“In social media posts, Robinson has previously trivialized domestic violence and sexual assault.”
A new report from Vanity Fair details how Mark Robinson, the frontrunner in the North Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary, has a long record of sexism, trivializing domestic violence, and attacking the LGBTQ+ community. See more below.
Vanity Fair: Is North Carolina Going to Become Like Ron DeSantis’s Florida?
By Abigail Tracy | 7/3/203
Key Points:
- North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper—one of Democrats’ few success stories from the 2016 election cycle—will be termed out of his seat next year, and Republicans are itching to replace him. Enter Republican Mark Robinson, the state’s controversial lieutenant governor who has become known for past homophobic and antisemitic remarks, as well as his extreme views around reproductive rights, and who recently endorsed Donald Trump for president.
- Robinson is currently the front-runner in the Republican primary, against state treasurer Dale Folwell and former House lawmaker Mark Walker. Should he be elected, the purple state could quickly spiral into a right-wing laboratory mirroring Ron DeSantis’s Florida.
- In social media posts, Robinson has previously trivialized domestic violence and sexual assault. In one 2017 Facebook post, Robinson wrote, “So if someone beats the bird dog hell of their spouse at the mall….is it still ‘Domestic Violence?’” And in another 2018 post: “So if a woman who ‘transitioned’ into a ‘man’ marries and abuses a man who ‘transitioned’ into a ‘woman’ is it still ‘violence against a woman?’ Will the feminist raise hell over it? I’m asking for a British Cigarette.” Robinson, as seen by the Facebook posts shared with Vanity Fair by liberal PAC American Bridge, also shared memes mocking alleged sexual assault victims of Harvey Weinstein and Bill O’Reilly and their supporters, and of Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
- He has frequently targeted feminism on social media as well. “Feminism was planted in the ‘Garden,’ watered by the devil, and is harvested and sold by his minions,” he wrote in one post in 2016. Robinson also declared on Facebook in 2017 that “Lesbianism and feminism” are destroying the family; that American feminism is “a bad joke” (2019) and feminists are “as bad, if not worse, than racist”(2016); that any man who refers to himself as a feminist is “about as MANLY as a pair of lace panties”(2017); and that women who breastfeed in public are “shameless attention hogs” (2016). The Robinson campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
- “Mark Robinson is the poster child for how not to treat any human being,” Philip Shulman, the spokesperson for American Bridge, tells Vanity Fair. “His venomous views are going to be a drag on his campaign and whomever has the misfortune of aligning themselves with him—including former presidents.”
- As the race unfolds, North Carolina is emerging as a microcosm of the battles that will likely define the 2024 cycle, from the presidential election to the bottom of the ticket. North Carolina is one of the few remaining purple-ish states, which Joe Biden came within a point and a half of winning in 2020. Notably, Kamala Harris held a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on reproductive rights on the one-year anniversary of the day the Supreme Court gutted Roe v. Wade, suggesting that the state will be one to watch in the presidential election.
Published: Jul 10, 2023 | Last Modified: Jul 11, 2023