Tag: north carolina
Mark Robinson

Scandal-Scarred Robinson Embraced By Mike Flynn At Trump Event

North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson recently spoke on the Trump-backed “ReAwaken America” tour, where he compared fighting the news media to battling Nazis at Normandy Beach. His speech was well-received by Trump ally and ReAwaken America co-organizer Mike Flynn, who asked the audience to donate to Robinson’s campaign.

Robinson’s rhetoric echoes that of former President Donald Trump, who has referred to the news media as the “enemy of the American people.” Trump has also explicitly threatened to use government resources to target news organizations.

Robinson has a long history of toxic remarks and antisemitic rhetoric on social media from his time as a right-wing commentator. Conservative media figures including Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have supported his campaign.

Last month, CNN reported that Robinson made a “series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago, in which he referred to himself as a 'black NAZI!' and expressed support for reinstating slavery.” Robinson responded by suing CNN.

Despite Donald Trump’s connections to Robinson, including endorsing his campaign, the former president has recently feigned ignorance of Robinson. But this past weekend, in a seemingly unannounced and little-noticed appearance, Robinson spoke at the ReAwaken America tour’s stop in Selma, North Carolina, alongside members of Trump’s “inner circle.”

The event featured speeches from Trump surrogates Eric Trump, Kash Patel, and Alina Habba, along with several extremists who have pushed the conspiracy theory that Hurricane Helene was a controlled or manipulated weather event. (ReAwaken America events have also hosted multiple antisemitic speakers.) Other stops on the tour have been held at a Trump property.

Co-organizer Clay Clark recently said that close friend Eric Trump and others requested the event because North Carolina “is a state that we need to win to restore President Donald J. Trump back into the White House.” Clark also organized Donald Trump’s October 21 event with pastors.

Robinson appeared on the second day of the Selma event on October 19. During his speech, Robinson told the audience about Allied forces fighting Nazi Germany during World War II, including at the Battle of Normandy. He then compared his “fight” against the news media to the D-Day landings by American troops, stating:

MARK ROBINSON: I guarantee you, CNN will not win that fight. They will not. Because we're going to take them to task, folks. It's high time that we stop being afraid of the news media. High time. Those boys in those Higgins boats weren't afraid of those Germans. Why in the hell should I be afraid of CNN?

Following the speech, Clark said that Robinson is “a real American hero.” Flynn, who is a potential member of Trump’s second administration, also praised Robinson, saying that “we need him in the governor's office,” and encouraged people to donate to his campaign to combat the “demons” fighting against them.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Trump Won't Condemn Gunman Who Allegedly Threatened FEMA Workers

Trump Won't Condemn Gunman Who Allegedly Threatened FEMA Workers

Donald Trump came under fire Monday after not condemning an armed gunman who was arrested for allegedly threatening FEMA workers trying to help North Carolina victims of Hurricane Helene. Trump also continued to spread lies about FEMA and the federal government’s response to that devastating and deadly event.

A reporter told Trump about the man who had been arrested, and that his threats had caused FEMA to “stand down” for safety reasons, which inhibited their ability to help victims. He asked the ex-president if it was “helping” the recovery efforts “to keep making these claims that FEMA is not doing their job?”

Trump defended his lies and false attacks on the agency, and immediately replied, “I think you have to let people know how they’re doing.”

The ex-president, CNN reported earlier this month, “has delivered a barrage of lies and distortions about the federal response to Hurricane Helene.” The network noted he “has been one of the country’s leading deceivers on the subject. Over a span of six days, in public comments and social media posts, Trump has used his powerful megaphone to endorse or invent false or unsubstantiated claims.”

“If they were doing a great job, I think we should say that too,” Trump also told reporters Monday, “because I think they should be rewarded, but if they’re not doing, does that mean that if they’re doing a poor job, we’re supposed to not say it? These people are entitled to say it. And these are honest people behind us. If we were doing well, they would be saying they did a good job.”

There has been strong bipartisan praise of the Biden-Harris administration’s response to Helene. Democratic and Republican governors impacted by Helene have complimented FEMA as well.

“Some of the claims swirling around federal responders have been amplified by former president Donald Trump as he seeks to return to the White House,” The Washington Postreported earlier this month. “Trump has alleged, without evidence, that the federal government was ‘going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas’ and repeatedly claimed that FEMA was diverting disaster relief money for migrants.”

The arrested man charged with threatening FEMA workers, William Jacob Parsons, was found by law enforcement officers “armed with a handgun and a rifle.” He had “posted a message on Facebook calling for people to ‘overtake’ the FEMA site in Lake Lure based on what he says were social media reports that FEMA was withholding supplies from hurricane survivors,” WGHP had reported.

“Upon arriving at Lake Lure, however, Parsons said he realized the situation was different than he had imagined,” WGHP also reported.

“I went up and saw that there was absolutely nothing there, so I stayed, and I volunteered all day,” said Parsons, who “insists he was simply exercising his Second Amendment rights.”'

In Tennessee, FEMA workers were also threatened, as this local news report shows:

Meanwhile, on Monday Trump had also falsely claimed, “you’ve obviously seen nothing but, uh, you know, very bad statements coming out about the job that FEMA and this administration has done having to do with this area North Carolina as a whole and by the way, other states also, they’re also complaining.”

And he falsely said, “look, a lot of the [FEMA] money is gone, they don’t have any money, they have to have they have to have a meeting in Washington, a special meeting in Washington to get money. It’s all gone. They’ve spent it on illegal migrants.”

