Trump could become 'collateral damage' to his own 'chaos' candidate: analysis

An X-rated scandal involving Donald Trump's endorsed choice for North Carolina governor could ruin his chances of winning the crucial swing state.

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who has already been dogged by controversies involving his misogynist comments, conspiracy theories and alleged violations by a day care he and his wife ran, was hit with a new scandal involving lewd and racist posts he allegedly made years ago on a smut forum, and CNN's Stephen Collinson argued a loss could signal an end to the Trump era.

"The question of whether Robinson’s political disaster will seriously hurt Trump’s chances in one of the most tightly fought and important battleground states is a complex one," Collinson wrote. "Trump voters are hugely loyal to their candidate — so it doesn’t necessarily follow that if they disdain Robinson, they won’t vote for the ex-president. And Democrats have several times thought North Carolina was ripe to pick off in recent elections — only for it to stubbornly stay red."

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Trump and Kamala Harris are running neck-and-neck in North Carolina, so turnout will be crucial, but Robinson was already trailing Democratic attorney general Josh Stein in the gubernatorial race, and his past comments calling himself a "black NAZI" and graphically lewd anecdotes probably won't boost his chances.

"It would be an ironic historical coda if Trump becomes collateral damage to a Republican who would have been anathema to the old GOP but who thrived in the smash mouth political era the ex-president nurtured," Collinson wrote.

While past elections involving Trump have shown that presidential candidates can hurt down-ballot candidates, the reverse isn't usually the case, but Collinson said the former president's strong endorsement of Robinson, who's "the latest in a string of outlandish and often vulnerable candidates who rose because they flattered" the former president, could be a special case.

"If North Carolina finally goes blue again this year, it may show that Republicans are finally tiring of the pandemonium and MAGA fellow travelers Trump has enabled," Collinson wrote. "But if the ex-president wins the state for the third time on the bounce, he’ll once again show his staggering resilience — no matter the chaos swirling around him."