North Carolina’s governor nominee and Republican Mark Robinson has been reported making provocative statements on a porn forum over a decade ago. An investigation by CNN Kfile– the news source’s investigative team- found incriminating evidence of Robinson referring to himself as a “black nazi.” In archived messages from the same website, he openly identified himself as a “perv,” under the username “minisoldr” which shared the same email as Robinson. Despite this, the politician has since denied these claims in an interview with CNN stating that it “is not anything that is characteristic of [him].” He also referred to this incident of “tabloid trash,” and that his state’s issues were more important. These scandalous comments were made before his entrance in politics in 2018, when he went viral on social media for speaking out in defense of gun rights at his city’s council meeting. Since then, he left his furniture job and pursued public speaking by addressing conservative groups and went on to win the election for lieutenant governor general of North Carolina in 2020.
Robinson has publicly made many controversial claims in the past regarding abortion and LGBTQIA+ rights. Previously, he has mentioned that he does not believe in pregnancy terminations and that “it makes no difference to [him] why or how that child ended up in the womb” during his campaign in 2020, however, he retracted his statement in 2022 and changed his stance on terminating pregnancies without exceptions and even mentioned how he paid for an abortion for his then-girlfriend in the 1980s. In Feburary at an event in Greenville, Robinson expressed how people who are confused about their gender should “find a corner outside somewhere to go” to the bathroom.
North Carolina is considered a crucial state for Robinson to win, in order for the republicans to triump in the upcoming presidential election. Former president Trump narrowly won in 2020 however the democrats have increased their resources in the state. Even before the report, Robinson has been shown polling behind the opposition party’s Josh Stein who shared on CNN’s State of the Union, that “Mark Robinson is absolutely unfit to be the governor of North Carolina.”
In March 2024, Trump endorsed Robinson and claimed that he is “Martin Luther King on steroids”, referring to how Robinson is a “better” leader than one of the heads of the civil rights movement. The nominee responded to this comment saying how he is “humbled” by Trump’s claims. During an interview with MSNBC, political analyst Alexi Maccamond said that “Mark Robinson is a liability for Trump in so many ways.” Despite this, Trump has not retracted his statements, yet members of Robinson’s campaign have resigned from their positions including his campaign manager, consultant, senior adviser, finance director and deputy campaign manager as confirmed by WUNC, however the nominee has vowed not to exit the race.
Many people continue to support Robinson, however others are enraged and fear for their livelihoods because of similar politicians with comparable stances around the world.
Written by Suriya Rampersad
