Donald Trump has made it clear that he fully supports North Carolina lieutenant governor and GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson — who has a "long history of wildly radical and unhinged moments," according to The New Republic's Greg Sargent.
During a June 30 speech at a White Lake, North Carolina church, the first Black lieutenant governor of the state said: "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."
In an op-ed published by Rolling Stone Thursday, columnist Jay Michaelson — who describes himself as "a queer rabbi" — says he finds it "personally unsettling that" Robinson's remarks "have not drawn more condemnation, and that no one is asking Trump about them."
Michaelson notes that before becoming lieutenant governor, Robinson "built his name on being an internet troll, especially on Facebook. He has spread lunatic conspiracy theories about Jews, like claiming that Jewish people created Black Panther 'to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze [the Yiddish N-word] pockets' and that the Holocaust is being exaggerated for political purposes."
The Rolling Stone columnist highlighted the fact that not only does Trump back Robinson, he even declared that the gubernatorial hopeful is "better than Martin Luther King" during a North Carolina rally earlier this year.
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"While Robinson himself is trailing badly in the polls — down by 14 points, as of Thursday — Trump is running neck-and-neck with Kamala Harris in North Carolina’s presidential race," Michaelson notes, adding: "There is zero accountability; Trump isn’t even asked about him."
He emphasizes, "Even by 2024 standards, this isn’t normal," and although "Robinson’s theology is his own business" — if the far-right candidate insists on marrying "that theology to the coercive and carceral power of the state, then it becomes everyone else’s too."
Furthermore, Michaelson adds: "As with Robinson’s racist, antisemitic, and homophobic beliefs, he’s entitled to be a paranoid internet troll if that’s what he wants to do with his life — but as lieutenant governor, and now a candidate for governor, he has the power to turn these lunatic beliefs into actual policies that affect people’s lives."
Rolling Stone's full report is available at this link (subscription required).
