Mark Robinson shows the GOP is a bottomless pit of hypocrisy, lies and hate

Republicans are sticking with the North Carolina governor candidate after he was outed as a self-described "Black Nazi" who watches trans porn while he publicly bashes transgender women.

Yesterday, CNN engaged in a classic outing. It was the kind of thing journalists like me were criticized for many years ago—revealing the truth about a public figure who is a sexual moralist—because the media often saw it as an invasion of privacy no matter the person’s public actions.

So I’m glad to see they’ve finally caught up, realizing it’s a story when politicians who wield power over our lives and strip us of our rights are complete hypocrites in their own personal lives.

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In quite a bombshell, CNN revealed that Christian nationalist Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina, who called LGBTQ people “filth” and viciously attacked transgender women, is a self-described “perv,” spying on women in gym showers through a peephole and watching what he described as “tr**ny on girl porn.”

And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Robinson, who is Black—and was grotesquely heralded by Donald Trump as “one of the great leaders of our country” and “Martin Luther King on steroids”—called himself a “Black Nazi,” using an alias on the message board of a porn site called Nude Africa, and abhorently said he wished slavery could be brought back and he’d own a few slaves himself. It wasn’t even that difficult for CNN to verify it was Robinson making the comments:

Many of Robinson’s comments were gratuitously sexual and lewd in nature. They were made between 2008 and 2012 on “Nude Africa,” a pornographic website that includes a message board. The comments were made under the username minisoldr, a moniker Robinson used frequently online.

Robinson listed his full name on his profile for Nude Africa, as well as an email address he used on numerous websites across the internet for decades.

Nonetheless, Robinson denies it all and says he won’t drop out of the race.

Let’s be clear: Robinson is among the most hateful and publicly extreme candidates we’ve seen running for governor of any state as the candidate of a major party. He said he wanted to go “back to the America where women couldn’t vote.” He claimed feminism was “created by Satan” and said men who supported feminism were “as manly as a pair of lace panties.” He spread every kind of crazy, dark conspiracy theory—QAnon and beyond—that you could imagine. He quoted Adolf Hitler and engaged in Holocaust denial. He said transgender women should be arrested for using the women’s restroom.

The hideous smear of trans women in women’s rooms is that they are a danger to girls and women because they are “men” lurking in the bathroom.

But we now learn it was Robinson who is in fact a danger to women in private spaces, spying on them in gym showers:

Robinson graphically described his own sexual arousal as an adult from the memory of secretly “peeping” on women in public gym showers as a 14-year-old. Robinson recounted the story as a memory he said he still fantasized about.

“I came to a spot that was a dead end but had two big vent covers over it! It just so happened it overlooked the showers! I sat there for about an hour and watched as several girls came in and showered,” Robinson wrote on Nude Africa.

And Robinson got off on watching trans people having sex:

“I like watching tranny on girl porn! That’s f*cking hot! It takes the man out while leaving the man in!” Robinson wrote. “And yeah I’m a ‘perv’ too!”

The man Trump compared several times to Dr. King called himself a “Black Nazi” who wished slavery could be brought back and said he would have preferred Hitler to Obama as president:

Writing in a forum discussing Black Republicans in October 2010, Robinson stated unprovoked: “I’m a black NAZI!”

That same month, Robinson wrote in another post that he supported the return of slavery.

“Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few,” he wrote.

In March 2012, Robinson wrote that he preferred the former leader of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler over the leadership in Washington during the administration of Barack Obama.

“I’d take Hitler over any of the sh*t that’s in Washington right now!” he wrote.

And he used homophobic slurs in talking about gay men kissing:

Robinson also used homophobic slurs frequently, calling other users f*gs.

In a largely positive forum discussion featuring a photo of two men kissing after one returned from a military deployment, Robinson wrote the sole negative comment.

“That’s sum ole sick a** f*ggot bullsh*t!” he wrote.

Again, Robinson is denying all of this, and also denies allegations in a Politico story separately published yesterday, finding Robinson’s email on Ashley Madison, the site for people looking for extramarital affairs.

And the North Carolina GOP is still backing him, even though Robinson’s been in free fall in the polls since before this bombshell, accepting his denials and describing the CNN report as “the left” trying to “smear” Robinson.

There just is no bottom, at least not for the GOP in North Carolina. But Donald Trump apparently is getting nervous, now trying to distance himself from Robinson, according to reports. Good luck with that, after comparing him over and over to Dr. King!

Kamala Harris’ campaign went full force on social media, sending out videos of Trump praising Robinson and posting photos of them embracing at events. I think this forced both the North Carolina GOP and Trump to stick with Robinson publicly, lest they be seen as caving to Harris, even though Trump is worried. From CNN:

Some people in Trump’s orbit heard rumblings this week that a potentially damaging story on Robinson was in the works, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

Even before the CNN report was published, the Trump campaign had not invited Robinson to the former president’s upcoming Saturday rally in the state, with sources saying that the decision was likely to hold. Robinson has been to most, if not all, of Trump’s recent North Carolina events. Last month, he spoke at Trump’s economy-themed rally in Asheville, and the former president brought him onstage in Asheboro.

And The New York Times reports Trump’s campaign is still hoping Robinson will drop out of the race—and you know they’re putting the pressure on. It’s now too late for Robinson’s name to come off the ballots, but apparently the North Carolina GOP can name a new candidate and transfer any votes for Robinson on the ballot to that candidate. We’ll see if the pressure is successful and it replacing him would even work out well, since people would still have to vote for Robinson on the ballot, which many might be loathe to do.

After CNN published its report, Mr. Trump’s first reaction was that he wanted nothing to do with the scandal and didn’t see why he should get involved, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. His impulse was to ignore the controversy and power through. People close to the former president are holding out hope that Mr. Robinson will still decide to quit the race, despite his early defiant statement of his intention to continue his run for governor.

It’s almost hilarious that Trump wants nothing to do with the guy when he’s the first to claim that sexual allegations are all “fake news,” whether about himself, former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, or anyone else he’s backed.

But now this is about Trump’s entire candidacy—polls are so close in North Carolina that even the smallest impact of the Robinson story on Trump could cause him to lose the election.

It’s quite beautiful to watch yet another monster that MAGA, the GOP, and Trump created blowing up in their faces. They just never seem to learn that Trump is a disaster for their party.