Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
When Republican Lt. Governor and gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson spoke to supporters last Saturday (Sept. 21) at Fayetteville Motor Speedway, he was among friends.
Any concerns he had of being treated disrespectfully by the people there after a troubling blockbuster CNN report two days earlier revealed evidence alleging that Robinson, prior to entering politics in 2020, frequented a pornography website where he called himself a “black Nazi,” expressed admiration for German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and boasted of positive thoughts about slavery and reinstating it, among other more salacious musings, were gone.
Instead, the crowd gathered there treated Robinson, 56, and his wife, Yolanda, warmly, especially during the meet-and-greet with the embattled candidate.
When asked by various media outlets what they thought of the explosive allegations about the Greensboro native - allegations that he has strongly denied - many said they didn’t believe the CNN reporting, and will continue to support Robinson in his bid for governor in November.
“Everybody makes mistakes,” one diehard Robinson supporter said. ‘You live and you learn, and nobody truly knows a person’s background and really knows the truth about things.”
The state NAACP doesn’t agree. It has called on the Black conservative culture warrior to step down from the race, as have some Republican colleagues.
For his part, Robinson is pointing his finger at who he believes is the source of his problems.
After alleging that his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Josh Stein, is responsible for leaking the story to CNN shortly after it broke, Robinson went on to charge that like another prominent Black Republican, conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, he is the victim of a “high-tech lynching.”
Robinson has vowed to stay in the race.
Stein’s campaign denies Robinson’s charge, and according to several political observers, there’s strong reason to believe him.
First of all, by state law, Robinson had until 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19th to withdraw his gubernatorial candidacy, and he refused to do it, even though various published reports had several top Republican leaders not only calling for him to leave so that the NCGOP could legally replace him, but other Republicans went to him as well, asking directly, only to be rebuffed.
Democrats actually want Robinson to stay in the race, as he’s doing, because they believe he will be a drag on the Republican ticket, hurting both former Pres. Donald Trump’s chances to win the state for a third time in his presidential campaign, and down ballot races for other key state government positions.
The Harris-Walz Democratic presidential campaign has already produced commercials tying Trump - who enthusiastically endorsed Robinson several months ago - to the controversial Black conservative.
Replacing him with a Republican seen as more feasible, and legislatively experienced, with less than two months to go before Election Day, was seen as a more practical move to help the party save face, sources say.
Secondly, according to published reports, Republicans had been itching to get rid of Robinson anyway since he was plucked from obscurity in 2018 to run for lt. governor. But because of his race, and meteoric rise in popularity within the party, party leaders backed off, even though they already had information about alleged questionable behavior and other problems that they could have exploited against him, but didn’t.
Robinson’s controversial social media posts bashing women, Jews, Muslims, Blacks and LGBTQ+ people were also common knowledge in GOP circles, but the thinking was those conservative musings would further help distinguish him as a culture warrior with North Carolina’s hard-right base.
“Many of us considered [attacking Robinson] and had seen a lot of the [opposition research] that we believed would hurt him in a general [election],” State Sen. Scott Stone, one of Robinson’s eight GOP 2020 primary opponents, told WRAL-TV recently. “But with nine in the race, if one person goes after him, it only helps the others.”
Reports are that even though Trump ignored Robinson and his troubling allegations last weekend during his campaign visit to Wilmington, he’s not turning his back on the man he once told a crowd was “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
Why? Because Robinson’s supporters are as devout as Trump’s MAGA following. Indeed, many of them are one in the same. Trump reportedly does not want to anger what essentially is his base.
However, that same loyalty to Robinson apparently didn’t extend to the candidate’s campaign staff, many of whom, including the campaign manager and chief fundraiser, quit Robinson’s campaign late Sunday.
On Monday, Robinson said he was putting together a team to go after CNN, which includes not only a new campaign manager, but even legal counsel.
With several weeks to go in the campaign, funding drying up and an unceasing amount of negative news reports to overcome, Robinson’s toxic brand now may be too much.
At press time, Robinson was still at least 14 points down behind Stein in at least three recent polls. By staying in the race at this juncture, Mark Robinson is betting that his supporters are just as loyal as Donald Trump’s and will see him through to improbable victory in November.
At the very least, he’s hoping that a stronger than expected finish at this juncture carves out a future in conservative politics for the fiery culture warrior. Otherwise, where else does he go?
