Anti-LGBTQ+ Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson made headlines once again after suggesting “some folks need killing” during a public appearance last Wednesday. When reporters tried to question him regarding these comments a few days later, Robinson called the questions “shameful” and fled into an elevator.
The speech happened at Lake Church in White Lake, where he referred to those who opposed him as individuals who should be killed.
“We now find ourselves struggling with people who have evil intent. You know, there’s a time when we used to meet evil on the battlefield. And guess what we did to it? We killed it!” Robinson said, continuing, “Kill them! Some liberal somewhere is going to say that sounds awful. Too bad. Get mad at me if you want to. Some folks need killing! It’s time for somebody to say it. … It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!”
Robinson also said leftists and conservatives were always “watching” and “listening to” him and waiting to pounce on every little thing they say.
“We need to start handling our business again,” he said. “Don’t you feel it slipping away?… The further we start sliding into making 1776 a distant memory and the tenets of socialism and communism start coming into clearer focus. They’re watching us. They’re listening to us. They’re tracking us. They get mad at you. They cancel you. They dox you. They kick you off social media. They come in and close down your business. Folks, it’s happening … because we have forgotten who we are.”
Robinson’s rhetoric mirrors the trend of increasingly combative language from political candidates. Combative rhetoric has been cited as a contributing factor in recent acts of political violence, including the January 6th insurrection, the hammer attack against Nancy Pelosi’s husband and the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
A few days after the speech in White Lake, Robinson was approached by reporters after a ceremony at the state legislature honoring a Craven County police officer. When asked if reporters could ask Robinson a few questions, the Lt. Gov.’s campaign manager Mike Lonergan said they could only ask about the award ceremony.
However, WRAL reporter Laura Leslie asked the gubernatorial candidate about his inflammatory comments from the White Lake appearance, to which Robinson fired back: “You want to come out here and besmirch that lady’s award by coming out here and asking me that silly question?” Robinson said walking into an elevator without answering questions. “That’s what you got out of this? There’s your answer. Shameful, that’s what it is. Pure shameful. And you should be ashamed.”
Leslie went on the air and the record, clarifying for viewers the normalcy of asking elected officials questions at public appearances.
“It is a routine thing for reporters to ask elected officials questions after public events,” she explained. “We do that all the time, especially when those officials are hard to get access to otherwise.”
Lonergan replied to WRAL’s request for an interview with Robinson, stating “You will not be getting an interview today and probably not anytime soon either.”
N.C. Democratic Party Chairwoman Anderson Clayton addressed the situation in a press conference, saying Robinson “makes North Carolina less safe.”
“It’s jarring and irresponsible for the sitting lieutenant governor and the Republican nominee for governor to say something so reckless and so clearly intended to incite violence,” she said.
According to the latest polling data from fivethirtyeight.com, Robinson is leading Democratic opponent Josh Stein by four percentage points.
Reading Robinson’s rhetoric is sick and scary
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