'Ruin the rest of their lives': Donald Trump calls for arrests after wave of protests at rally
AP Photo/Tony Dejak
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump called for the arrest of protesters at his Saturday-night campaign rally.
His event in Kansas City, Missouri, was repeatedly disrupted by demonstrations throughout the night. After a string of separate protests, Trump started asking his event security what happens to hecklers after they're ejected.
"By the way, what do they do? Do they arrest these people? What happens? Do they arrest them or do they just put them outside?" he asked.
Trump decided he very much wanted see the protesters, some of whom he claimed were violent, have a criminal record:
I hope they arrest these people because they're really violating all of us, OK? And I hope they're arrested. I hope they're arrested, because honestly they should be. ... I hope you arrest these people because I'll tell you, they deserve to be arrested. And some of them are very violent. But I'm going to ask that you arrest them. I'll file whatever charges you want. Who the hell knows.
"We're going to go strongly for your arrest," he said. "And I'm going to do this from now on. Let's ruin the rest of — they're going to ruin the rest of their lives. If they want to do this, let them have a big arrest mark."
AP Photo/Tony Dejak
Trump said he was going to call for future protesters to be arrested as well in order to dissuade potential demonstrators from interrupting his events. He stressed that some of them were "swinging" at other people.
"So I hope you arrest them and do whatever you have to do," he added. "And you know what, once that starts happening, we're not going to have any more protesters, folks. We're not going to have any more protesters."
After yet another heckler interrupted his rally Saturday night, Trump again called for lives to be "ruined":
I hope these guys get thrown into a jail. They'll never do it again. It'll destroy their record. They'll have to explain to mom and dad why they have a police record and why they can't get a job. And you know what? I'm going to start pressing charges against all these people, OK? ... The only way that we're going to stop this craziness is if we press charges. Because then their lives are going to be ruined.
The real-estate mogul's campaign stops are frequently rocked by protesters, many of whom are upset about his comments about Muslims, illegal immigration, and other topics.
He suddenly canceled a huge Friday-night rally in Chicago amid mass protests. And earlier that day, Trump's event in St. Louis, Missouri, was also repeatedly roiled by demonstrations.