North Carolina is slated to host one of the nation’s most competitive gubernatorial races, but ahead of the fall, there’s a contentious Super Tuesday Republican primary contest. It was against this backdrop that Donald Trump weighed in on the GOP fight, throwing his support behind Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
That wouldn’t ordinarily be especially notable — Robinson is closely aligned with the former president’s MAGA crusade — but as NBC News reported, Trump announced his support in an especially provocative way.
“This is Martin Luther King on steroids,” Trump said of Robinson at a pre-Super Tuesday rally in North Carolina. “I told that to Mark. I said, I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two,” he continued as he offered Robinson his endorsement in the Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday.
No, really, that’s what he said.
For those unfamiliar with Robinson, and the degree to which the far-right extremist has nothing in common with Martin Luther King Jr., it’s genuinely difficult to know where to start.
Looking over the MaddowBlog archives, for example, we noted in 2021 that Robinson condemned the LGBTQ community as “filth.” About a year later, the North Carolinian boasted about having an AR-15, which he said he intended to use against his own country’s government if it “gets too big for its britches.” He added at the time, “‘Cause I’m gonna fill the backside of them britches with some lead.”
But that’s just a small sampling. Perusing Right Wing Watch’s archive, I found this striking report about Robinson also declaring that the United States is a “Christian nation” — and he invited those who disagree to leave the country.
Talking Points Memo also published a lengthy report on the North Carolinian’s rhetorical record, noting his social media content that included “extreme attacks on the LGBT community, immigrants, Jews, and Black people.” A related HuffPost
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