Opinion | In Mark Robinson’s fall, Republicans are getting what they asked for

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina, can no longer win a political race in the state — or anywhere in America, for that matter. 

Not after CNN uncovered sexually explicit and inflammatory posts he reportedly wrote in the comments of a pornographic website. According to the report, Robinson — who’s campaigned as a fundamentalist, Christian conservative — commented frequently between 2008 and 2012 on a site called “Nude Africa.” 

Robinson has denied he is the author of the posts, saying “these are not the words of Mark Robinson” and dismissing the report as “salacious tabloid trash.” But CNN’s reporters documented several connections between the candidate, the email he used to register with the sites and biographical details posted to the various profiles.

The porn chatroom posts identified as Robinson’s are graphic, sexually menacing and demeaning to women. If you track them down, you can’t unsee them.

He commented on his love for transgender pornography, called himself a “Black Nazi,” made profane comments about a woman’s alleged rape, referred to Martin Luther King Jr. by a racial slur (note that this article later quotes some of that language, which readers may find offensive), and even reminisced graphically about a teenage experience peeping on a women’s locker room at a local college.

These are just the tip of a nasty iceberg. CNN acknowledged many of the things Robinson is accused of writing were so lurid, they couldn’t be published.

If these statements offend you, congratulations: You are a thinking, feeling person. You’re holding your elected leaders to a higher standard than the North Carolina Republican Party, which doubled down on its support for Robinson on Thursday night after the report was published. Most folks wouldn’t let the guy in this story watch their dog, much less lead their state.

North Carolina Republicans had few realistic options for replacing Robinson, with the state deadline for candidates to withdraw just hours away when the story dropped. But there’s no reason to think they would have pushed him out anyway. They’ve stuck with him through every disturbing scandal so far, and there have been a lot.

His candidacy was damaged and unhinged from the start, fetishizing violence, demonizing gay people and talking about women like they’re trash. The party has had literally dozens of opportunities to disavow Robinson: when he said some folks out there “need killing,” when he fantasized about murdering people in the government with his AR-15, when he called LGBTQ people “maggots,” when he said women getting abortions just need to keep their “skirt down.”

The party routinely looked past Robinson’s breathtaking hypocrisy. A 2022 story revealed that Robinson, who has referred to abortion as “murder” and abortion doctors as “butchers,” once paid for a girlfriend’s abortion. He’s implied gender-neutral restrooms are a breeding ground for perverts. He’s said women need protection from those perverts, but boasted online about spying on college girls in a locker room, according to CNN. He described LGBTQ+ people as “maggots” but according to that same CNN report, he once wrote about his enjoyment of pornography that features trans people, enthusiastically describing himself as a “perv.”

Many of Robinson’s Republican peers have held him up as a champion, though, an example of America at its finest. At one stump speech in North Carolina, Donald Trump said Robinson was “like a fine wine.”

“You have to cherish him,” Trump said. “He’s an outstanding person. I’ve gotten to know him so well.”

Like Trump, Robinson cast himself as an uncensored outsider who traded put-downs for policy; a conservative, chest-thumping warrior who seemed to be the beneficiary of limitless forgiveness for his transgressions.

North Carolina Republicans have shown that the MAGA movement doesn’t believe in such limits. But voters will, which is why Republicans and Robinson will stay this way, locked in a doomed embrace, through Election Day. This is what rigor mortis looks like in a campaign.

The only question is whether Republicans up and down the ticket, including Trump, will get dragged down with him. Trump is virtually tied with Kamala Harris in this battleground state and some conservatives are worried Robinson’s troubles will keep Trump voters at home. On Thursday night, GOP candidates running for office in North Carolina were trying to scrub their social media profiles of references to Robinson, like rats fleeing a sinking ship. 

A candidate who talks about the historic nature of his candidacy — if he wins, he would be the first Black governor in the state’s history — once allegedly wrote, “Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few.” The man whom Trump praised as “MLK on steroids” once referred to Martin Luther King Jr. as “Martin Lucifer Koon.”

Coincidentally, I interviewed Martin Luther King III on Thursday about a trip he’s making to North Carolina this weekend to speak to rural communities of color about the election. The CNN story hadn’t broken yet but the word was out that it contained hateful descriptions of his late father.

When I asked him about it, he was tactful, which isn’t easy when someone says something awful about your dad.

“Clearly, it feels like this rejection is emerging for this candidacy,” King said. “And at some point, it will be looked at as a disaster.”

Why wait any longer? Let’s call it that now.