New Mark Robinson Accusation Surfaces After Bombshell Report

Republican North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson’s alleged past adult website scandal has escalated with a new accusation that Robinson praised Nazi leader Adolf Hilter’s manifesto Mein Kampf.

CNN reported on Thursday that Robinson, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and currently serves as North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, had made a series of disturbing posts to the “Nude Africa” pornography website between 2008 and 2012.

Robinson has refused to drop out of the race and denies making any of the remarks, despite CNN extensively documenting evidence that appears to link him to posts made under the username “minisoldr.” The lieutenant governor has dismissed the report as “tabloid trash.”

In addition to a multitude of posts reported on by CNN, which included Robinson allegedly calling himself a “Black Nazi,” defending slavery, repeating homophobic slurs and fondly recalling “peeping” on women, The Washington Post reported on Friday that “minisoldr” also expressed an affinity for Nazi literature.

“Mein Kampf is a good read,” the Nude Africa user reportedly wrote in a thread on book recommendations. “It’s very informative and not at all what I thought it would be. It’s a real eye opener.”

All of the Robinson-linked posts were mysteriously deleted from the Nude Africa website within 24 hours of the CNN report being published, according to Politico.

Robinson campaign communications director Mike Lonergan responded to Newsweek’s request for comment with a statement blaming the alleged posts on Josh Stein, Robinson’s Democratic opponent.

“Everything Josh Stein [and] the Democrats say about Mark Robinson is either an outright lie or twisted so far out of context it might as well be,” the statement reads. “The people of North Carolina have had enough lies from career politicians like Josh Stein—and that’s why they’ll elect Mark Robinson governor on November 5.”

Georgia is considered a pivotal swing state in this year’s presidential election, sparking concerns from some that the Robinson scandal could hurt the former president’s chances of winning the state, in addition to torpedoing Republican hopes of winning back the Governor’s mansion.

Democrats have won gubernatorial elections in North Carolina in seven of the last eight contests, while former President Barack Obama’s 2008 victory was the only time that a Democratic presidential candidate has won the state in the past 11 elections.

Polling of North Carolina currently suggests that Trump could easily lose the election if Democrats manage to increase turnout in November, with an average of recent polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight showing the former president leading Vice President Kamala Harris by just 0.2 percent as of Friday night.

David McLennan, political science professor and pollster at North Carolina’s Meredith College, previously told Newsweek that momentum from Harris had negated what appeared to be a solid advantage for Trump prior to President Joe Biden dropping out of the race.

“Harris entering the race has caused an increase in just over 60,000 registered Democrats,” McLennan said. “Up until her entry into the race, newly registered Republican voters were outpacing Democrats.”

Republican former Congressman Adam Kinzinger described the Robinson allegations as a “devastating from a campaign perspective” during a CNN interview on Thursday night, while warning that the lieutenant governor was putting the former president’s future in jeopardy.

“Obviously, [Robinson will] lose North Carolina,” Kinzinger said. “But the Trump campaign ought to be very concerned because if there are people disheartened by him, they’ll either not show up or maybe they’ll vote for Kamala.”

Update 09/20/24 8:15 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.