"Is the act of shouting "fire!" in a crowded theater protected speech?"

Strawman. That is not speech in the same way that yelling or crying is not free speech.

The first one is the same strawman. Making the word milk a trigger mustn't milk illegal.

It's certainly not a strawman when it's an oft repeated argument going back to Oliver Wendell Holmes' dictum in Schenck v. United States (and even further, as Holmes didn't invent this argument). The argument doesn't change if it's "There's a fire! Run, everyone!" -- and saying "that isn't speech, it's an emotional trigger" would be an intellectually dishonest evasion--lots of actual true blue speech triggers emotions.

P.S. I won't engage further with people clearly not arguing in good faith.