CNN reported on September 19 that Mark Robinson, the GOP gubernatorial candidate in North Carolina, referred to himself as a “black Nazi” and expressed his support for reinstating slavery on a porn site’s message boards more than a decade ago.
Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor and a staunch critic of transgenderism, discussed his fondness for transgender pornography and referred to himself as a “perv” on the porn site “Nude Africa,” CNN reported.
He also reportedly referred to civil rights leader Martin Luther King by a series of disparaging names, including “Martin Luther Koon.”
Donald Trump, the GOP candidate for president, enthusiastically endorsed Robinson in March. He called Robinson “an unbelievable lieutenant governor.” He was Robinson was “better than Martin Luther King,” or, as he Trump put, “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
Robinson’s polling numbers have fallen dramatically since the CNN story. He now trails the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general, by 17 points. An August poll put the margin at 6 points.
GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump barely leads his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris in North Carolina, a state he probably needs to win to secure the presidential election. A Democratic presidential candidate has only won North Carolina once since 1976.
If Trump loses North Carolina – and with it the election, it won’t be Robinson’s fault – it will be Trump’s fault.
The Robinson scandal puts Trump in a familiar position – endorsing flawed candidates who then jeopardize winnable races and weaken the GOP chances of winning the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, or, in this case, the presidency.
Trump was asked whether he would drop his endorsement of Robinson,
“I don’t know the situation,” Trump answered and walked away.
The GOP leadership knows “the situation” — that Trump continues to endorses a candidate who might cost the party the White House. That’s why GOP officials are calling on Trump to drop his endorsement of Robinson, the Washington Post reported.
Trump, if his past is any indication, won’t do that.
He will either shun the embattled candidate, as he is currently doing with Robinson, or continue to enthusiastically endorse him.
Trump has endorsed a number of political candidates over the last several years who became involved in scandals involving, among other things, sexual abuse, sexual assault and other transgressions.
In 2017, Trump endorsed Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate in Alabama amid accusations by a dozen women that he had pursued them for sex when he was in his 30s and they were below the age of consent. The Associated Press reported that one woman said that Moore “initiated sexual contact with her when she was 14.”
Trump ignored demands for Moore to withdraw from the race and continued to praise the former expelled state chief justice. Trump said Moore had his “full support.”
Democrat Doug Jones defeated Moore in the Senate election in the beet-red state of Alabama. This reduced the GOP majority in the Senate to one senator.
In 2022, Trump endorsed for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia former football player Herschel Walker with no political experience who had been repeatedly accused of physically abusing women, by, among others, his wife and a long-term girlfriend.
Walker lost the Senate race and the Republicans lost the Senate by a single vote.
Trump also enthusiastically endorsed North Carolina congressman Madison Cawthorn in 2022 after the state’s GOP had put their support behind a state senator in the party primary.
GOP officials and operatives said they had grown frustrated over the first-term congressman’s repeated driving and gun violations, his neglect of constituent services, his contempt for party elders, and his support of Trump in the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election
There also was the release of nude video of Cawthorn and Cawthorn’s claim of cocaine parties and sex orgies among Washington DC politicians.
Trump endorsed Cawthorn.
“When Madison was first elected to Congress, he did a great job,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. “Recently, he made some foolish mistakes, which I don’t believe he’ll make again. . . . let’s give Madison a second chance!”
Cawthorn lost in the GOP primary.
Trump also endorsed Sean Parnell in the 2022 U.S. Senate GOP primary in Pennsylvania after he had been accused of domestic abuse by his wife, and Charles Herbster in the GOP primary for governor in Nebraska after he had been accused of groping and forcibly kissing eight women.
Parnell dropped out of the primary. Herbster lost the GOP primary.
Trump then endorsed celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz, who had no prior political experience but Trump was impressed his the television ratings of his television. Oz then lost the winnable Senate race to Democrat John Fetterman, flipping the seat from Republicans to Democrats.
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