North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is running to become governor of that state, told reporters on Monday that he is in the planning stages of suing CNN for reporting on racist and disturbing posts he made on online forums of an adult website a decade ago.
“We’re in talks right now. Everything up to legal counsel, to take CNN to task for what they have done to us. We are going after them,” Robinson said during a campaign event. “We are going to go after them for what they’ve done.”
There is no indication that the CNN KFile report on Robinson, which was published last week, is anything but factual. Indeed, CNN provided ample evidence that Robinson was the poster in question, including that he has frequently used both the username and the email address associated with the account; that the profile name listed on the account is “mark robinson”; that personal details the poster shared about himself match details of Robinson’s life; and that the posts are dated and it would be impossible to manipulate their timestamps.
Politico also confirmed that the IP address associated with the account is based in Winston-Salem, not far from where Robinson lived at the time the posts were made.
Though Robinson has been adamant that the account is not his, he has rejected multiple offers from his supporters to get him in touch with tech experts to back up his claims. Likely as a result of his refusal to allow tech experts to get to the bottom of the issue, multiple staffers quit the Robinson campaign on Sunday.
Robinson told reporters on Monday that he wasn’t worried about being short-staffed. “People are jumping in to help us.… A lot of talented people right now are reaching out to us and we’re right in the process right now of forming a team that can lead us to victory,” Robinson said.
The posts Robinson is alleged to have written showcase extremist far right viewpoints and include numerous instances of antisemitism, Islamophobia and homophobia. In some of the posts, Robinson described himself as a “black Nazi” and lamented not being able to join the KKK because he’s Black. In other posts, he claimed that slavery isn’t a bad thing and expressed a desire to enslave people himself.
He also described Civil Rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. in derogatory terms, claimed Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler would be preferable to Barack Obama as president of the United States, and gleefully recounted spying on women while they were changing in the locker room of a public gym.
This isn’t the only time Robinson has landed in hot water for his disturbing and bigoted comments — indeed, in the months before the CNN report was released, Robinson publicly denied the Holocaust, said that women shouldn’t be allowed to vote, described LGBTQ people as “filth,” and expressed a desire to ban abortion in North Carolina.
North Carolina is considered a battleground state. Robinson, due in large part to his past comments, is trailing his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein, by 10 points, according to recent polling. Although his campaign may be considered unsalvageable, fallout from Robinson’s statements and online posts could also have an impact on the presidential race.
Former President Donald Trump previously campaigned proudly alongside Robinson, once even describing him as “MLK on steroids” — despite reports on Robinson’s past statements being publicly available. This past weekend, however, Trump held a rally in North Carolina sans Robinson, a clear indication that the former president recognizes that any connection to Robinson will hurt his chances of winning the state come November.
Trump and his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris are virtually tied in North Carolina right now, according to polling data from FiveThirtyEight. If Trump loses the state, his potential path to victory in the Electoral College will largely diminish. Even a small percentage of voters opting not to vote for Trump based on his association with Robinson could lead to a Harris win in the state — and potentially Harris winning the election overall.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We’re presently working to find 1500 new monthly donors to Truthout before the end of the year.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy