Trump says Robinson “Speaks better” than MLK

As expected, and a day before the filing deadline, Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson filed as a candidate for N.C. governor in the 2024 elections.

He joined other gubernatorial candidates, Republicans Bill Graham and Dale Folwell, and Democratic frontrunner Josh Stein and Mike Morgan.

And, as always, Robinson could not escape controversy.

Earlier in the week, during a fundraiser at former Pres. Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Robinson formally got Trump’s endorsement, along with an apparently unwanted compliment from the criminally accused ex-president.

“I swear I think you’re better than Dr. Martin Luther King,” Trump told Robinson onstage before an audience. “And I wasn’t sure if he was happy about that. Dr. Martin Luther King was great. And I think he didn’t like that comparison but he accepted it. But [Robinson] gives some speeches that were so incredible.”

But Trump wasn’t finished.

“He’s going to go down as one of the great leaders in our country — one of the greatest leaders. He’s outstanding in presentation, but he’s probably even more outstanding in heart and the understanding of people and what you need and getting things done.”

Even though Robinson later dismissed Trump’s compliment before reporters, there were some who believed given the Black Republican’s documented negative remarks about the 60’s civil rights movement, the last thing anyone should do is compare him favorably to an icon of the struggle.

“Former President Donald Trump made a mockery of the life, sacrifices and achievements of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in his misdirected statement about North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson,” opined a stinging Capitol Broadcasting Company editorial.

“There is little reflective of King in Robinson, other than some shared outward appearance, the editorial continued. King spoke of love and respect for all people. Robinson spews hate and divisiveness.

“King was a disciple of nonviolence and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Robinson is a bully who promotes weapons of violence and death.

“King dreamed of better lives for ALL.

“Robinson’s selfish rhetoric merely seeks to uplift himself and punish those who might see otherwise.”

“It’s bad enough Donald Trump endorsed and campaigned alongside Mark Robinson, a notorious extremist who disparaged the Black community and trashed the Civil Rights Movement,” wrote DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika, “but now he’s bringing him back out on the campaign trail.

“When Trump said that Robinson – a man who claims the Civil Rights Movement was a shadowy subplot to ‘subvert capitalism’ that made Black Americans worse off – is ‘better than Dr. Martin Luther King,’ he insulted and disrespected generations of Black Americans who have fought tirelessly for their rights.”

In a column for the online magazine The Root.com, writer Jessica Washington wrote. “During a podcast interview in 2018, Robinson said the Civil Rights Movement was a “communist plot to subvert capitalism.” He added, “so many freedoms were lost during the Civil Rights Movement that shouldn’t have been lost.” So he’s not exactly a fan of Dr. King’s work.”

Washington then added, “Facebook posts from an account that appears to belong to North Carolina Lt. Gov. also suggest that Robinson just might have a problem with his own people.”

“Someone asked me if I considered myself part of the ‘African American’ community. I told them NO!” reads the Facebook post. “They asked me why and I said, ‘Why would I want to be part of a “community” that devalues its fathers, overburdens its mothers, and murders its children by the millions? Why would I want to be part of a “community” that sucks from the putrid tit of the government and then complains about getting sour milk?”

Washington reported that the post and Robinson’s comments on the podcast were first reported by WUNC North Carolina Public Radio.

The Advocate, an online newspaper, reported that “Donald Trump Calls Republican Antigay Bigot Mr. Robinson ‘Better’ that MLK.”

Given his tremendous lead in the polls, Robinson’s decided why risk it, so he’s refused to debate his Republican primary opponents, Graham and Folwell. Critics like Republican Sen. Thom Tillis say Robinson knows little about government or business, thus the reason why he’s playing safe with a 34 percent polling lead.

The March 5th GOP primary commences in just over two months.