Protesters repeatedly interrupt Trump address on economy

Protesters repeatedly interrupted Donald Trump as he laid out his economic platform in a highly publicized address at the Detroit Economic Club.

{mosads}The GOP presidential nominee was interrupted 10 times in the first 20 minutes of his address by a series of protesters.

He generally refused to engage them, instead waiting for security to escort those interrupting his address out of the hall.

But after the 10th interruption, he made a comments about how supporters of Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator defeated by Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, had “far more energy and spirit.”

Trump has sought to win over Sanders supporters stung by Clinton’s victory.

The audience in Detroit booed as each protester was taken out.

Trump stood at the lectern smiling and shrugging his shoulders, thanking the audience for cheering to drown out the interruptions.

After the third protest, Trump joked briefly about the number of the people attending the club’s event with him as the keynote speaker. 

“This is what happens when you go from 35 people to close to 2,000 people, I guess,” he said with a smile. 

By the fourth interruption, he raised his voice to talk over the protester, continuing that strategy as the speech continued. 

Michigan People’s Campaign, a liberal group based in the state, took credit for the protests.

The group said they were hoping to rankle Trump by using only female protesters. The group said they coordinated with 17 women, who stood up one at a time in protest.

“We wanted to get underneath Donald Trump’s skin,” Michigan People’s Campaign spokesman Erik Shelley told The Hill. “We felt that Donald Trump would have a real issue with women standing up to him.”

The Michigan protesters tried to question Trump on jobs for the auto industry and sexual harassment.

The reserved response is a departure from how Trump typically handles protesters at his campaign rallies. At those events, he regularly engages with those who break into his speeches, sometimes yelling at security to remove them.

Trump is looking to rebound from a controversial stretch of his campaign that included widespread Republican condemnation of his attacks on the family of a fallen U.S. soldier and his initial refusal to back House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for reelection.

–This report was updated at 2:39 p.m.

–Tim Devaney contributed.