Trump stumps for votes in North Carolina

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump faced a last day of campaigning on Monday (March 14) before a crucial round of nominating contests including in Florida and Ohio, where establishment Republicans worked to trip him up.

Protesters have clashed at his rallies in recent days, fueling accusations that the New York billionaire has created an ugly atmosphere with his campaign invective against groups such as Mexican immigrants and Muslims, and his rough tone toward hecklers.

Trump, who has rejected accusations he is to blame for the tensions, has emerged from the early nominating contests with a clear lead in the number of delegates needed to win the party nomination for the November, 8 election.

He brushed off claims he encourages violence at his rallies during a campaign stop in Hickory, North Carolina.

“No violence no, You know how many people have been hurt at our rallies? I think like basically none, other than I guess maybe somebody got hit once. But there’s no violence,” adding his rallies are a “love fest.”

Trump is trying to cement his lead over his remaining Republican rivals – U.S. Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Governor John Kasich in five states that hold presidential nominating contests on Tuesday for Republicans and Democrats: Florida, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina and Missouri.

He is trailed by Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, and could seize control of the race with big wins in Tuesday’s voting in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina.

Opinion polls also showed him with comfortable leads in all those states, except Ohio, where he is roughly tied with the state’s governor John Kasich.

The 69-year-old New York real estate mogul defended his supporters and said he was considering helping pay the legal fees of a 78-year-old white man who punched a young black man at a Trump rally in North Carolina last week.

Trump said tension at his rallies came from people being “sick and tired” of American leadership that has cost them jobs through trade deals, failed to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, and treated military veterans poorly.

The people that are supporters of Donald Trump want to see America be great again that’s what it is, that’s what it is, it’s simple” Trump said on Monday.

Trump has harnessed the discontent of white, working-class voters who blame trade deals for costing them jobs. He has proposed building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, disparaged some Mexican immigrants as criminals and advocated a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.