VANDALIA, Ohio - Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail Saturday with a flourish, rolling up to an airport hangar in his custom Boeing 757 as the score from the movie Air Force One played through oversize speakers at ground-shaking volume.
What followed were the jeers, outbursts of protest and rapturous applause of a typical Trump rally - minus the violence that had forced him to cancel a Chicago appearance Friday.
Once again, the Republican presidential front-runner was at the center of the conversation. This time, the question was whether his aggressive rhetoric, targeting illegal immigrants, Muslims, and others had evolved from controversy to clear and present danger.
At one point here, Trump flinched as a man jumped a security barricade on the tarmac and rushed the stage. U.S. Secret Service agents formed a protective circle around him as others tackled the intruder and handcuffed him.
"I was ready for him, but it's much easier if the cops do it," Trump told the audience, recovering his equilibrium after the scare. "Don't we agree?"
The crowd of more than 2,000 cheered. Nobody was reported injured at the event, or at a Trump rally in Cleveland later Saturday.
For months, Trump has been a lightning rod for molten currents of anger, from supporters who believe the nation is slipping away from them, and from opponents who consider the real estate mogul an apostle of hate and division.
There have been instances of violence at his events, but nothing on the scale of Friday's clashes inside the Chicago arena where Trump had been scheduled to appear, and in the streets outside. The campaign canceled the event, and the crowds faced off outside with hundreds of police trying to separate them. Earlier that day, 39 protesters were arrested at a Trump rally in St. Louis, some of them bleeding and escorted into ambulances.
Inside Wright Brothers Aero at Dayton International Airport on Saturday, Trump blamed leftist organizers, including supporters of "our communist friend," Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, for a "planned attack" to shut down the Chicago event at the city's University of Illinois campus.
"We want to get along with everybody, but when they have organized, professionally staged wiseguys, we've got to fight that," Trump said. "We cannot let our First Amendment rights be taken away from us."
Sanders hit back, calling Trump a "pathological liar" and saying that his supporters did not organize the protest blitz. The liberal group MoveOn.org acknowledged it had printed some posters for the Chicago protesters, but said it was a student-led action.
"Donald Trump has created a toxic environment," said Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican rival seeking to win his home state and all of its 66 convention delegates in Tuesday's GOP primary. "There is no place for a national leader to prey on the fears of people."
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, fighting to keep his presidential campaign alive in his own state, which also votes Tuesday, compared Trump to a Third World dictator who was creating a "frightening, grotesque and disturbing" climate of violence.
"I am sad for this country," Rubio said.
Trump has delighted in mocking hecklers and has at times condoned attacks on them by his followers.
"I'd like to punch him in the face," Trump said of a protester who was being escorted from an event in Las Vegas last month. Last week, a 78-year-old white man sucker-punched a young African American protester at a Trump rally in North Carolina. "Next time we may have to kill him," said the man, who was charged with assault.
On other occasions, Trump has joked he would pay the legal bills of any people in his audience who would be inclined to rough up protesters.
"He's got leadership qualities," said Scott Pyle, 47, who already voted for Trump by absentee ballot and was in the audience at the hangar Saturday. "I've been hoping he'll be a uniter - but, after last night, I'm not so sure."
Still, Pyle, a carpenter, said he does not blame Trump for the Chicago incident. "Bad people are bad people, and they're always looking for an excuse to cause trouble," Pyle said. "I understand that people have a right to protest, but they shut down his right to free speech. I don't like that."
Trump supporter Pam Tipton believes the Chicago conflict was exaggerated in media coverage. "On our local news, it went from a 'scuffle' to a 'brawl' to a 'riot,' " said Tipton, 67, of Centerville, Ohio. "It was manipulated. From what I saw it was a lot of people milling around shouting at each other."
The candidate himself said his supporters are "nice people" who were harassed and baited by provocateurs in Chicago. He denied setting a tone that encourages violence.
As the inevitable protesters popped up during the hangar rally in Ohio on Saturday, Trump played rhetorical whack-a-mole with them.
"Get him out of here!" Trump said as another protester interrupted.
The crowd roared. "Trump! Trump!"
"What a wack job!" the mogul said, shaking his head after police led away another man who had interrupted to yell "Stop the hate!"
A few minutes later, officers snatched a man who was screaming at the candidate. As they began to move him toward the exit, Trump said, "Take him home to mommy ... she'll lock him in the bedroom."
The crowd cheered.
"By the way," Trump said, "is there anything more fun than a Trump rally?"
tfitzgerald@phillynews.com215-854-2718@tomfitzgerald
