Lt. Governor Mark Robinson is only the Republican nominee for Governor of North Carolina because Donald Trump endorsed him above all other candidates in the Republican primaries. The Republican nominee will be at a rally in North Carolina next week, and Robinson won’t be at his side. The Trump campaign issued a statement shortly after CNN reported on Robinson’s comments on a porn site a decade ago without mentioning his name. In March, Trump said Robinson was “Martin Luther King on steroids.” In May, Trump told a Mar-a-Lago audience, “We have to cherish Mark, he’s a star. You have to cherish him.”
CNN found Robinson’s comments on “Nude Africa,” a pornographic website that includes a message board. Robinson, who was 12-14% behind in the polls prior to his messages going public, posted under the name “minisoldr,” a name he often used elsewhere. His Nude Africa profile listed his full name and included the email address he has used for years. They also matched “a litany of biographical materials” that confirmed his identity.
CNN reported a limited number of his comments due to their graphic nature. They included his interest in transgender porn and having been a Peeping Tom, spying on young girls while a teen in their locker room.
“I came to a spot that was a dead end but had two big vent covers over it," he wrote. "It just so happened it overlooked the showers! I sat there for about an hour and watched as several girls came in and showered. I went peeping again the next morning, but after that I went back the ladder was locked! So those two times where [sic] the only times I got to do it! Ahhhhh memories!!!!
“I like watching tranny on girl porn! That’s f*cking hot! It takes the man out while leaving the man in! And yeah I’m a ‘perv’ too!”
CNN contacted Robinson for a statement; it took him two days to respond. He denied the messages were his.
“This is not us. These are not our words. And this is not anything that is characteristic of me. I’m not going to get into the minutia of how somebody manufactured this, these salacious tabloid lies.”
Robinson reportedly frowned when Trump called him a better version of Martin Luther King, Jr. His past comments help us understand why he might have viewed Trump’s comments as insulting.
“Get that f*cking commie bastard (MLK Memorial) off the National Mall,” he wrote.
“I’m not in the KKK. They don’t let blacks join. If I was in the KKK I would have called him Martin Lucifer Koon!”
Robinson also refered to himself as a Black Nazi and advocated for the return of slavery.
“Slavery is not bad," he wrote. "Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few.”
Robinson has referred to Muslims as “little rag-headed bastards” and said that “if Muslims took over, liberals would be the 1st ones to be beheaded!”
The media has asked whether Robinson will withdraw from the gubernatorial race. The deadline for withdrawal just passed, and Robinson affirmed that he’s in the race to stay.
Though leaks of his porn site comments are new, Robinson’s penchant for controversial comments is not. The Assembly, a North Carolina digital publication, reported that Robinson frequented local video pornography shops in the 1990s and 2000s. The story cited six people who interacted with and saw him frequent Greensboro, North Carolina, stores. A spokesperson for Robinson called the story false and a “complete fiction.” The question isn’t only how Robinson got so far as being the Republican nominee for Governor. It should be how he became the current Lt. Governor.
There are thoughts that the negative publicity surrounding Robinson will drain all other Republicans on the ballot in November. That may also apply to Trump, who suddenly doesn’t remember the man he compared to one of our greatest civil rights heroes.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.