What it’s like to get ejected from a Trump rally

After yelling “Trump has small hands,” Logan Smith was quickly led out of Donald Trump’s Raleigh rally by security officers, but he wasn’t arrested.

Smith is the communications director for the liberal advocacy group Progress N.C., which was holding a small protest event outside the rally.

Smith made his comment about hand size – a reference to similar comments made by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio during the primary campaign – shortly after Trump began speaking. Within seconds, private security officers approached him. They led him out of Memorial Auditorium and passed him off to Raleigh police officers.

“One of them asked me for ID,” Smith said. “I asked if I was under arrest, and he said ‘not unless you refuse to leave willingly.’ So they just let me leave out the side door.

“I was not roughed up or anything.”

Smith was among several protesters who interrupted Tuesday’s Trump rally, although the number of disruptions was smaller than at previous events in North Carolina. Smith said he was inspired by similar protests at Trump’s Dorton Arena rally several months ago.

“It’s very important that no matter where Trump goes to spew his hatred and extremism, that he is challenged,” Smith said. “I think that all Americans have a responsibility to stand up against bigotry when they see it.”

So why did Smith pick Trump’s hands as the subject of his outburst?

“With a guy like Trump, his ego is his driving force, and the most effective way in my view to challenge him is to make fun of him and point out what an absurd buffoon of a man he is,” he said. “He has already shown his diminutive hands get very under his skin when people bring that up.”

This story was originally published July 6, 2016 at 2:36 PM with the headline "What it’s like to get ejected from a Trump rally."