Trump denies inciting violence as campaign blitz intensifies

US Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump launched a three-state campaign blitz yesterday ahead of a crucial round of nominating contests, and disavowed any responsibility for inciting conflict at his campaign rallies.

Mr Trump, who hit North Carolina and Florida before a final planned stop in Ohio, said the establishment Republicans who have laboured to stop his outsider candidacy needed to recognise his strength and rally to his cause.

“What they have to do is embrace this phenomenon and go with it. Let’s go win,” Mr Trump said of the party’s establishment at a rally in Hickory, North Carolina, where he was interrupted several times by protesters.

Polls show him leading in all of the states except Ohio, where he is in a tight race with John Kasich.

The party’s anti-Trump forces, including a Super PAC formed to oppose him, kept up their assault on the brash New York billionaire. The Super PAC released an ad yesterday featuring a series of demeaning quotes by Mr Trump about women, and urged people to oppose him “if you believe America deserves better”.

Romney appearances

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate who has delivered a furious attack on Trump, was campaigning for Mr Kasich in Ohio on Monday.

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton also kept an eye on Mr Trump, saying at a campaign event in Chicago that “I don’t think the stakes have ever been higher, or the rhetoric on the other side ever been lower.”

Mr Trump rejected suggestions his combative campaign tone is to blame for recent clashes at his rallies, including one last week where a protester was punched and a Chicago rally that was canceled after fights between Mr Trump’s supporters and opponents.

He said the level of campaign violence was inflated by the media and “basically” no one had been hurt at his rallies. – Reuters