The GOP’s Man
Nobody likes Mark Robinson, not even his own party. So why did they put all their investment into him?
There is not much more to say about Mark Robinson; he seems to have said it all. His name, his face, his words are plastered across the nation’s media. Even a friend from India asked me about him. I had to defend my state.
Mark Robinson is not a remarkable man. His hypocrisy, his dishonesty, and his indiscretions — all unremarkable. Even his well-documented homophobia, racism, antisemitism, misogyny, and hate speech are, unfortunately, unremarkable had he not been elevated by his party to a position of power. If you take away the role he has been given, Robinson is just a stale, sad man.
There is much to say, however, of the people who have pushed him toward power and helped him get this far. What characteristics did they see that made them think he could be a leader? That he would uplift our great state?
I don’t believe that the recent headlines are a surprise to those behind Mark Robinson’s rise. It is noticeable that no one has stepped forward to say “Those comments just don’t sound like him!” Everyone knows they do. David French has called the situation “the most predictable crisis in the history of party politics.”
The truth is, the North Carolina GOP selected — no, created — Mark Robinson not because they overlooked the worst of his character, but precisely because of it. No doubt they wish he hadn’t posted graphic descriptions about sexual encounters with his sister-in-law or praised Hitler online, but they did want him to dance close enough to the lines of hate and bigotry to fire up the worst passions of a crowd.
Robinson and I come from the same town. No one here knew him before the fiery gun rights speech he made at City Council that made him a right-wing darling — he was just a guy who signed up to give public comments. As far as any of us know, he was never a volunteer, never a local leader, never someone any of us turned to for guidance or advice. Even the local Guilford County Republicans didn’t know Robinson, though he claims he went to a few meetings once upon a time.
No one has ever come forward to recall how instrumental Mark Robinson was in his children’s school or how he volunteered at the local library. No stories have emerged about the time he helped his neighbors clean up after a storm and no former coworkers have come forward to talk about how he’d selflessly pitch in for the team. Only a handful of guys from Greensboro’s porn shops seem to have ever met Mark Robinson offline.
This lack of experience, character, and involvement seems to have mattered little. North Carolina’s Republican Party set their sights on Robinson all because of that one speech. His knack for orating resentment was enough for them. Any concerns about his character were overshadowed by his useful theatrics.
They liked Robinson’s unhinged anger, his zealot’s fury, even if they didn’t always share it. Many in his party loathe him, complaining that he never shows up, never attends meetings, and barely takes his job seriously. But they didn’t select Mark Robinson as their top candidate because they liked him or thought he was the man for the job, but because he was reprehensible in useful ways.
The NC GOP made a decision: Stoking division is more valuable than honest leadership to win this election. North Carolina is a famously purple state, known for our split tickets and close margins. It’s easier to win in North Carolina by dividing people up and pitting them against each other than it is to reach out to people and do the real work of governance. Selected precisely because he made people feel angry and afraid of each other, the inexperienced, skillless, unlikeable and friendless Robinson became their man.
The problem is no one in the party drew a line. They knew they wanted voters to feel fury, but was denying the holocaust too much? Was calling LGBTQIA+ North Carolinians “filth” too much? Calling women whores? Calling himself a Nazi? Peeping on women in the showers?
Last week, the NC GOP issued a statement saying that they still stand with Robinson while never drawing a line on the things he has said or done. His campaign staff is quitting, but no one will actually take a stand against him. It’s been left to the voters to clean up this mess the party created.
It’s not just up to Democrats to turn out against Robinson, or independents like myself. Republican voters will also have to vote against Robinson to reclaim their values and morals as a party.
We can do it. We make decisions like this all the time. We all know bombastic, loud-mouthed, and cruel men who we regularly cut out of our lives, disinvite to our BBQs, avoid at work. We know them as the shallow, unremarkable men they are. Mark Robinson is the type of man we avoid having in our personal lives; let’s keep him out of our politics and the governor’s mansion, too.
