--- title: Donald Trump Tells Crowd to "Knock the Crap Out Of" Hecklers description: After a protestor lobbed a tomato at Donald Trump last week, the billionaire told a crowd Monday to defend him at an Iowa campaign rally. canonical: https://time.com/4203094/donald-trump-hecklers/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-01T20:51:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:38.683Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Tells Crowd To "Knock the Crap Out Of" Hecklers og:description: He said he'd pay the legal fees if anyone roughed them up. og:url: https://time.com/4203094/donald-trump-hecklers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1dce8caf8f71935/69887b755f570f6a4bb1f6ce/donald-trump-002.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Clinton Middle School, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, in Clinton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Tells Crowd To "Knock the Crap Out Of" Hecklers twitter:description: He said he'd pay the legal fees if anyone roughed them up. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1dce8caf8f71935/69887b755f570f6a4bb1f6ce/donald-trump-002.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Tells Crowd to 'Knock the Crap Out Of' Hecklers ## Video: Trump Supporters In Iowa Weigh In On the Silent Majority [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Supporters In Iowa Weigh In On the Silent Majority](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QMDtVyRi.m3u8) (1:13)  _Published 2016-02-01_ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 1, 2016 8:51 PM UTC  Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Clinton Middle School in Clinton, Iowa, on Jan. 30, 2016. Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Clinton Middle School in Clinton, Iowa, on Jan. 30, 2016.Charlie Neibergall—AP by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Feb 1, 2016 8:51 PM UTC [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4201794/donald-trump-silent-majority/) told supporters Monday to “knock the crap out of” would-be hecklers at a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “If you see somebody with a tomato, knock the crap out of them,” Trump said, referencing another incident with a protestor. Trump was in Iowa last week when a protestor threw a tomato—and missed. Protests are [frequent at his rallies](http://time.com/4174182/muslim-protester-donald-trump-rally/), with the disruptions protesting the rhetoric of some of the GOP front-runner’s talking points. > [](https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/692192463818203136) Trump said he would even pay for any legal fees that supporters incurred stopping a tomato-thrower. The theory was quickly put to the test when Trump spotted a protestor and had them removed. The event is Trump’s last in Iowa before early voting begins. A poll placed Trump in the lead Monday, ahead of opponent Ted Cruz [by seven points](http://time.com/4202291/iowa-caucus-polls-donald-trump-bernie-sanders-ted-cruz-hillary-clinton/) heading into the Iowa Caucuses. He is doing particularly well with new voters. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4203094/donald-trump-hecklers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4203094/donald-trump-hecklers/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Tells Crowd to 'Knock the Crap Out Of' Hecklers","datePublished":"2016-02-01T20:51:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:38.683Z","description":"He said he'd pay the legal fees","url":"https://time.com/4203094/donald-trump-hecklers/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election topic","Iowa"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1dce8caf8f71935/69887b755f570f6a4bb1f6ce/donald-trump-002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1dce8caf8f71935/69887b755f570f6a4bb1f6ce/donald-trump-002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Clinton Middle School, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, in Clinton, Iowa. 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