Trump stresses importance of winning NC, avoids mentioning Robinson scandal at rally

WILMINGTON, N.C. — Former President Donald Trump returned to North Carolina for a weekend rally, telling several thousand cheering supporters the state is crucial to his presidential campaign.

“This is a very important state. We win this state, I think it’s gonna be over fast,” Trump said Saturday afternoon in Wilmington.

Trump’s visit came just two days after a nationally reverberating scandal jolted the North Carolina governor’s race, with CNN reporting Thursday that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP gubernatorial nominee, allegedly made graphic, offensive and racist comments on a pornography website about a decade ago.

obinson, who has stoked controversy throughout his time as lieutenant governor, denied making the comments and called the allegations “salacious tabloid lies,” pledging on Thursday to stay in the race amid rumors that he was facing pressure from some Republicans to drop out.

Robinson was noticeably absent from Trump’s rally in Wilmington, and the former president never mentioned him in his hour-long speech, despite having embraced Robinson’s candidacy and endorsing him earlier this year. calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

Trump instead focused on border security and included a promise to punish jurisdictions that don’t cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Trump promised to “immediately surge federal law enforcement to every city that is failing ... to turn over criminal aliens.”

“We will get them out of North Carolina, and we will send them home where they belong,” Trump said.

North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday vetoed a bill that would require sheriffs to cooperate with ICE, though the Republican-controlled General Assembly has the votes to overturn the veto.

Trump said he would not agree to debate Vice President Kamala Harris again Oct. 23 on CNN.

“She’s done one debate. I’ve done two. It’s too late to do another. I’d love to, in many ways, but it’s too late. The voting is cast. The voters are out there,” Trump said.

In North Carolina, absentee ballots have begun being mailed out. Early voting begins Oct. 17 and Election Day is Nov. 5.

In a direct appeal to those in the audience from southeastern North Carolina, Trump promised full federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe, which has for decades been denied benefits granted to other Native American tribes.

“If I am elected in November, I will sign legislation granting the great Lumbee Tribe the federal recognition that it deserves,” he said.

A bill introduced in early 2023 by Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd stalled in committee and never got a vote.

Trump also said he would “end transgender insanity in our school” and “keep men out of women’s sports.” He then repeated a lie that the woman who won a gold medal in boxing at the Paris Olympics was transgender. She is not.

“How demeaning is this to women? How demeaning is this to our country? How crazy is it?” Trump said.

The CNN report on Robinson included screenshots of Robinson allegedly calling himself a “Black Nazi” on the porn site’s message board and saying “slavery is not bad.” He also allegedly described spying on women in gym showers as a 14-year-old, and used a racial slur against the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

CNN said in its report that Robinson had listed his full name on his profile on the porn site, and an email address that he had used on other websites. On Friday, CNN reported that the posts had been removed from the website.

The N.C. Republican Party said in a statement Thursday night that Robinson had “categorically denied the allegations made by CNN but that won’t stop the Left from trying to demonize him via personal attacks.”

But the next day, N.C. GOP Chairman Jason Simmons said “the allegations are deeply troubling” and that Robinson “needs to explain them to the people of North Carolina.”

Democrats are seeking to tie Robinson to Trump and hope his struggling polling numbers will make it more difficult for Trump to win a state he has won twice before, though only by 1.3% in 2020.

Despite avoiding the Robinson controversy Saturday, Trump did acknowledge a handful of N.C. politicians in the audience who are up for election in 2024, including attorney general candidate Dan Bishop and U.S. Rep. David Rouzer.

Budd also attended, as did Wilmington native and RNC co-chair Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, and her husband Eric.

In recognizing Eric Trump, the former president said: “He got more subpoenas than the late great Al Capone. Al Capone is like a baby compared to Eric.”

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