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Mark Robinson claimed a decisive victory in North Carolina’s GOP primary last week. The current Lt. Governor of the state easily clinched his party’s nomination for governor.
The North Carolina Republican Party cheered Robinson’s historic victory. In a statement on X (Twitter), the party heralded Robinson as a “man of the people, not the elites”.
But within minutes of the race being called for Robinson, the candidate’s controversial and bigoted history gained national attention. And now many wonder whether a man with views described as hateful and radical may soon become the Governor of the third largest state in the South.
Robinson’s long list of controversial comments have targeted nearly every possible group in the state.
Robinson’s long history of antisemitic statements and comments denying the Holocaust are now center stage after his nomination
In 2014, Robinson quoted Adolf Hitler on Facebook. He wrote in part “pride in one’s own race… is also a normal and healthy sentiment.”
Hitler used nationalism and white supremacy to lay the groundwork for the Holocaust. The Nazi leader pushed the narrative that Aryan people (mainly white, able-bodied, heterosexual, Christian individuals with blond hair and blue eyes) are the “pure race”. He also pushed propaganda, mainly targeted at diminishing the humanity of Jews, people of color, disabled individuals and gays.
Millions of Jews and hundreds of thousands of others were systematically and brutally killed during Hitler’s reign.
Yet, when confronted about his choice to elevate Hitler’s words, Robinson doubled down. At a Moms for Liberty event last year, he claimed his decision to quote Hitler, without condemnation, shouldn’t be considered support of Hitler.
However, Robinson has consistently levied hate-filled attacks against the same groups of people the Nazis targeted with their propaganda.
According to The Times of Israel, Robinson has denied the Holocaust against Jewish people, calling it “hogwash”.
In a 2018 post, Robinson wrote “this foolishness about Hitler disarming MILLIONS of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash.”
According to North Carolina station WRAL, Robinson also denies the fact that six million Jews died in the Holocaust. He’s also pushed fringe theories that Jewish Bankers, Muslims, China and the CIA are “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”.
Robinson even once took aim at the movie Black Panther, saying it was “created by an agnostic Jew and put to film by [a] satanic marxist.”
The candidate’s comments haven’t just been rooted in antisemitism, however.
Anti-LGBTQ+ comments and attacks on women give many pause ahead of the 2024 election
Robinson has frequently targeted the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in his rhetoric as well.
He has referred to gay, bi and trans North Carolinians as “filth”, “maggots”, “flies” and “what the cows leave behind”. Robinson also wants to arrest trans women who use the women’s restroom and says the pride flag makes him “sick”.
Newly resurfaced video that came to light again after Tuesday’s election shows Robinson targeting women’s rights. At a GOP event years ago, he says in response to a question “I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote.”
Robinson has also made clear he would work to eliminate the right for women to have an abortion in the state if elected. Republicans hold a majority in both the state house and state senate. With Robinson as Governor, the state could easily pass extremely restrictive abortion bans.
Robinson cheered the state’s 12 week ban on abortion, and says he would push for even more restrictions.
“We’ve got it down to 12 weeks,” Robinson said. “The next goal is to get it down to 6, and then just keep moving from there.”
Robinson received pushback for claiming Black Americans owe reparations
Robinson, who would be North Carolina’s first Black governor, has also made controversial statements targeting the Black community.
When asked about his stance on reparations by a Black voter, Robinson said “nobody owes you anything for slavery.”
The gubernatorial hopeful went on to claim that Black Americans are the ones who owe reparations.
“Why do you owe?” Robinson recalled asking the voter in a campaign speech. “Because somebody in those fields took stripes for you. Somebody had to walk through Jim Crow for you; somebody fought wars and died for you. Somebody lived less than because they didn’t have what you have, and they did it for you.”
Robinson is also on record blaming Africans, and not Europeans, for the practice of enslavement. He even once referred to the Civil Rights Movement as a “communist plot to subvert capitalism”.
With just eight months until Election Day, the latest polls have shown a neck-and-neck race between Robinson and Democrat Josh Stein.