2024's worst candidate? Meet Mark Robinson
Zander's Weekend Facts #138: Sunday, September 29, 2024
Election season in America often tends to put those who, some might say, are not the best and brightest in the spotlight. The 2024 campaign is no exception, yet there’s one candidate who keeps standing out from the fray.
North Carolina has become one of this year’s major election backgrounds, with polls showing a tight race for president between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. While the tar heel state hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 2008, Trump won the state by just 1.34% in 2020 against President Joe Biden, less than 80,000 votes.
Statewide offices are also up for grabs in North Carolina this year, with the most notable being the race for governor. Current Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat who was elected twice in years in which the state voted for Trump, is term-limited and unable to run. The Democrats are running the current state Attorney General Josh Stein in an attempt to continue their stranglehold on the governor’s mansion. With the exception of four years between 2013 and 2017, a Democrat has been the state’s top executive since 1993.
Stein, and even the existence of a battleground state gubernatorial election, are not the reasons why this race has captured more attention than any other governor’s race in the country. Stein’s opponent, Republican Mark Robinson, would seem to be the obvious culprit.
Robinson has been perhaps best known to many now for his tendency to… speak his mind, if you will. The former furniture factory worker was speaking in 2021 when he made the comment, “There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth. And yes I called it filth.” Earlier this year, he said that anyone who is “confused” about their gender identity, referring to transgender people, should “find a corner outside somewhere to go” to the bathroom.
Yet, those are far from the only comments from Robinson that have gotten attention for their outlandishness. In 2020, Robinson said during a campaign event, “I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote.”
On a similar topic in 2022, he claimed, “We are called to be the Christians that God has called us to be. And we are called – here I'm getting ready to get in trouble – called to be led by men. God sent women out… when they had to do that thing. But when it was time to face down Goliath, [he] sent David. Not Davita. David.”
In a notable podcast appearance in 2018, Robinson attacked the Civil Rights Movement, saying “So many things were lost during the Civil Rights Movement. So many freedoms were lost during the Civil Rights Movement. They shouldn’t have been lost.” He called the movement a “communist plot” to “subvert capitalism” and “to subvert free choice and where you go to school and things like that.” He also stated that “The Civil Rights Movement destroyed hundreds of very well run Black schools.”
Robinson’s past Facebook posts have also gained attention, with comments ranging from calling former President Barack Obama “a worthless, anti-American atheist who wanted to bring this nation to its knees” and a “top ranking demon” to calling survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida “spoiled, angry, know it all CHILDREN” and “spoiled little bastards.” He’s also referred to school shootings as “karma” for allowing abortions, saying “When you spill that innocent blood, that blood is going to come back as a stain on you and it's going to come home to roost.” Fascinating considering he revealed two years ago that he paid for his now-wife to have an abortion in 1989. Oh, and Robinson also posted, “this foolishness about Hitler disarming MILLIONS of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash.”
However, it’s not like any of this information wasn’t in the public sphere. These comments have been made publically available online for years in some cases. Some of this information was public in 2020, when Robinson was elected Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, a position he holds today. And yet in March of this year, the endorsement that every Republican politician clamors for still came for Robinson. When Trump endorsed Robinson, he referred to him as “Martin Luther King on steroids” saying “I told that to Mark. I said, I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two.” Robinson previously referred to King as a “communist.”
So while Robinson has been a little loose with his tongue in the past, you’d assume he would clean up his act for the general election in a battleground purple state where he needs to appeal to moderate voters, right? Well…
In June, Robinson decided to throw out the phrase “some folks need killing” into the lexicon when discussing U.S. actions in World War II. Robinson said, “Get mad at me if you want to. Some folks need killing. It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity.”
Yet it wasn’t until a CNN report from earlier this month that the dam began to break.
On September 19, CNN published the results of an investigation that found that Robinson had made numerous heinous comments on a pornography website’s message board over a decade ago. Among the highlights are Robinson referring to himself as a “black NAZI”, a “perv” who likes “ watching tranny on girl porn!”, and wrote that “I’m not in the KKK. They don’t let blacks join. If I was in the KKK I would have called him Martin Lucifer Koon!”. Robinson continued his slander of King on the site, calling the civil rights leader a “commie bastard,” “worse than a maggot,” and a “huckster.” CNN was easily able to identify Robinson because he used the same username on the porn site as he did on his social media accounts. That same day, Politico reported that they had found an Ashley Madison account linked to Robinson’s email address. Ashley Madison is a website for married people seeking to have an affair.
Apparently, even though there were plenty of reasons not to support Robinson previously, this was the final straw for some Republicans, who decided to withdraw their support of Robinson. Notably, Trump has not withdrawn his support, at least publically, saying “Uh, I don't know the situation” when asked about Robinson. However, four of the Robinson campaign’s top staffers have resigned in the wake of the CNN report, including the campaign manager.
In the meantime, Robinson’s polling, already not a strength of his campaign, has taken a nosedive. The latest polls of the North Carolina gubernatorial race, compiled by FiveThirtyEight, all have Stein ahead by at least 10 points, including a Fox News poll showing Stein up 16 points. Not since September 18 has a reputable poll been released that shows Robinson within single digits of Stein. And to find a Robinson lead? You’d have to scroll back to June.
It’s been a total disaster for Republicans in North Carolina, a state they need to win in the presidential election to have a shot at the White House. The common sentiment right now in both campaigns and among political insiders is that if Kamala Harris is able to win North Carolina, she’s a lock for the presidency. So it’s entirely sensible to pose the question: Could Mark Robinson cost Donald Trump the election?
