Mark Robinson staffers flee as GOP abandons a bigot it championed

Republican Governor Candidate North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson speaks at an election night event in Greensboro, N.C., Tuesday, March 5, 2024.

Multiple senior campaign officials for North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson announced over the weekend they are leaving the campaign, following the release of disturbing message board posts reportedly made by the Republican.

Robinson lost his campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, finance director, and the campaign’s general consultant/senior adviser.

The departures come after the bombshell CNN report detailing alleged posts by Robinson on a porn forum where he touted himself as a “Black Nazi” and called for the reinstitution of slavery. The posts also make reference to “peeping” on women in public gym showers and an affinity for transgender erotica—which stand in contrast to Robinson’s frequent attacks on LGBTQ+ people.

Robinson has denied the posts were his and blamed artificial intelligence.

“There’s been over $1 million spent on me through A.I. by a billionaire’s son who’s bound and determined to destroy me,” Robinson told CNN.

Republican leaders have distanced themselves from Robinson, flip-flopping on years of support for him.

At his Saturday rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, Donald Trump did not have Robinson in attendance, as he has at past rallies. Trump did not even mention Robinson’s name. Previously Trump had Robinson speak before him and hailed him as “Martin Luther King on steroids” and “Martin Luther King times two.”

A video compilation highlighting Trump’s closeness to Robinson was released by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign following the CNN report.

In an appearance on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said if the comments were truly made by Robinson that the candidate would be “unfit to serve.”

Josh Stein, current North Carolina attorney general and Robinson’s Democratic rival in the gubernatorial race, called hypocrisy on the Republican exodus in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“They have been supporting him, and now it looks like folks want to run away from him, but they have lifted [him]; Mark Robinson could not exist without the support of Donald Trump,” Stein said.

Robinson rose to prominence within the conservative world after being promoted by the NRA and Fox News following a rant before a local city council.

His commentary describing gay people as “devil-worshipping child molesters,” calling Black Democrats “slaves,” and referring to the students who survived the Parkland mass shooting as “silly little immature media prosti-tots” were widely publicized.

These statements did not hinder his rise within the Republican Party and his selection as North Carolina’s current lieutenant governor.

Robinson has also made antisemitic comments, promoting the false claim of a “globalist” conspiracy to destroy Trump. Robinson even claimed that the fictional comic book character Black Panther was part of a Jewish conspiracy.

These beliefs and rhetoric were in the public sphere long before Robinson was invited to speak at the Republican National Convention this year as part of the process to nominate Trump. In that speech, Robinson hailed Trump as “the Braveheart of our time.”

It was only after the revelation of the message board posts that Republicans have now begun to push Robinson away.