GOP Senators Struggle to Defend—But Won’t Denounce—Mark Robinson

Republican senators couldn’t muster up a simple denouncement on Sunday of North Carolina’s GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson after a CNN report unveiled scores of his past antisemitic, racist comments—all while their presidential standard-bearer, Donald Trump, won’t say his name.

CNN reported on Thursday that Robinson, under the handle “minisoldr,” expressed his love for transgender porn, his hatred of Jews, and referred to himself as a “Black NAZI” on a porn website’s forums between 2008 and 2012. Robinson forcefully denied the allegations, though he hasn’t shared evidence to support his denials.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) painted the damning report to CNN’s State of the Union as “concerning allegations,” and said that Robinson owed North Carolina voters an answer on whether the allegations were true. He then tried to pivot the conversation back to the presidential race, arguing Kamala Harris has more to answer on her relationship with Jewish voters.

“Do you think that Trump should still support Mark Robinson in North Carolina?” Tapper asked.

“I’ll leave that to President Trump, and most importantly, I’ll leave it to the people of North Carolina,” Cotton said.

Trump held a rally in North Carolina on Saturday, though he did not mention Robinson once despite endorsing him in March. NBC later asked vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) whether he believed Robinson’s denials. “I don’t not believe him,” Vance replied.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also tried to boost up Robinson’s denials, saying on Meet the Press he’d encourage him to “hire me the best lawyer I could find” and sue the network for the story—if it was not true.

If it was, he caveated, things may be more difficult.

“The charges are beyond unnerving,” Graham said. “If they’re true, he’s unfit to serve for office. If they’re not true, he has the best lawsuit in the history of the country for libel.”

But former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie laid the blame squarely at Trump’s feet in an appearance on ABC.

“As long as Donald Trump is your recruiting agent for candidates in swing states, we’re gonna continue to get our rear ends handed to us,” Christie said.

Robinson’s Democratic opponent, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, leaned into that argument during a CNN appearance, saying he also didn’t believe Robinson’s denials and chastised Republicans for uplifting him.

“Robinson exists because Donald Trump has lifted him up throughout,” Stein said. “And candidates up and down the ballot in North Carolina need to have—they need to be held accountable for supporting Mark Robinson and being part of his entire campaign.”