As the man was being escorted away, Mr. 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,” Mr. Trump added.

Mr. Trump has faced criticism over his response to protesters before. After a Black Lives Matter demonstrator was pushed to the ground at one of his events in November, Mr. Trump said in an interview after the episode that “maybe he should have been roughed up,” before later pulling back from his comments.

But on Monday night, he held nothing back, and the crowd of thousands met every one of his lines with whooping cheers.

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

Well, a few minutes ago, I changed my voter registration to Repub, so I could vote for Donald!

But you don’t need some grand overarching political science theory [to know why Trump won the caucus]. There are millions of miserable people in America who know exactly who engineered the shattering of their worlds, and Trump isn’t one of those people – and, with the exception of Bernie Sanders, everyone else in the field is running on the basis of their experience being one of those people.

America who know exactly who engineered the shattering of their worlds...

Romney: Trump's tax returns may contain 'bombshell'

... explained Romney, who was careful to note that he was merely speculating and had no evidence against the real-estate magnate.