Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina, can no longer win a political election in this state – or anywhere else in America.
Not after CNN uncovered sexually explicit and inflammatory posts he allegedly made in the comments section of a pornographic website. According to the report, Robinson – who presents himself as a fundamentalist Christian conservative – frequently wrote comments on a website called “Nude Africa” between 2008 and 2012.
He is an extraordinary person. I got to know him so well.”
Donald Trump about Mark Robinson
Robinson denied authoring the posts, saying “these are not the words of Mark Robinson” and dismissed the report as “salacious tabloid trash.” But CNN reporters documented several connections between the candidate, the email address he used to register with the websites and biographical details posted on the various profiles.
The porn chatroom posts identified as Robinson’s are explicit, sexually threatening and degrading to women. Once you find them, you won’t be able to forget them.
He talked about his love of transgender pornography, referred to himself as a “black Nazi,” made vulgar comments about allegedly raping a woman, used a racial slur for Martin Luther King Jr. (note that this article will quote some of these phrases later that readers may find offensive), and even reminisced vividly about an experience as a teenager when he peeked into the women’s locker room at a local college.
This is just the tip of an ugly iceberg. CNN acknowledged that many of the things Robinson is alleged to have written were so sensationalist that they could not be published.
If those statements offend you, congratulations: You’re a thinking, feeling human being. You hold your elected officials to higher standards than the North Carolina Republican Party, which doubled its support for Robinson on Thursday night after the report was released. Most people wouldn’t let the man in this story watch their dog, let alone run their state.
North Carolina Republicans had few realistic options for replacing Robinson, since the deadline for candidates to withdraw was just hours away when the story broke. But there’s no reason to believe they would have thrown him out of the race anyway. They’ve supported him through every disturbing scandal to date, and there have been plenty.
This is what rigor mortis looks like in an election campaign.
His candidacy was damaged and unhinged from the start: he fetishized violence, demonized homosexuals, and called women scum. The party had literally dozens of opportunities to distance itself from Robinson: when he said some people out there “need to be killed,” when he fantasized about murdering government officials with his AR-15, when he called LGBTQ people “maggots,” or when he said women who have abortions just need to “keep their skirts down.”
The party routinely overlooked Robinson’s stunning hypocrisy. A 2022 article revealed that Robinson, who has called abortion “murder” and abortion doctors “butchers,” once paid for a friend’s abortion. He suggested that gender-neutral restrooms were a breeding ground for perverts. He said women needed to be protected from those perverts, but bragged online about spying on college girls in a locker room, according to CNN. He referred to LGBTQ+ people as “maggots,” but according to the same CNN report, he once wrote about his enjoyment of trans pornography and enthusiastically referred to himself as a “pervert.”
However, many of Robinson’s Republican colleagues have celebrated him as a champion and example of America at its best. In a campaign speech in North Carolina, Donald Trump said Robinson was “like a fine wine.”
“You have to appreciate him,” Trump said. “He’s an extraordinary human being. I’ve gotten to know him so well.”
Like Trump, Robinson presented himself as an uncensored outsider who traded criticism for politics; a conservative, cocky warrior who received seemingly limitless forgiveness for his transgressions.
Republicans in North Carolina have shown that the MAGA movement does not believe in such limits. But voters do, and so Republicans and Robinson will remain locked in this fateful embrace until Election Day. This is what rigor mortis looks like in a campaign.
The only question is whether Republicans across the electoral field, including Trump, will be dragged down with him. Trump is virtually tied with Kamala Harris in this swing state, and some conservatives fear Robinson’s troubles will keep Trump voters home. On Thursday night, Republican candidates for office in North Carolina tried to rid their social media profiles of references to Robinson – like rats fleeing a sinking ship.
The only question is whether he will drag Republicans across the electoral spectrum, including Trump, into the abyss with him.
One candidate, speaking of the historic nature of his candidacy – if he wins, he would be the first black governor in the state’s history – is said to have once written: “Slavery is not bad. Some people have to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would definitely buy a few.” The man Trump praised as “MLK on steroids” once referred to Martin Luther King Jr. as “Martin Lucifer Koon.”
Coincidentally, I interviewed Martin Luther King III on Thursday about a trip he is taking to North Carolina this weekend to speak to people of color in rural communities about the election. The CNN report had not yet been made public, but it was known to contain hateful descriptions of his late father.
When I confronted him about it, he reacted tactfully, which is not easy when someone says something bad about your own father.
“It definitely feels like this rejection of this candidacy is underway,” King said. “And at some point, this will be viewed as a disaster.”
Why wait any longer? Let’s call it that now.
