Spotlight: Trump marches on with controversial rhetoric overshadowing U.S. presidential race

It is now even not surprising at all for the United States presidential race to turn ugly as radical rhetoric and even violent clashes have happened at campaign rallies.

That's why one of the news headlines said that at the campaign rally of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday "there were no injuries sustained as the event was concluded without major incident."

But like many previous rallies for Trump's presidential campaign, officers escorted protestors from the venue at Hickory, North Carolina. They also issued six citations at the rally. One protestor said officers let them leave without arrest if they went quietly.

Trump, controversial for his insensitive remarks, was described as "throwing red meat Monday to a Hickory audience hungry for tough talk against lost jobs, illegal immigrants and entrenched politicians."

Radical rhetoric has triggered violent clashes at his rallies in several states recently, drawing the White House race into an ugly farce.

Trump on Monday dismissed altercations at his recent rallies as "a little disruption" and cast his campaign as a "love feast."

"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," he said.

He chided the media for raising the perception that his rhetoric has helped fuel the behavior. He told supporters last month to "knock the crap out" of protestors and said last week that he wanted to punch a protestor in the face.

Trump also described the previous event in which a protestor traded punches with his supporters, telling the audience that "it was a beautiful thing."

Since the start of his campaign, Trump has talked wildly about immigration, vowing to deport 11 million immigrants from the United States if he is elected.

He labeled most of Mexican immigrants in the United States as "drug dealers, criminals and rapists," promising to build a wall long the border with Mexico.

In Ohio, a man tried to rush on stage at Trump's rally but was stopped by Secret Service on early Saturday.

Trump later claimed the protester was linked to the Islamic State group, an assertion that he could not give reliable evidence to justify.

The man in question, an anti-racism activist named Thomas DiMassimo, told CNN Sunday he had been seeking to grab the microphone from Trump.

"He's opportunistic and he's willing to destroy this country for power for himself," DiMassimo said.

Later on Saturday, police used pepper spray on anti-Trump protesters in Kansas City, Missouri.

In Chicago on Friday, Trump was forced to cancel a rally as ardent Trump supporters and opponents came to blows.

Standoffs between pro- and anti-Trump camps have become such a new normal at the billionaire's campaign rallies that police and the Secret Service need to ring him to guarantee his personal safety.

Trump has refused to take responsibility for clashes at his campaign events and blamed the protesters for interruption.

"I don't accept responsibility. I do not condone violence in any shape," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

Without mentioning specific candidates, U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday that politicians who aspire to lead the country should try to bring Americans together, not divide them.

He said the best leaders remind Americans that what they have in common is more important than their differences.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton issued a stern warning one day after Trump's rally in Chicago was canceled amid chaos, saying: "If you play with matches, you're going to start a fire you can't control. That's not leadership, that's political arson."

Despite controversy, the New York real estate mogul widened his lead with two big victories in the Mississippi and Michigan Republican primaries last Tuesday, after hitting the jackpot in 13 other states. Endi