In ‘Good Old Days,’ Donald Trump Says, Campaign Protesters Got More Than Just an Escort Out

OKLAHOMA CITY — The crowd at Donald J. Trump’s rally here Friday night quickly began booing the young protester clad in the “KKK supports Trump” T-shirt, who was escorted from the event.

But for Mr. Trump, the ejection wasn’t quick enough. As his fans shouted down the interrupter, Mr. Trump turned his focus onto law enforcement.

“You see, in the good old days, law enforcement acted a lot quicker than this,” Mr. Trump said, as security officers made their way toward the protester. “A lot quicker. In the good old days, they’d rip him out of that seat so fast.”

“But today,” he continued, “everyone is so politically correct. Our country is going to hell — we’re being politically correct.”

Referring to another episode from an earlier event, Mr. Trump described someone “punching, swinging” and complained that the protester had simply been “gently” marched out.

“People want to take it nice and easy, they don’t want to do anything,” he said. “He’s walking out, he’s waving to everyone, smiling, the place is booing.”

Mr. Trump said, “I love the police, they’re the greatest.” But he said they were becoming “afraid to move” for fear of losing their jobs or pensions. “We are really becoming a frightened country and it’s very, very sad,” he said.

Friday evening was not the first time Mr. Trump has questioned the alacrity of his event security workers. But he used the moment to go into his views on waterboarding, and bring up a debate in which he was asked about it.

“What do you think of water boarding? I said I think it’s just fine,” Mr. Trump said, recounting his answer. “And frankly, if you want to go a step above, or two or three steps above, that’s O.K. with me, too.”

Being tough with terrorists, he, said, is what the nation needs.

“And I was saying to myself, can you imagine these people from ISIS, and others over there, watching our dialogue on waterboarding, which some people consider torture, some people consider not,” he said. “Look, it’s tough stuff. Can you imagine these people — they chop off heads and they’re watching and they’re seeing. We can’t talk about waterboarding, so they must think we are so weak and so stupid.

Speaking earlier in the day in Fort Worth, Mr. Trump, who has been the subject of numerous articles about his business dealings and past statements, also said that, if elected, he would “open up” libel laws, so that when journalists write “purposely negative horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”

Libel laws do generally hold journalists accountable when they publish false and defamatory information either negligently or intentionally.