Trump defiant with comments on riots, protests
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Republican presidential front-runner Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpChasten Buttigieg: 'I've been dealing with the likes of Rush Limbaugh my entire life' Lawmakers paint different pictures of Trump's 'opportunity zone' program We must not turn our heads from the effects of traumatic brain injuries MORE toned down his rhetoric a notch but remained defiant on Sunday, saying there will be "a lot of unhappy people" if he has the most delegates but is not the Republican nominee. 

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"I don't know what's going to happen," he said on ABC's "This Week." 
"But I will say this: You're going to have a lot of very unhappy people." 

Trump sparked criticism last week when he predicted riots if he doesn't win the nomination, given his lead among delegates.

"I think you'd have riots," Trump said. "I'm representing ... many, many millions of people, in many cases first-time voters." 
 
Rival John Kasich in an interview broadcast Sunday called Trump's comments "outrageous" and "inappropriate."

Trump said on Sunday that although he doesn't want to see riots, he can't say how his supporters will respond if he doesn't secure the nomination. 
 
"They want to see positive things happen for our country," he said.
 
It will be difficult to secure the required number of delegates because the race started with 17 Republican candidates. But Trump noted he expects to secure the nomination ahead of the convention. 
 
"I think I may get over that number fairly easily. Arizona was unbelievable yesterday. Utah, frankly, was unbelievable the day before. I think we will get over that number," he said. 
 
"There's tremendous spirit about make America great again. I mean that's the whole thing."
 
The biggest story in politics, he said, is the millions of people coming out to vote for him — some of whom are voting for the first time and some of whom were Democrats or independents.
 
"You're going to have a lot of very unhappy people. And I think, frankly, for the Republicans to disenfranchise all those people because if that happens, they're not voting and the Republicans lose," he said. 

"If the Republicans embraced these great people that are showing up, the Republicans are going to have a massive victory. It's not going to be a Mitt Romney slaughter, because he was such a bad candidate.

"The Republicans are going to have a massive victory in November."

Trump also on Sunday defended his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who came under fire again this weekend after appearing to grab a protester by the collar and pull him back during a rally in Tucson, Ariz.

"I give him credit for having spirit. He wanted them to take down those horrible, profanity-laced signs," Trump said on ABC. "The police were a little bit lax, and he had signs. They had signs up in that arena that were horrendous."  

In a statement following Saturday's incident, the Trump campaign denied that Lewandowski had pulled the protester back, saying a man to the left of Lewandowski pulled the protester.

Lewandowski had previously been accused of grabbing the arm of former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields and yanking her down. The Trump campaign also denied that claim.

After being asked about violence at his rallies this past weekend, Trump called on some of the blame to be put on the protesters.

"At what point do people blame the protesters?" he asked.

This past weekend, protesters blocked traffic to a Trump rally in Arizona by parking their cars near the location. The protest delayed the rally by an hour, Trump said. Another protester was punched and kicked several times as he was being taken out of the rally.

"These are professional agitators, and I think that somebody should say that when a road is blocked going into the event so that people have to wait sometimes hours to get in, I think that's very fair and there should be blame there, too," he said.

He added that some protesters have signs with "tremendous profanity" on them.

"I mean the worst profanity, and you have television cameras all over the place and people see these signs," he said.

"I think maybe those people have some blame and should suffer some blame also."

He called it "unfair" that "professional" and "sick" protesters can act in this way and "nobody says anything about that."

A series of violent events have occurred at Trump's campaign events recently. Earlier this month, a Trump supporter punched a protester in the face as he was being led out of a North Carolina rally. The front-runner canceled a rally in Chicago amid massive protests.

Still, Trump said on Sunday that there has not been much violence at his events.

"We don't condone violence, and I say it," he said.

"And we have very little violence — very, very little violence at the rallies."

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