North Carolina GOP Candidate Mark Robinson Criticized for Hypocrisy in MSNBC Op-Ed
Chris Carlson / AP file
Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina, has built his political brand on harsh judgments and attacks, according to journalist Billy Ball in a scathing op-ed published by MSNBC on Monday. Ball describes Robinson as a politician who “has built his brand on judging, more than any politician I’ve seen in my two decades covering politics in” the state.
Robinson, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has targeted a wide range of groups with his rhetoric. “Women, liberals, public school teachers, atheists, LGBTQ+ people, Jewish people, poor people — few have been spared Robinson’s righteous wrath,” Ball writes, emphasizing the divisiveness of Robinson’s approach.
He writes:
According to the report — which Robinson’s campaign denied, calling the reporters ‘degenerates’ — he would bring in pizza from the Papa John’s restaurant he worked at and ‘preview’ pornography in a booth inside the store. Multiple employees said he was a memorable customer. He was gregarious and funny, they said, albeit homophobic, occasionally cracking jokes at the expense of the store’s gay clientele.
Ball argues that Robinson’s attacks are a reflection of the Republican Party’s low expectations of their own base. He contends that the party assumes “the worst of their own base, of people of faith, of North Carolinians — that they are cruel and stupid people who will reward the same in their political candidates.” Ball criticizes this mindset as an “offensive miscalculation.”
The columnist points to a recent investigative report published by The Assembly that revealed unsettling details about Robinson’s past. According to the report, in the 1990s and early 2000s, long before his political career began, Robinson was a frequent visitor to adult video stores in his hometown, allegedly visiting as often as five times a week.
In highlighting this contradiction, Ball notes, “In politics, there’s the person politicians say they are, the person people perceive them to be, and the person they really are.” For Robinson, a self-proclaimed “born again” Christian who claims to have found religion in the 1980s, Ball argues that there is “a Grand Canyon-sized chasm” between the image Robinson portrays and his past actions.
Ball’s op-ed raises significant questions about Robinson’s character and suggests that his attacks on others may mask deeper personal contradictions. As the gubernatorial race heats up, this critique adds to the growing scrutiny of Robinson’s background and the values he claims to champion.
