'Vile' North Carolina GOP candidate misses when women couldn't vote: report
Huffington Post writer Jennifer Bendery Wednesday issued a stern warning to female voters in North Carolina: Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson wants to return to an America where women cannot vote.
"I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote,” Robinson said about four years ago. "In those days we had real social change."
Bendery published this quote in a damning profile on the Republican who secured on Super Tuesday his party's nomination for the state's governorship.
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She appears to have been inspired by the New York Times' more subdued profile, which she called a "stunningly bad take."
"Five things to know about Mark Robinson are that his upbringing was difficult, his political career was fueled by online support and his wife had an abortion in 1989?" Bendery wrote on X. "This guy is a dangerous conspiracy theorist."
Later, for the Huffington Post, Bendery elaborated.
"He’s claimed that feminism was created by Satan," Bendery wrote. "He’s routinely referred to feminists as “fem-nazis” and, in one particularly colorful post, described those who support equal rights for women as “sexist, hairy armpit having, poo-poo hat wearing pinkos."
Bendery notes Robinson has cast doubt on the Holocaust, suggested trans people face arrest for using bathrooms, and spread conspiracy theories linked to QAnon.
On X, the reporter notes Robinson said Michelle Obama smelled of "human waste" and that Beyonce teaches women to be "hyper-sexual wh-res."
"Robinson's comments about women are some of the most vile and disturbing I've seen in politics," Bendery wrote.
"The way he talks about women -- never mind all the dangerous conspiracies he's fanned, or the transphobia, the Islamophobia, the antisemitism -- is enough to make your jaw drop."
This take on Robinson stands in stark contrast to the profile published by the New York Times, which first offers a brief biography then details five things the author thinks voters should know.
Robinson, 55, will challenge Democrat opponent Attorney General Josh Stein in November's general election and both are poised to be first in their states, the Times reports first.
"Mr. Robinson would be the first Black governor, while Mr. Stein, 57, would be the first Jewish governor," Eduardo Medina writes.
Medina then summarizes the reputation Robinson's rhetoric has garnered him as follows.
"Mr. Robinson has built a reputation as a political firebrand, and forged a path to the executive mansion in Raleigh partly through incendiary comments on social issues, which have mobilized his Trump-aligned base and repulsed Democrats," Medina writes.
"The Republican candidate appears eager to drive divisions, disparaging L.G.B.T.Q. people, posting comments that were widely perceived as antisemitic and calling Michelle Obama a man."
Those "disparaging" remarks are quoted directly further down in the profile, cushioned between segments detailing Robinson's online support, how his appointment as lieutenant governor made state history, a difficult upbringing and his wife's regretted abortion.
Watch Mark Robinson's comments on women voters below or click the link here.