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Mark Robinson is a “political firebrand” and a “fiery outsider eager to dive into the culture war,” according to a New York Times profile published just hours after the Republican North Carolina Lt. Governor won the GOP nomination to become the Tar Heel State’s next governor. The Times neglects to mention Robinson’s remarks on Hitler and the Holocaust, creating even more outrage online for the paper of record.
“Mr. Robinson, 55, is now poised to face his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein of North Carolina, in the general election in November. Both men would break ground if elected: Mr. Robinson would be the first Black governor, while Mr. Stein, 57, would be the first Jewish governor,” The Times’ Eduardo Medina reported in his profile serving up “five things to know about Mr. Robinson.”
They are, according to The Times: “His political career was fueled by online support,” “He made history as the first Black lieutenant governor of North Carolina,” “His upbringing was difficult,” “His wife had an abortion decades ago, and it has shaped his views on the issue,” and, at the bottom of the list, “He has long held anti-L.G.B.T.Q. views.”
But as many on social media rushed to note, there are more than five important things to know about the Trump-endorsed Mark Robinson.
NCRM and others, especially Right Wing Watch, have reported on Lt. Governor Robinson’s political positions and remarks, remarks The Times glosses over but acknowledges as “incendiary comments on social issues, which have mobilized his Trump-aligned base and repulsed Democrats.”
Right Wing Watch, which has extensively chronicled Robinson’s career, reported on his campaign launch for governor last April, calling him “an unabashed Christian nationalist and virulent anti-LGBTQ bigot.” They add, “in 2021, Robinson asserted that ‘this will always be a Christian nation’ and told those who disagree, ‘If you don’t like it, I’ll buy your plane, train, or automobile ticket right up out of here.’”
And while The Times notes Robinson “told a congregation that ‘there’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth,’” it ignored the vast majority of his hate-filled anti-LGBTQ comments and his remarks regarding Hitler and the Holocaust.
In 2021, Robinson attacked same-sex relationships as inferior to heterosexual ones, while proudly declaring even cow manure is superior because it serves a “purpose.”
“I can’t stand to turn that TV on and I don’t want my grandkids watching that television because I don’t want to have to explain to my grandkids why two men are kissing,” said Robinson, speaking in a church, according to Right Wing Watch. “And I don’t care what anybody thinks about that. Get mad at me if you want to you. Ain’t no child got no business seeing no two men kiss. If they did, God would have made it that way! He didn’t!”
“In this country,” he continued, “we don’t have a homosexual issue—that’s just a tool of the devil to continue to divide us and lead us into immorality.”
Robinson also says the U.S. Constitution – specifically, the First Amendment – both allows him to spread his anti-LGBTQ hate and be protected from being criticized for it.
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“Because I’m a Christian,” Robinson said in 2021, “because I believe that homosexuality is a sin and adultery is a sin and fornication is a sin—but chiefly because I believe homosexuality is a sin—these people want to call me names and push me out of the public square. That is not how this country was designed to work.”
But it’s Robinson’s promotion of Hitler’s remarks and his alleged Holocaust denialism that are drawing great rebuke and repudiation online, after he clinched the gubernatorial nomination Tuesday.
In a 2014 Facebook post Robinson directly quoted Hitler (NCRM will not republish the quote but there is a screenshot below.)
Jewish Insider last year reported Robinson has “minimized Nazi atrocities and advanced conspiracy theories about Hollywood and the media using Yiddish ethnic slurs.” In a separate post, the news outlet reported that Robinson “found his efforts to declare solidarity with Israel backfiring — by drawing renewed scrutiny to his long history of invoking antisemitic conspiracy theories and casting doubt on the Holocaust.”
News outlets have pointed to this 2018 Facebook quote from Robinson, in which he call the Holocaust “hogwash.” It reads in part: “This foolishness about Hitler disarming MILLIONS of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash.”
Mehdi Hasan, the former MSNBC host who now writes at his media startup Zeteo News, adds: “The Holocaust-as-hogwash GOP candidate has also posted quotes from Hitler, encouraged conservatives to start re-reading the words of Hitler, and spread a number of bizarre antisemitic conspiracies, from claiming that the Marvel movie ‘Black Panther’ was ‘created by an agnostic Jew and put to film by satanic Marxists’ that was ‘only created to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets’ (Schvartze being a Yiddish slur for Black people), to accusing Jewish billionaire George Soros of somewhat orchestrating Boko Haram’s kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls in 2014.”
Talking Points Memo‘s Hunter Walker last year took a deep dive into Robinson’s social media history, publishing perhaps the largest single compendium of his posts, and unearthing one where he “seemed to veer into Holocaust denial.”
“There is a REASON the liberal media fills the airwaves with programs about the NAZI and the ‘6 million Jews’ they murdered,” wrote Robinson, as Walker reported. “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.”
On social media, many expressed concerns and upset with The New York Times’ profile.
“This is not how I’d write about someone who has dabbled in Holocaust denial and made a seemingly nonstop string of deeply disgusting and bigoted comments in his career. What’s with the kid gloves here?” noted Jared Holt, a senior researcher of US hate and extremist movements at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
“You can depend on the New York Times to write soft, cowardly mini-profiles of dangerous radicals, in this case Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee for NC governor. NYT calls him a ‘firebrand’ and a ‘fiery outsider’ but doesn’t mention he’s a Holocaust denier,” observed Mark Jacob, the former Chicago Tribune editor who now writes about politics and the media.
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“The New York Times not mentioning Mark Robinson’s antisemitism & Holocaust denialism in their headline and subheadline. A morally bankrupt & incompetent newspaper,” adds professor of political science David Darmofal.
“This NYT piece on crackpot gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson makes no mention of his antisemitism (not anti-zionism—he’s a staunch supporter of Israel) and Holocaust denial. Holocaust denial is no longer the preserve of outright (or crypto-) nazis,” writer Dave Mandl said.
Writer Dean Gloster adds, “Mark Robinson, the GOP candidate for NC Governor, is a Holocaust denier who calls school shooting survivors ‘prosti-tots,’ says tolerance for gays and lesbians ‘will end civilization’ and calls for arresting trans people, and calls Michelle Obama ‘a man’. So NYT praises him.”
And Philadelphia Inquirer opinion columnist Will Bunch wrote: “There needs to be a New York Times Headline Generator where you could plug in terms like ‘Holocaust denier’ and it spits back phrases like ‘fiery outsider eager to dive into the culture war.’”
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