But hey, it’s not like anybody could have seen this coming. He was only the Lieutenant Governor after all. It’s not like he had a history of saying some head-turning “hogwash” or anything.
For more information on this week’s top story, here’s an article from The Washington Post - Inside the Mark Robinson debacle: Panic, blame and pressure on Trump
What Zander’s been reading
The supermarket industry is more concentrated than it ever has been. Last year, the top five grocer chains (Walmart, Kroger, Costco, Albertsons, and Amazon) took up 61% of the industry’s market share. And now, with two of those companies proposing a merger (Kroger and Albertsons), The Washington Post created a helpful graphic to show which stores reign supreme in which locations.
Check out this week’s featured article in The Washington Post - Grocery chains are bigger than ever. See who runs the stores near you.
Zander’s Facts Sporting Club
Here are the latest headlines from the sports world in the Sporting Club:
NFL Week 4: An NFC East rivalry that went to the wire began the NFL’s week four slate, with the Cowboys surviving a test from the Giants, winning on the road 20-15. Moving to Sunday, the 1:00 pm ET window this afternoon is highlighted by Vikings-Packers, Eagles-Buccaneers, and Jaguars-Texans. Four games will take place in the 4:00 pm ET window, with the Commanders visiting the Cardinals, the Patriots taking on the 49ers, the Browns visiting the Raiders, and the Chargers hosting the Chiefs. At 8:20 pm ET, the undefeated Bills visit the Ravens. To close out week four, it’s another Monday night double dip with Titans-Dolphins at 7:30 pm ET and Seahawks-Lions at 8:15 pm ET.
College Football Week 5: In the most anticipated game of the college football season, so far, #4 Alabama answered the call. The Tide survived an epic 28-point comeback by #2 Georgia, creating an instant classic and continuing their SEC dominance with a 41-34 home win against the Bulldogs. Other results in week five included Kentucky getting a massive road upset win over #6 Ole Miss 20-17, #23 Kansas State blowing out #20 Oklahoma State 42-20, and #16 Notre Dame holding off #15 Louisville 31-24. #9 Penn State took down #19 Illinois 21-7, #21 Oklahoma came back to beat Auburn 27-21, and #13 USC rolled past Wisconsin 38-21.
MLB Postseason: The Major League Baseball regular season concludes later today with the postseason bracket taking shape. In the American League, the Yankees, Guardians, and Angels won their divisions, while the Orioles, Tigers, and Royals have clinched wild card berths. In the National League, the Dodgers, Phillies, and Brewers won their divisions, with the Padres having clinched a wild card berth. The Braves, Diamondbacks, and Mets are still in contention for the final two wild card spots, with the Braves and Mets holding the advantage heading into the final day of regular season play. The Wild Card round, featuring the four lowest-seeded teams in each league, begins on Tuesday, with the divisional series beginning on Saturday.
Chicago White Sox: While several teams are celebrating postseason berths at the end of the MLB regular season, the White Sox sit at the other end of the spectrum. The White Sox set a modern-era MLB record on Friday by losing their 121st game of the season. The 1962 Mets’s 120 losses had previously been the most in a single season, with the 1962 season being the Mets’s first as an expansion franchise. The White Sox visit the Tigers later today in their final game of the season.
Rapid-fire Facts
Here’s a recap of the top news headlines from the past week:
Vice Presidential Debate: The lone vice presidential debate of the 2024 U.S. presidential election is set for Tuesday night. The Democratic nominee, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will face off against the Republican nominee, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, in New York. Like the presidential debate earlier this month between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, there will be no in-person audience. However, unlike the earlier debate, the microphones of each candidate are expected to be on even when the other candidate is speaking. The debate, taking place just over one month before Election Day, will begin at 9:00 pm ET and is being hosted by CBS News, but will air on all major broadcast and news networks.
Israel-Hezbollah: The conflict between Israel and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah intensified last week as Israeli airstrikes killed Hezbollah’s leader. Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed by airstrikes in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut on Friday. Hezbollah began launching rockets into Israel in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, but the conflict has intensified after pagers used by Hezbollah members simultaneously exploded earlier this month. According to Lebanon’s health ministry, at least 1,000 people have been killed since the conflict escalated two weeks ago.
Hurricane Helene: At least 50 people have died in the aftermath of the strongest hurricane to strike the U.S. in two years. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend region as a category 4 hurricane with winds up to 140 mph. Devastating damage due to the winds and heavy rains has left communities ravaged in Florida and Georgia. Rainfall up to one foot in areas of western North Carolina and Tennessee triggered flash flood emergencies and led to hundreds of water rescues.
Government Funding: Lawmakers in Washington struck a deal to fund the federal government through this fall’s election and avert a government shutdown. Last week, Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, a bill that will continue current spending levels for most government programs until December 20 after funding originally was set to run out on Monday. The bill also boosted funding for the Secret Service in the aftermath of two assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump. Congress will now resume spending talks later this year after a new president and Congress has been elected.
Eric Adams: New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted by federal prosecutors last week. Adams is accused of accepting free or discounted overseas trips and illegal campaign contributions in exchange for political favors. The five-count indictment includes charges of bribery, wire fraud, and conspiracy. Adams pled not guilty in court on Friday and has publicly argued he is innocent. Adams is up for reelection next year if he chooses not to resign.
Wrapping up the Facts
That’s a wrap on this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts. The Facts in print return next Sunday, October 6, 2024.