North Carolina Lieutenant Gov. Mark Robinson (R), who has a long history of attacking gay people, Jews, and various minorities, is now reportedly seeking higher office. On Thursday, one day after TPM published a look at Robinson’s years of extremist Facebook posts, Axios revealed that he is set to announce a gubernatorial bid at a rally next month.
Along with his online writings, Robinson has made a series of controversial comments in speeches and church sermons. Despite his history of inflammatory remarks, Robinson is, according to Axios, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. Robinson’s extensive, typo-filled Facebook oeuvre included myriad attacks on trans and gay people, a community he dubbed a “FILTHY ABOMINATION” and a “satanic cult of sexual perversion.”
“We have pushed homosexuality over the top. Mark my words PEDOPHILLA is next, which will be closely followed by the END of civilization as we know it,” Robinson wrote in 2014.
Robinson, who did not respond to a request for comment, also wrote posts where he hinted at conspiracy theories that advocacy groups have called anti-Semitic and seemed to question the Holocaust.
“There is a REASON the liberal media fills the airwaves with programs about the NAZI and the ‘6 million Jews’ they murdered,” wrote Robinson in 2017. “There is also a REASON those same liberals DO NOT FILL the airwaves with programs about the Communist and the 100+ million PEOPLE they murdered throughout the 20th century.”
If elected, Robinson would be North Carolina’s first Black governor. However, on Facebook, he was extremely critical of the Black community. In various posts in recent years, Robinson called Black people “muddle headed negroes,” “apes,” and “a monkey.” He also expressed frustration with those who would criticize calls for “WHITE PRIDE” or displays of Confederate symbols.
“February is Black History Month. I guess the shortest month of the year is all we need to learn about the separate but equal history of a people who have achieved so little,” Robinson wrote in 2014.
On Facebook, Robinson also criticized immigrants, Muslims, and people from other countries. In addition to his criticism of the LGBT community and various ethnic groups, Robinson indicated he believed in the “illuminati” and “New World Order,” and was curious about conspiracy theories in general.
“I don’t believe the Moon Landing was faked and I don’t believe 9/11 was an ‘inside job’ but if I found both were true…I wouldn’t be surprised,” he wrote in 2017.
TPM’s examination of Robinson’s extensive Facebook archive also revealed he had created an online wrestling persona named “Bigg Smoke.”
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat who is running for governor, responded to the TPM story with a tweet on Wednesday where he warned against a potential gubernatorial bid from Robinson.
“Mark Robinson is an extremist and conspiracy theorist who would drag our state backward,” Stein wrote.
