'Ignore the controversy and power through': Trump wants to duck the Mark Robinson scandal
According to a report from the New York Times, aides to Donald Trump "frantically " awaited what CNN had dug up on North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson on Thursday afternoon only to have the former president suggest they ignore it once the horrific details were published.
CNN's bombshell report, which detailed postings on an adult website so obscene that there was no attempt to provide a summary of what Robinson had written, rocked the North Carolina Republican Party to such an extent that there are now worries the former president could lose North Carolina's 16 Electoral College votes to Vice President Kamala Harris.
As the Times is reporting, those same worries ran through Trump's inner circle which was blindsided by what was to come and then scrambled on how to respond.
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The report notes, "After CNN published its report, Mr. Trump’s first reaction was that he wanted nothing to do with the scandal and didn’t see why he should get involved, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. His impulse was to ignore the controversy and power through," while his staff held out hope that Robinson would step aside saving the campaign from having to make plans to maneuver the controversy going forward.
However, the controversial GOP candidate refused to take himself off the ballot, leaving the former president in the position of likely having to deal with it when he makes an appearance in North Carolina that was already scheduled.
"With Mr. Trump preparing to visit North Carolina for a rally on Saturday, he’s expected to talk about the controversy in passing, either on his Truth Social platform or once he’s in the state," the Times is reporting. "People close to him anticipate that he will deliver a version of a comment he has made about countless supporters or former aides: that he hardly knows the guy."
Noting that there will be a concerted effort by Trump's team to do damage control this weekend, the Times report adds, "In the meantime, they planned to monitor their internal polls to see if the controversy was having any effect on Mr. Trump."
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