Republicans really blew it in North Carolina. Thursday’s revelations that showed their gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, is even worse than anyone thought (and he was already an avowed bigot and homophobe) were clearly leaked by GOP operatives hoping to push him out of the race.
They should’ve paid attention to how Democrats pushed President Joe Biden to step down and followed their lead. Instead, their too-late efforts were a predictable failure.
CNN reported on some of the bombshells found in Robinson’s posts on the Nude Africa porn site between 2008 and 2012. That story included details about Robinson admitting to peeping in a women’s locker room; voicing his love for transgender porn (despite being a raging transphobe); calling himself a “Black NAZI!”; lamenting his inability to join the KKK or own slaves; and using slurs against Martin Luther King Jr.
The article noted that it omitted some of the more graphic details, such as his crass descriptions of cheating on his wife with his sister-in-law, his threesomes with his mistress, and graphic details of the sexual acts he committed. I don’t kink-shame: Consenting adults can do whatever they want with each other as long as that consent is fully informed and enthusiastic and no one external is harmed. I’m also not a hypocritical Republican attempting to moralize about what people do in the privacy of their own homes. Also, cheating on a partner is harm.
But screw that guy. In a country inured by Donald Trump’s complete amorality, it takes a lot for a politician’s wrongdoing to cut through the noise, and Robinson somehow managed it.
Even before this report emerged, Robinson was a drag on the Republican ticket in North Carolina—not just at the gubernatorial level (where Robinson has struggled to get out of the 30s in polling) and at the state level, but at the top of the ticket as well.
The timing of the report made clear that Republicans were behind the effort. Thursday was the last day Robinson could legally remove himself from the race (though not from ballots, as they were already being printed). But even if Robinson’s name remained on the ballot, North Carolina Republicans could have “replaced” him with a different candidate and all votes for Robinson would go to the new person. In reality, Tarheel Republicans have already conceded the governorship. They just wanted the bombastic Robinson off of the stage, where his poisonous words kept dragging down their party.
If Democrats had this salacious oppo, they would have waited until the absentee ballots had landed to release such a bombshell. For the left’s partisan purposes, the drop came too early.
The Republicans behind the oppo leak hoped that “Black Nazi” admissions and unconventional sex acts with his unsuspecting wife’s sister would push Robinson to drop out of the race and out of sight. The New York Times reports that the Trump campaign’s strategists were none too pleased with the revelations and worried about any collateral damage to the Trump-Vance ticket in this 50-50 state.
“As they waited for the story to drop, Mr. Trump’s allies and advisers discussed privately whether it would be possible to pressure Mr. Robinson to quit the race,” the Times reported. “They quickly concluded that direct pressure probably would not work and could in fact backfire, leading him to dig in and defend himself. Mr. Robinson did so anyway. Plus, the state election board might not allow him to be removed from the ballot whether he stayed in the race or not.”
Republicans screwed this up, even though Democrats had just shown them the proper way to do it.
Had Biden’s disastrous July debate against Trump taken place the day before the ballot deadline, Biden would still be in the race today. His decision to quit was an incredibly difficult and ahistorical one. People do not give up power, whether it’s a sitting president or a sitting lieutenant governor who earned his party’s nomination for governor.
The immediate impulse when called to resign is a simple “Fuck you.” Understandable! So the people working to push Biden to step down did that work while being mindful of the actual hard deadline between June 28, the day after the debate, and the Democratic National Committee’s virtual roll call on Aug. 1, when they were scheduled to officially nominate Biden in time for the Ohio ballot deadline. That gave them one whole month. It was an ugly month—but the deed was an ugly one, too.
Democrats didn’t suddenly demand that Biden drop out. Instead, they gradually built up the pressure, slowly piling it on to give their effort momentum. They also gave Biden the breathing room necessary to conclude that yes, Democrats were better off with someone else at the top of the ticket. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered the damning polling in the latter half of July, sealing his fate.
North Carolina Republicans should’ve paid attention. They could’ve leaked their Naked Africa oppo weeks ago, mindful of Thursday’s deadline, and similarly ratcheted up the pressure. They should’ve engaged the Trump campaign early and had Trump himself put the screws on. He does fancy himself a mob boss and a dictator, after all.
And they should’ve made it very clear to Robinson that he was better off quitting the race and getting on the MAGA grift train instead.
Instead, they pulled their stunt way too late for Robinson to actually decide to quit. They seemingly blindsided the Trump campaign, which had to decide how to handle the scandal at the last minute. And then they all sat on their asses, quietly hoping Robinson would do the right thing when he has done nothing in his life to suggest that he’s ever done the right thing.
Now, they’ve tanked their gubernatorial nominee hard. Good luck getting 30% of the vote after all of this is done. And an enraged and recalcitrant Robinson is going to continue dragging his state party—and Trump—down.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is already on it.
We are lucky that Republicans are this stupid.
