NC Republicans still supporting self-proclaimed “black NAZI!” Mark Robinson in gubernatorial race

Many North Carolinians are now familiar with Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, antisemitic, Islamophobic and racist social media posts and speeches, but a just-released investigation of posts on a porn forum by CNN’s KFile shows an even more disturbing side to the gubernatorial hopeful.

Maya Angelou told us, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” In Robinson’s case, the hateful person he’s been showing us since he came onto the political scene in 2018 was only a part of the hateful person he actually is.

Despite the revelations about Robinson’s past porn forum posts where he referred to himself as “a black NAZI,” said “I wish they would bring [slavery] back,” and wrote about “peeping” on teenage girls in the shower – among a slew of other alarming posts – the North Carolina Republican Party is unequivocally standing by their candidate.

In an official statement posted on the NCGOP’s Twitter account on Thursday night, they came to Robinson’s defense and wrote that he “categorically denied the allegations made by CNN” and then blamed “the Left” and accused Democrats of trying “to smear Mark Robinson.” At no point in their statement did they condemn his comments.

Donald Trump, who has praised his friend Mark Robinson and compared him to Martin Luther King, Jr., is now desperately trying to distance himself from the candidate he has campaigned with and endorsed. Trump knows North Carolina is a must-win if he wants to have a shot at winning the election and he now knows that Robinson’s name on the ballot threatens Republican wins throughout the state.

Trump and the GOP have spent years not just tolerating Robinson’s disgusting beliefs, but actively promoting them, which only proves just how out of touch Republicans are with North Carolinians’ values.

Since the NCGOP is officially supporting Robinson and his comments, individual Republican candidates whose names will appear with Robinson’s on our ballot must accept responsibility for their gubernatorial candidate and his beliefs. Many of these candidates have spoken glowingly about Robinson, posted photos posing with him and endorsed his candidacy. They knew who Robinson was then and had no problem supporting him. They can’t pretend to be surprised now.