You might not know Mark Robinson, but if you’re seeking to understand the depth of Republican extremism, you should. Robinson is the Republican nominee for governor in North Carolina. He’s currently serving as the state’s lieutenant governor, and he’s been endorsed by Donald Trump. He’s also one of the worst candidates for public office in the country, and a man who lays bare the rot at the core of the current GOP.
Robinson is a far-right radical who has a history of making incendiary comments. He first rose to fame after a 2018 speech, where he defended gun rights in the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting. In the same year, he mocked survivors of that shooting, calling teenagers who suffered through immense trauma “spoiled, angry, know-it-all children.” Regarding the culture war, Robinson is homophobic; he once predicted that “homosexuality” would lead to the “end of civilization as we know it.” On the issue of abortion, Robinson said in a Facebook live stream that “Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers…It is about killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.” He previously likened abortion to “genocide” and “murder.” Consequently, he supports signing legislation to outlaw abortion “for any reason.”
Now, Robinson finds himself embroiled in a scandal that tops his previous lows. Last Thursday, a bombshell CNN report revealed that Robinson referred to himself as a “black Nazi” and argued that slavery should be reinstated. The remarks were made on a porn site called Nude Africa, and this is far from a complete sample of his posts—most are too graphic to report. The nature and place of Robinson’s latest awful posts has caused a few Republicans to jump ship on his candidacy, namely his campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, finance director and senior advisor. All of them quit after the comments were brought to the public’s attention. GOP governors Brian Kemp and Bill Lee have pulled their endorsements.
By and large, however, the Republican response has been timid and evasive. J.D. Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, offered that the allegations “aren’t necessarily reality,” echoing Robinson’s defense that the posts had been fabricated. CNN’s meticulous investigating noted, among other evidence, that the account’s full name was listed as “mark robinson” with a private email address linked to Robinson’s other online accounts.
Some Republicans even defended Robinson, including GOP Congressman Dan Bishop, who accused Democrats of a “meticulously timed and coordinated character assassination.” Meanwhile, Trump did not feature Robinson at a recent campaign rally in North Carolina, but has not pulled his endorsement or made any public comments about the controversy.
The mixed response to Robinson’s posts within the GOP is concerning. To try and defend his comments, or refuse to take a stance on them, is abhorrent. However, that isn’t the worst of the entire affair. The fact that Robinson was nominated by the GOP, despite the morally-bankrupt rhetoric stated even before the most recent fiasco, represents a deep failure in the party of Trump.
Before Trump ascended to the presidential nomination in 2016, he himself was almost brought down by demeaning comments about women in the Access Hollywood tapes. Several top Republicans, such as Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, called on Trump to drop out, but he refused and ended up winning. This set a precedent for the level of tolerance for such disgusting remarks, and the subsequent lack of fallout established a lack of morality that continues today.
In 2024, Robinson earned the nomination for governor, largely because of Trump’s enthusiastic endorsement. In a rally earlier this year, Trump said Robinson was “one of the great leaders of our country” and “Martin Luther King on steroids.” It is no surprise that Trump, who has his own long and detailed history of inflammatory rhetoric, endorsed Robinson, but it should not go without condemnation. The comparison of a man who brutally mocked survivors of a school shooting and has said that “Some people need killing” to King, the greatest civil rights leader in American history, shows there is no limit to how far Republicans can take their delusions.
Robinson is thoroughly unfit for office, and the only reason he emerged from the cesspool of far-right Facebook posts to the gubernatorial nomination is because of the environment Trump created after becoming leader of the Republican Party.