Things Get Weird in North Carolina

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Mark Robinson is the Republican lieutenant governor of North Carolina, a position to which he was elected in 2020 and with his term expiring in January of 2025.  Robinson is currently the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, a race he seems destined to lose.

Prior to entering politics in the previous decade, Mark Robinson, a Black man, was a weekend minister whose regular paycheck came from working in the furniture construction industry.   Robinson, who has the oratory skills of a well-practiced preacher, first came to prominent public notice when he delivered an impassioned defense of guns at his local city council meeting in the spring of 2018.  His speech went viral on Facebook, and a politician was born.

Donald Trump, apparently referring to Robinson's oratorical skills, has called him "Martin Luther King on steroids."  Trump endorsed Robinson for Governor in this spring's GOP primary in North Carolina, and the candidate went on to win a three-way statewide race with 64.8% of the vote.

Robinson was already controversial when he won the gubernatorial primary and was on record as having made inflammatory remarks that were homophobic, transphobic, racist, anti-semitic, and Islamophobic.  He is like Trump in that he seems ready to say anything that happens to flit across his mind.

A big part of Mark Robinson's political persona is built around his staunch anti-abortion stand.  A few weeks ago he and his wife announced that back in the 1980's when they were dating, he had paid for her to have an abortion.  Now he says publicly that he thinks the process should not be allowed after the 12th week of pregnancy, and he has been quoted as saying privately that he actually prefers that the number of weeks be reduced to zero.

Robinson has been identified by personnel from businesses that sell and rent pornography as someone who used to frequent their places of business, and he admitted to once having an interest in pornography.

A report from CNN yesterday leveled several new allegations at the Republican gubernatorial candidate in North Carolina including statements allegedly made on a porn site more than ten years ago when Robinson allegedly referred to himself as a "black Nazi" and pined for the return of slavery saying that he would pcertainly purchase a few.  He had also supposedly posted remarks critical of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, the man to whom Trump sought to compare him.  Among other things, he reportedly referred to Dr. King as a "commie bastard."

CNN reported that Robinson, a man who had previously called transgender and gay people "filth," had, according to the messages that he allegedly posted, had watched and commented on-line about enjoying transgender porn.

And there was more, with CNN indicating that some of it was so salacious that they had chosen not to report it.

Mark Robinson is denying the allegations by CNN.   While the messages do exist, he is denying the authorship of those messages.

Republicans in North Carolina were of apparently two minds on the issue of Mark Robinson and his colorful past.  One group stood behind the candidate and encouraged voters to vote on issues rather than personalities.  Another group, noting that midnight yesterday was the deadline for dropping out of the race, seemed to be encouraging the candidate to throw in the towel.   He resisted the encouragement to do so and remained in the race.   North Carolina began sending out their absentee ballots this morning - and Mark Robinson's name is still on the ballot as the Republican candidate for governor of the state.

One news report this morning said that the Trump campaign's internal polling shows Mark Robinson trailing his Democratic opponent, NC Attorney General Josh Stein, by 14 points.

(Note to Donald Trump:  Be careful what you wish for!)