No “Black Nazi” quotations or porn-site references here. Just Robinson’s own bloodthirsty words.
- Share full article
It is one of the most explosive contests in the country: the race for North Carolina governor. And that is largely because of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee, who has long history of making incendiary remarks. His Democratic opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein, began running this 30-second ad portraying Mr. Robinson as unfit for public office, even before reports that Mr. Robinson had once called himself a “black NAZI,” defended slavery and written a host of other scandalous posts on a pornographic website. The Stein campaign has spent more than $2 million running the ad since Sept. 12.
Here’s a look at the ad, its accuracy and its main takeaway.
On the Screen
The ad opens with white capital letters quickly unfurling across a black screen: “Is this who you want as your governor?”
Video clips follow showing Mr. Robinson loudly delivering speeches — shouting, really — in different settings. In the first few, he is wearing a suit. In the last, he is in a polo shirt.
His name is shown, and his words are subtitled.
“Mark Robinson is extreme,” a headline says, again in white type on a black screen. The word “extreme” flips and is replaced by “dangerous,” and then by “unhinged.”
As a close-up of Mr. Robinson again shouting, “Some folks need killing!” fills the screen, a final headline flashes across it in capital letters:
“Mark Robinson is unfit to be governor.”
Credit…Josh Stein for North Carolina
The Script
Mr. Robinson
“I got them AR-15s in case the government gets too big for its britches. ’Cause I’m going to fill the backside of them britches with some lead.”
Mr. Robinson
“Go into battle and take the head of your enemy!”
Mr. Robinson
“’Cause it’s time to go to war, folks.”
Mr. Robinson
“Get mad at me if you want to: Some folks need killing! It’s time for somebody to say it.”
Mr. Robinson
“Some folks need killing!”
Accuracy
The ad almost entirely consists of remarks by Mr. Robinson. It makes no verifiable claims.
The Takeaway
This is a brutal takedown, effective especially because it uses Mr. Robinson’s own words against him. The disclosures of Mr. Robinson’s pornography-site postings that came after the ad began running have only reinforced its central message.
Mr. Robinson comes across as menacing, not only because of what he says but also because of how he says it — yelling about using assault weapons against the government, about beheading, and about killing, a bloodthirsty rhetoric that is unlikely to have broad appeal.
The ad seems intended to repel the kind of moderate voters likely to decide a close election — many of them women — while appealing to North Carolinians’ sense of pride, an old standby in political campaigns: Do we want this person to be the face of our state in the eyes of the world?
Adam Nagourney is a national political reporter for The Times, covering the 2024 campaign. More about Adam Nagourney
See more on: Mark Robinson, U.S. Politics
- Share full article
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Source: nytimes.com
