Former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, got a warning on Friday from The Wall Street Journal, a leading national conservative newspaper, about the swing state of North Carolina.
Earlier this week, Republican North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson‘s gubernatorial campaign for the Tar Heel State was rocked by a CNN report alleging that Robinson made racist and sexist posts on a pornography site over a decade ago. Robinson has repeatedly denied writing the posts and has said he’ll stay in the race.
Robinson’s campaign communications director Mike Lonergan blamed the reported posts on Josh Stein, Robinson’s Democratic opponent, in a statement emailed to Newsweek on Friday.
“Everything Josh Stein [and] the Democrats say about Mark Robinson is either an outright lie or twisted so far out of context it might as well be,” Lonergan said. “The people of North Carolina have had enough lies from career politicians like Josh Stein—and that’s why they’ll elect Mark Robinson governor on November 5.”
Meanwhile, the Journal‘s editorial board wrote on Friday, “One reason the story has resonated politically is that Mr. Robinson is already famous for his incendiary public declarations…yet GOP voters nominated Mr. Robinson anyway.”
The op-ed continued: “It’s another example of Republicans falling for someone who claims to be a ‘fighter’ but whose language and extreme positions make him toxic in a general election. Republicans did the same in nominating Doug Mastriano for Pennsylvania Governor in 2022. Donald Trump endorsed both men.”
State Senator Mastriano, a far-right Republican who was backed by Trump, lost Pennslyvania’s 2022 gubernatorial race to Democrat Josh Shapiro. Mastriano was known for his extreme stances, like when he said violators of a proposed abortion ban should face murder charges.
Trump, who has endorsed Robinson for governor, has praised him in the past, calling the Black politician “Martin Luther King on steroids.” Robinson has also frequented Trump’s campaign events in North Carolina.
The Journal‘s editorial board wrote that Mastriano’s nomination “cost the Harrisburg statehouse for another four years, and Mr. Robinson could depress turnout for the GOP in the Tar Heel State this year.”
“That could hurt Donald Trump in a swing state he needs to defeat [Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee] Kamala Harris and regain the White House,” the board added.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung, via email for comment on Saturday afternoon.
North Carolina has voted for the Republican nominee in all presidential elections, except for the 2008 election, since 1980. Trump won the state in the 2016 and 2020 elections. However, his margin of victory in 2020 was slim with him receiving 49.9 percent of the vote and now-President Joe Biden getting 48.6 percent.
Democrats are hoping to flip the state in Harris’ favor as Trump is currently only 0.1 points ahead of her (47.5 to 47.4 percent), according to poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight.
After news broke of Robinson’s alleged posts, the Trump campaign issued a vague statement that did not name Robinson but said North Carolina is a “vital part” of the plan to secure a second Trump victory.
Stein, North Carolina’s attorney general, meanwhile, is leading in the polls.
Former President Donald Trump is seen at a campaign rally on July 24 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Trump got a warning from The Wall Street Journal, a leading national conservative newspaper, about the swing state of North Carolina.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
What Were Robinson’s Alleged Posts?
On Thursday, CNN reported that from 2008 to 2012, Robinson allegedly made a series of inflammatory comments on a message board of the pornography site Nude Africa, which included calling himself a “black NAZI” and a “perv.”
Despite Robinson using anti-transgender rhetoric in recent years, including when he used the word “filth” while discussing gay and transgender people during a 2021 speech at a church, he also allegedly said on the messaging board that he enjoyed watching transgender pornography.
Robinson called the alleged posts “salacious tabloid lies” to CNN and in a video message, he reassured his supporters that “those are not the words of Mark Robinson.”
