Mark Robinson Seems To Lash Out At Republicans Who Ditched Him

WASHINGTON ― Days before the election, North Carolina gubernatorial nominee 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 reportedly made on a porn site.

Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, ripped unnamed Republican politicians during a Friday rally with Michele Morrow, a far-right GOP nominee for state superintendent of schools. After hailing 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 that I call politicians, that are afraid to stand up and fight for what’s right,” Robinson said to a room of supporters.

“As soon as they get a little trouble, they tuck tail and run,” he said, apparently alluding to Republicans cutting ties with him after CNN’s September report on his porn site comments. “They’ll send you a message on the phone and say, “Uh, uh, uh, I’m, I’m sorry, but, uh, uh, uh, I got, I got, I can’t, I can’t supp– uh, uh.’ It makes me sick to my stomach.”

Robinson said when certain Republicans win their elections on Tuesday, they’ll realize they’re not prepared to defend the Constitution as much as defend their own “position of power.”

“Then what are you going to do, Mr. Coward that wouldn’t stand up and fight? What are you going to do then?” he shouted. “You’re going to tuck tail and run. You’re going to turn on your fellow Republicans. You’re going to turn on your fellow so-called conservatives.”

The GOP all but ditched Robinson in the wake of the CNN report, which uncovered years of disturbing comments he’d made 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 pornography featuring transgender people ― a sharp contrast to the transphobic rhetoric he uses as a candidate.

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

Robinson has denied the CNN report and is suing the network for $50 million. But CNN’s report meticulously laid out how it connected Robinson to the trove of comments in the porn site forum, and Robinson hasn’t presented any new evidence that refutes the report.

He even initially suggested that maybe all those comments were by him.

Robinson was already trailing his Democratic opponent, Josh Stein, before the CNN report came out. The North Carolina Republican has made vile comments for years, fanning conspiracy theories and making countless sexist, transphobic and otherwise offensive claims. But his campaign has collapsed in the last month, with his staff resigning 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 sort of gave credit to Democrats for being united behind Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who he said was “the worst” candidate ever.

“They don’t tuck tail and run. We don’t need to either, folks,” he said, adding, “We are not up against people who are going to back down and stop.”

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

“We have got to continue to do what our former president and soon-to-be next president always does, and stand up and fight!” he said to applause.

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

The most recent poll in their race was conducted this week and put Stein with a 17-percentage-point lead over Robinson, according to the polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight.

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