Former President Donald Trump remains silent about a scandal concerning Republican North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, despite previously endorsing and praising him as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
A CNN report published on Thursday said that Robinson, North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, made a series of inflammatory posts to the “Nude Africa” pornography website from 2008 to 2012.
The emergence of the scandal quickly sparked concerns about Robinson potentially harming Trump’s chances in North Carolina, a pivotal swing state that could decide the tight presidential contest.
Robinson’s reported comments include a description of himself as a “Black Nazi,” a defense of slavery, a fond recalling of “peeping” on women as a teenager and a declaration of his love for transgender pornography despite his anti-transgender remarks as a socially conservative politician.
The scandal escalated on Friday, when The Washington Post reported that Robinson had also offered a glowing review for Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, calling the Nazi manifesto “a real eye opener.”
Republican North Carolina gubernatorial candidate and Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is pictured alongside former President Donald Trump at a rally in Selma, North Carolina, on April 9, 2022. Trump, who has endorsed Robinson and favorably compared him to Martin Luther King Jr., has not publicly weighed in on the lieutenant governor’s recent scandal.
Allison Joyce
While the CNN report offered extensive evidence that seemingly linked the lieutenant governor to the posts, Robinson has refused to drop out of the race and claims that his purported remarks are all “outrageous lies.”
The North Carolina Republican Party stood by Robinson in a statement on Thursday, suggesting that the remarks, all posted online more than a decade ago, were manufactured by “the Left” as part of an attempt to “smear” him before the election.
“Mark Robinson has categorically denied the allegations made by CNN but that won’t stop the Left from trying to demonize him via personal attacks,” the party wrote. “The Left can try to smear Mark Robinson all they want … Republicans will win on November 5th.”
Other Republicans have recently spoken out on the matter, with some expressing concerns about Robinson potentially hurting Trump and other GOP candidates in the Tar Heel State.
“If the reporting on Mark Robinson is a total media fabrication, he needs to take immediate legal action,” North Carolina U.S. Senator Thom Tillis wrote Friday on X, formerly Twitter.
“If the reporting is true, he owes it to President Trump and every Republican to take accountability for his actions and put the future of NC & our party before himself,” he added.
Ted Budd, North Carolina’s other senator, told NBC News on Thursday that the lieutenant governor’s purported comments were “disgusting,” while adding that “Mark Robinson says they are not from him” but “he needs to prove that to the voters.”
More than 24 hours after the scandal emerged, Trump remained notably absent from the group of Republicans who have publicly weighed in on Robinson. The former president is scheduled to hold a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday.
During a rally with Robinson in March, Trump said that he was “better than Martin Luther King,” calling the lieutenant governor “Martin Luther King times two.” CNN on Thursday also reported that Robinson referred to King as a “f—ing commie bastard” and “Martin Lucifer Koon” in his “Nude Africa” posts.
In response to a request for comment, the Trump campaign pointed Newsweek to a statement from campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, who said that Trump was “focused on winning the White House and saving this country” and that “North Carolina is a vital part of this plan” without mentioning Robinson.
A Trump campaign spokesperson also anonymously told the Associated Press on Friday that Robinson was not expected to attend the former president’s rally in Wilmington, despite previously being a frequent guest at North Carolina Trump rallies.
Robinson campaign communications director Mike Lonergan blamed the reported posts on Josh Stein, Robinson’s Democratic gubernatorial opponent, in a statement emailed to Newsweek earlier on Friday.
“Everything Josh Stein [and] the Democrats say about Mark Robinson is either an outright lie or twisted so far out of context it might as well be,” Lonergan said. “The people of North Carolina have had enough lies from career politicians like Josh Stein—and that’s why they’ll elect Mark Robinson governor on November 5.”
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