Mark Robinson appears to be lashing out at Republicans who ditched him

On November 6, 2024By Littum

WASHINGTON ― Days before the election, North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson appeared to lash out at the Republican Party for abandoning him amid his controversies, not the least of which are disturbing comments he allegedly made on a porn website.

Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, ripped unnamed Republican politicians during a Friday meeting with Michele Morrow, a far-right GOP nominee for State Inspector of Schools. After paying tribute to Americans who fought in the Revolutionary War and in world wars, Robinson contrasted them with today’s elected officials, who he said “tuck tail and run” when faced with challenges.

“We have so-called elected officials, people who I call politicians, who are afraid to stand up and fight for what is right,” Robinson told a room of supporters.

“As soon as they get into a little bit of trouble, they stick their tails and run,” he said, apparently alluding to Republicans cutting ties with him after CNN’s September report on his porn site comments. “They text you on the phone and say, ‘Uh, uh, uh, I’m sorry, but uh, uh, uh, I got, I got, I can’t, I can’t support—uh, uh.’ It makes me sick to my stomach.”

Robinson said that when certain Republicans win their election on Tuesday, they will realize that they are not prepared to defend the Constitution as much as they are to defend their own “position of power.”

“What will you do, Mr. Coward, that would not stand up and fight? What will you do?” he shouted. “You’re going to tuck your tail and run. You’re going to turn on your fellow Republicans. You’re going to turn on your fellow so-called conservatives.”

“What will you do, Mr. Coward, that would not stand up and fight?” Robinson shouted at a rally, apparently referring to Republicans who cut ties with him after CNN’s report on his porn site comments. via Associated Press

The GOP nearly dropped Robinson in the wake of the CNN report, which revealed years of disturbing comments he had done in a forum on a porn site, Nude Africa. He referred to himself as a “black Nazi”. He described being sexually aroused by spying on women and girls in public showers. He called himself a “perv” who likes transgender pornography – a stark contrast to the transphobic rhetoric he used as a candidate.

Even the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump who enthusiastically endorsed Robinson in March and has shared scenes with him at campaign events, now pretends he doesn’t know who he is.

Robinson has denied the CNN report and is sue the network for 50 million dollars. But CNN’s report carefully detailed how it linked Robinson to the volume of comments in the porn site’s forum, and Robinson has not presented new evidence to refute the report.

He even originally proposed that all those comments might have been from him.

Robinson was already trailing his Democratic opponent, Josh Stein, before the CNN report came out. The Republican from North Carolina has been making vile comments for yearsgarners conspiracy theories and makes countless sexist, transphobic and otherwise offensive claims. But his campaign has collapsed in the past month, with his staff pulling out en masse and GOP groups cutting him off financially.

You can watch the full clip of Robinson’s Friday remarks here. His attacks on nameless Republican politicians start around the three minute mark.

At another point during Friday’s rally, Robinson gave some credit to Democrats for uniting behind Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who he said was “the worst” candidate ever.

“They don’t stick their tails and run. We don’t need to either, folks,” he said, adding, “We’re not up against people who want to back down and quit.”

Ironically, he urged his supporters to be like Trump — who has publicly cut ties with Robinson — to stand up to Democrats.

“We need to continue to do what our former president and soon-to-be president always do and stand up and fight!” he said to applause.

Robinson and Stein, who is currently the state attorney general, are competing for an open seat in the governor’s race. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) is term-limited.

The latest poll in their race was conducted this week and put Stein in the mix a lead of 17 percentage points over Robinson, according to poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight.

The Cook Political Report rates this seat as “probably Democrat.”

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