Gay Trump Supporter Attacks Protester at N.C. Rally

A Donald Trump supporter wearing a "Gays for Trump" T-shirt attacked a protester at a rally in Greensboro, N.C., Friday.

The attacker, who was wearing a red "Make America Great Again" baseball cap, accosted a man carrying an upside-down American flag. A symbol of distress during wartime, the act of inverting the Stars and Stripes has become a universally recognized symbol of political dissent. Prior to the incident, several Trump supporters screamed at the protester and shoved him.

Video of the altercation, captured by CNN and Yahoo, shows the assailant grabbing the man and attempting to force him out of the rally. As the protester was placed in a headlock, police broke up the incident, escorting the gay Trump supporter out.

"Let him stay!" chanted many onlookers in the crowd.

The attacker, who told CNN he never hit the protester, was carrying a rainbow Pride flag. His "Make America Great Again" hat had a Human Rights Campaign sticker on it.

Instead of condemning the violence, Trump called out the objector as an example of what his supporters have to lose if the billionaire businessman doesn't win the election November 8. He currently trails Hillary Clinton -- his Democratic opponent -- by nearly four percentage points in North Carolina and almost seven points nationally, according to FiveThirtyEight estimates.

"It's really total disrespect for the American flag," Trump said, pointing to the protester. "There he is, look, look. That's what's happening to our country, that's what happening. That is total disrespect for our flag, that's what's happening to our country."

"We're going to turn it around, folks," he said. "We're going to turn it around."

Susan Danielsen, a spokeswoman for the Greensboro Police Department, told CNN the incident was a "minor altercation." "Officers escorted both parties involved outside of the venue," she said. "Neither one wanted to press charges, so no arrests were made."

This is merely the latest "minor altercation," however, to occur at a Trump rally.

Since the CEO announced his candidacy for the presidency last June, there have been at least 20 reported incidents of violence at his packed campaign events. Supporters have punched, grabbed, kicked, shoved, thrown to the ground, spit on, and thrown out opponents. At a December rally in Las Vegas, Trump voters shouted "Sieg Heil!" and "light the motherfucker on fire" at a black protester.

Trump has done nothing to stop these attacks. During the North Carolina event, he only encouraged more of them.

On Saturday, the GOP nominee spent the rally defending himself from numerous allegations that he has harassed and sexually assaulted women throughout his three-decade career in public life. Trump claimed that the reports are baseless rumors made up by his opponents to bring down his political ambitions.

"The process is rigged," he said. "This whole election is being rigged. These lies, spread by the media, without witnesses, without backup or anything else ... makes an accusation that you did something, and you weren't -- you never saw this person before."

Trump further referred to one accuser as a "horrible woman" and claimed that another "would not be my first choice." He instructed his followers to look them up on Facebook.

Watch footage of the man attacking the protestor below.