“Many of them are murderers, many of them are drug dealers, many of them come out of mental institutions and insane asylums, and many of them are terrorists,” Trump falsely charged, “and they spent money to bring these people into our country and they don’t have money to take care of the people from North Carolina and other states.”

The Associated Press reported that Trump was “repeating the falsehood that the response was hampered because FEMA spent its budget helping people who crossed the border illegally, a claim that was debunked weeks ago by U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., who stood behind Trump as he spoke.”

Trump also went on to claim that “our FEMA,” meaning when he was president, did a “really incredible job,” but that same agency under the Biden-Harris administration did not.

Progressive news site Tennessee Hollernoted: “Trump expresses zero remorse about FEMA workers being threatened by armed gunmen (including in Carter County, TN) — and immediately continues to lie about the response efforts.”

“Trump has endangered and destroyed countless lives with COVID, the climate, and the January 6 insurrection. Now he threatens American citizens again, encouraging violence against FEMA workers who bring aid during a crisis. The only ‘enemy from within’ is Donald Trump,” The Lincoln Project wrote, referring to Trump’s repeated attacks on Democrats, including one on Sunday.

Watch the videos below or at this link.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

As Helene Toll Rises, GOP Governor Rebuts Trump's Hurricane Of Lies

As Helene Toll Rises, GOP Governor Rebuts Trump's Hurricane Of Lies

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida last Thursday, battering states like North Carolina and Georgia, leaving many areas without power or water, and claiming the lives of more than 120 people. And in the face of this disaster, Donald Trump has chosen to play politics.

Posting on his Truth Social platform Monday, he levied evidence-free attacks against both President Joe Biden’s administration and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina. “[I] don’t like the reports that I’m getting about the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of the State, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas. MAGA!” he wrote.

Reports by whom? Trump himself?

As the Associated Press reports, “Asheville, which was devastated by the storm, is solidly Democratic, as is much of Buncombe County, which surrounds it.”

But Trump didn’t stop there.

After Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement on X that she had spoken with Cooper and FEMA regarding search-and-rescue efforts, Trump posted a screenshot of the statement and replied in a manner reminiscent of a scorned teenager.

“Another FAKE and STAGED photo from someone who has no clue what she is doing,” Trump wrote, referring to an image of Harris working that accompanied her statement. “Biden and Harris … sacrificed Americans to an Open Border, and now, they have left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.”

After Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement on X that she had spoken with Cooper and FEMA regarding search-and-rescue efforts, Trump posted a screenshot of the statement and replied in a manner reminiscent of a scorned teenager.

“Another FAKE and STAGED photo from someone who has no clue what she is doing,” Trump wrote, referring to an image of Harris working that accompanied her statement. “Biden and Harris … sacrificed Americans to an Open Border, and now, they have left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.”

He even trotted his false claims out in person, telling reporters in Valdosta, Georgia, that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was “having a hard time getting the president on the phone. I guess they’re not—they’re not being responsive.”

However, that differs significantly from Kemp’s version of events. During a press conference on Monday, Kemp said that he’d spoken to Biden on Sunday. And according to the Georgia governor, Biden asked him, “Hey, what do you need?”

“I told him we got what we need, we’ll work through the federal process,” Kemp told reporters. “He offered that if there‘s other things we need, just to call him directly, which I appreciate that.”

The Biden-Harris administration is putting their heads down, working with government agencies and state governors to save lives and clean up the devastation, as Trump goes on typical social media outbursts, drawing divisive lines in the sand. And it’s the American people who suffer.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Mark Robinson

Robinson: 'I've Had Great Conversations' With Trump Despite Scandal

Embattled North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson recently appeared on Trump ally Sebastian Gorka’s program, where he received glowing praise and support from the former White House adviser.

Robinson told the MAGA host that while he’s giving “space” to the former president, “We've spoken to him, had great conversations with him.”

CNN's Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck reported last week that Robinson made a “series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago, in which he referred to himself as a 'black NAZI!' and expressed support for reinstating slavery.” (Robinson, who was previously a right-wing commentator, has a long history of toxic remarks.) Prior to that report, numerous conservative media figures, including Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Dan Bongingo, Charlie Kirk, and Gorka had lavished praise on Robinson.

The Trump campaign has repeatedly cited Gorka, a radio host and Newsmax commentator. Trump has done interviews with the MAGA loyalist and said that Gorka is “fantastic” and there’s “so much to be learned from Sebastian.”

Gorka invited Robinson on the September 25 edition of his Salem Radio Network program to defend himself and to reaffirm his support for the North Carolina lieutenant governor.

During the interview, Gorka told him: “CNN is not a news agency, and I hope you sue them into the ground. … I hope you win. I hope you win the campaign.”

He later added: “I've seen it before, so many, many times. When they can't beat you in a fair fight, they go dirty and they go dark.” He also promoted Robinson’s campaign website.

Robinson told the Trump ally during the interview that the CNN report was false and “so much of what we see the news media doing right now is — it's shades of Soviet Russia. It's the show trials. It's the propaganda.”

He was also asked about the relationship between him and Trump. Robinson said that he doesn’t want to “draw fire to any other candidate,” including Trump, and then said he’s given him “space.”

Robinson then added, in an apparent attempt to reassure the pro-MAGA Gorka that he’s still part of the Republican team: “We've spoken to him, had great conversations with him, but we have chosen to do that. And — because we want to make sure that he wins this state.”

Fellow Newsmax commentator Greg Kelly has also been strongly defending Robinson. And Fox News has been burying the story while host Sean Hannity has been doing cleanup for Trump.*

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

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