Donald Trump’s Campaigning in North Carolina. Mark Robinson Won’t Be Appearing With Him.

Trump praised the scandal-plagued gubernatorial candidate as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

Chris Seward/AP

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Donald Trump will be campaigning in North Carolina today—without Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor by his side. The Trump campaign has remained mum about Robinson, a top Trump ally, since CNN reported on Thursday that Robinson had made a series of “inflammatory comments” on a pornographic message board more than a decade ago, including referring to himself as a “black NAZI!” and praising Mein Kampf as a “good read.”

This wasn’t Robinson’s first scandal. Last October, Jewish Insider reported that Robinson had made antisemitic comments on social media going back a decade, including sharing a quote about racial pride that has been attributed to Adolf Hitler.

Trump endorsed Robinson in March despite these remarks, even referring to the candidate, who has denied that systemic racism exists, as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

Trump won North Carolina in 2020 with his narrowest margin of victory. Politico reports that the Harris campaign sees the scandal as an opening to appeal to voters in the state. “Trump made Mark Robinson,” advisers wrote in a memo, “and he will have to answer for him.”

On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign released a new ad highlighting Trump’s past praise of Robinson, and Robinson’s comments on abortion. The ad includes a clip where Robinson says, “abortion in this country is about killing a child because you aren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”

In a video on Thursday, Robinson denied writing the posts revealed by CNN. “You know my words, you know my character, and you know I have been completely transparent in this race and before.”

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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