Trump, with a string of high-profile endorsements and missteps by rival Ted Cruz’s campaign. Cruz had to fire his main spokesman, Rick Tyler, on Monday afternoon over a video that falsely showed Rubio dismissing the Bible. Tyler had apologized late on Sunday for posting “an inaccurate story” involving a video purporting to show Rubio referring to the Bible and saying, “Not many answers in it.” Tyler had retweeted a link to the misleading video and posted it on Facebook. 

Cruz fired Tyler the next day, saying his campaign did not question the faith of other candidates. “That’s why I’m asking for Rick Tyler’s resignation,” Cruz said. 

The first-term senators from Texas and Florida are locked in a battle to become their party’s alternative to political outsider Trump in Nevada’s caucus on Tuesday, the last Republican presidential contest before the busy voting month of March. Tyler’s dismissal came amid intense criticism of the Cruz campaign as dishonest from both Rubio and Trump.