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Former president Donald Trump kept embattled North Carolina’s Republican nominee for governor Mark Robinson at arm’s length during a Saturday rally as the man who reportedly called himself a “Black Nazi” faces backlash for posts he supposedly made on a porn forum.
During the beginning of his rally in Wilmington, Trump gave a shout-out to numerous North Carolina elected officials, ranging from Representative Dan Bishop, the Republican nominee for attorney general; Michael Whatley, the chairman of the Republican National Committee who led the state party; Representative David Rouzier; Senator Ted Budd; his daughter-in-law Lara Trump and her two children.
Trump’s grandchildren said “Make America Great Again,” and “vote for grandpa.”
But absent from the rally in Wilmington 45 days before the election, he omitted Robinson, the state’s Lt. Governor.
Robinson has come under fire after a CNN report that found that he had called himself a “Black NAZI” and said that “Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few.”
In addition, despite his frequent criticisms of transgender people, the internet comments showed Robinson saying that he enjoyed pornography that featured transgender women.
Robinson has vehemently denied the reports, telling CNN “there’s been more than $1 million spent on me with AI by a billionaire’s son who’s bound and determined to destroy me.” Robinson is now polling significantly behind both his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein, and Trump.
In addition, other elected officials speaking ahead of Trump, such as Budd, did not mention retaking the governorship.
The move is a departure from Trump, who has previously said that Robinson would be “Martin Luther King on steroids,” and who appeared with Trump as late as August at an event in Asheville, North Carolina. Robinson has also run explicitly on being an outspoken supporter of the former president.
Now, the fear in some Republican circles is the scandal around Robinson could lead swing-state North Carolina to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. That would be a devastating blow to Trump’s chances of winning the White House.
At Saturday’s rally, Trump’s supporters were mixed about their support of Robinson.
“I'm okay with that,” Natosha Longo from Wilmington told The Independent. “I've met him once personally, and he was just, it was a bit condescending, a bit patronizing. It was a holier than thou attitude.”
At the same time, she described where she might still vote him.
“Even though I don't like Mark Robinson, it's got to the point now to where I feel like I need to vote red clean across my ticket,” she said. “I'm an unaffiliated voter. I have never voted for solely one party when I go to vote, but this year just might be that year.”
Dante' A Murphy, a pastor in Hempstead, North Carolina, wore a Robinson shirt and said that the Lt. Governor still has a chance.
“First of all, i think, like anybody, he's innocent until proven guilty, he's denied what's been put out there. And I think at this point in the game, he's still here to win it,” he told The Independent.
A new poll from CBS 17, The Hill and Emerson College found that Harris had a one-point lead against Trump in the Tar Heel state, but Stein has a eight-point lead against Robinson.
Other Trump supporters said they said Robinson could win.
“He is going to win, “ Angel Spillers told The Independent, calling the CNN report “bulls***.”
But Harry Haus, was more uneasy.
“I like Trump,” he said. “Robinson, I don't know.”
Throughout the rally, Trump offered exorbitant promises, pleding to do everything from removing taxes of Social Security to slashing energy prices by half. At the same time, he pledged that he would cap credit interest rates at 10 percent.
Similarly, he tried to sidestep abortion, which has long been one of the main attack points of Democrats.
“Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free,” he said. “You will no longer be thinking about abortion because it has now been where it always had to be with the states.”
The former president also pledged to recognize the Lumbee Tribe, a native American tribe that overwhelmingly voted for him after voting for Democrats for more than a century, despite the fact he did not sign legislation doing so during his first term.
The Trump campaign is making a huge play for North Carolina. Last week, Senator JD Vance of Ohio held a rally in Raleigh and on Monday will travel to Charlotte.
Trump won North Carolina in 2016 and in 2020, albeit by a smaller margin.
