Ditching Mark Robinson wouldn’t solve the GOP’s North Carolina problem

The allegations surrounding Mark Robinson’s alleged posts on a pornographic website have prompted some Republicans to call for the North Carolina lieutenant governor to drop out of the state’s gubernatorial race.

The GOP candidate denies making the posts outlined in CNN’s report, which alleges that he had touted being a “Black Nazi” and had expressed wanting to own slaves, among other things. CNN reported that the posts were made under a username that he used frequently online and with which he shared an email address.

Aside from potentially costing North Carolina Republicans a chance at winning the governor’s mansion, there’s concern in conservative circles that Robinson remaining on the ticket could also hinder Donald Trump’s chances at winning a key state. That probably explains why Robinson — someone with a history of bigotry who the former president has suggested is superior to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — was nowhere to be seen at the Trump rally in North Carolina over the weekend. And on Monday, the Republican Governors Association confirmed that it has no future advertising planned for Robinson.

But throwing Robinson under the bus wouldn’t resolve Trump’s crazy candidate problem in North Carolina.

And that’s because, as I’ve written previously, that problem extends beyond Trump and Robinson: It also includes Michele Morrow, the Republican seeking to become the state’s top education official. She reportedly encouraged a pro-Trump military coup on Jan. 6, and she has called for Democrats to be executed and ranted about people not speaking English at Dollar Tree. And just last week, Morrow wrote on X that the plus sign in “LGBTQ+” includes pedophiles.

The GOP ticket in North Carolina also includes Rep. Dan Bishop, who’s running to be attorney general and earlier this year compared Trump’s criminal prosecution in New York to the unfair treatment of Black Southerners during the Jim Crow era.

The point here is that, sure, Bishop and Morrow might not exhibit the same exact concoction of eyebrow-raising chaos and extremism as Robinson, but they’re both MAGA extremists who are simply being eclipsed by their party’s gubernatorial nominee.

That said, it’s entirely possible Trump wins North Carolina despite all this. I personally believe the right-wing legislature’s voter suppression efforts and gerrymandering, in addition to the GOP’s attempted voter roll purges and the state Supreme Court’s decision to delay early voting, have all given Trump and Republicans an advantage.

But it’s remarkable to note the predicament the party has created for itself by boosting all of these extremists in North Carolina. And there’s some irony here, too.

WRAL, the NBC affiliate in Raleigh, published a story over the weekend about North Carolina Republicans who are fuming at state GOP leadership for allowing Robinson’s rise despite all the red flags surrounding him. One of the people shouldering some of the blame is Michael Whatley, who oversaw Robinson’s ascension as chair of the North Carolina GOP before leaving his job in March to become chair of the Republican National Committee.

Now the monstrous state party that Whatley helped build could spell Trump’s political doom, whether Robinson stays in the race or not.