Many are calling Mark Robinson’s remarks at a southeast North Carolina church last month “incendiary” and “bizarre” after a 30-minute speech where he endorsed violence, saying “some folks need killing.”
The North Carolina Lt. Governor left churchgoers shocked, with many not knowing exactly how to respond to his remarks. “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,” he said while referring to the United States bombing of Japan in 1945. Robinson also mentioned Nazi Germany: “No, they’re bad. Kill them.”
Robinson even called for the “guys in green” and “boys in blue” to handle “wicked people doing wicked things [like] torturing and murdering and raping.” He called out the Democrats: “Some liberal somewhere is gonna say that sounds awful. Too bad!”
Sparse applause from members of the Lake Church followed his statement.
Robinson went on to warn churchgoers that liberals are “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.”
The GOP nominee has garnered a reputation of controversial political agendas and divisive statements and conspiracy theories. Most famously, Robinson has called for a complete ban on all abortions, claiming when a woman becomes pregnant, “it’s not [her] body anymore.”
Robinson also has strong views on the LGBTQ community, saying trans people should “find a corner outside somewhere” instead of using public restrooms, and he has even referred to Beyoncé as “satanic.”
Coming to Robinson’s defense, Lake Church Rev. Cameron McGill said Robinson “certainly did not imply the taking of any innocent lives.” He clarified that “Without a doubt, those he deemed worthy of death [were] those seeking to kill us.”
A spokesperson for Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign told NewsNation that Robinson’s comments only referred to the Japanese and Nazis of WWII.
“Mark Robinson’s repeated and repulsively violent rhetoric fits into his pattern of spewing division and hate rather than serving North Carolina families,” said a representative for Attorney General Josh Stein’s gubernatorial campaign. “We cannot have a governor who calls for extrajudicial killings. Mark Robinson is divisive and dangerous.”
Robinson has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. The GOP nominee is set to face Stein in the November election for governor of North Carolina.