The controversial speech of Robinson, Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina

Raleigh

The Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina used a recent speech about freedom to talk about how he sees the United States “moving away” from the Declaration of Independence and how he thinks “bad people” should be punished by the military and police.

This is the second year in a row that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has given an Independence Day-themed speech at an ultraconservative church and made controversial comments. In 2023, he spoke of the “gates of hell” and took aim at teachers and LGBTQ+ people. Before a June 30 speech at Lake Church in Bladen County to celebrate the Fourth of July, the pastor who hosted Robinson said he believes the devil is behind President Joe Biden.

Robinson’s speech, still available on the church’s Facebook page, has gained attention for his comments about why he thinks “some people need to be killed,” referencing the Germans and Japanese in World War II, but he spoke beyond that.

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As first reported by The New Republic, Robinson said: “There was a time when we used to confront evil on the battlefield. And guess what we did to it? We killed it. We didn’t argue about it. We didn’t fight about it. We killed it. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, what did we do? We flew to Japan and killed the Japanese army and navy.”

“We didn’t even argue about it. I didn’t start this fight, you did! If you want to be left alone, you should have left me alone. We didn’t argue or give up or talk about, ‘Well, maybe we shouldn’t fight the Nazis so hard.’ No, they’re bad. Kill them. Some liberal somewhere is going to say that sounds horrible. Too bad,” Robinson told the congregation.

“If you want, focus on me. There are people who need to be killed,” he said.

Robinson devoted most of his speech to the theme of freedom, praising Revolutionary War soldiers, Union soldiers in the Civil War and the sacrifices made by parents whose sons and daughters served in the Vietnam War. But he went beyond war when he spoke of the punishment he wants for “evil people.”

‘Evil people’ and comments in defense

“It’s time for someone to speak up. It’s not a question of revenge. It’s not a question of being mean or spiteful. It’s a question of necessity. We have evil people doing evil things – torturing, murdering and raping. It’s time to call those guys in green and have them deal with it. Those guys in blue, have them deal with it. We’ve got to start taking care of our business again,” Robinson said.

The U.S. military and other branches of the armed forces typically wear green uniforms based on their location and report to the federal government. Law enforcement officers, referred to as “those in blue,” serve at the municipal, city, county, and state levels. The lieutenant governor has no jurisdiction over the military or police. The governor can call in the National Guard, and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, which includes the State Highway Patrol, is a cabinet agency of the governor’s office.

Robinson spoke during the church’s two-hour service. Before his speech, he held a conversation in rocking chairs next to the pulpit with Lake Church pastor the Rev. Cameron McGill. The church, which also has a lakefront retreat camp, is located in White Lake and is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

McGill also serves on the Bladen County Board of Commissioners. McGill said the church will also host U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, who is running for attorney general, and Dave Boliek, who is running for state auditor.

Responding to Robinson’s speech, McGill told The New Republic that “certainly those he considered worthy of death[were]those who sought to kill us,” adding that Robinson “certainly did not imply taking any innocent life” and that the rest of his speech was “not controversial.”

Mike Lonergan, a spokesman for Robinson’s campaign, criticized news organizations and Democrats on social media, saying they took Robinson’s remarks out of context and claimed they were “defending the Axis powers.” The Axis powers during World War II included Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy, while the Allied powers included the United States, Britain and France, among others.

Robinson believes freedom is slipping away

By saying “get back to business,” Robinson was referring to something he said earlier in his speech, about people who go to church having the freedom to dress how they want and listen to what they want on the radio. He believes those freedoms are “vanishing.”

“Keep thinking about it. Don’t you feel like it’s slipping away? Don’t you feel like it’s slipping away?” he repeated. “The further we get away from the concept of 1776 and why we declared our independence and how we did it, the further we get away from making 1776 a distant memory and the principles of socialism and communism start to become clearer.”

Robinson claimed that “they” are watching, tracking, listening, canceling, disclosing personal information and are angry with “you” and “us.”

He also used his speech to preach about salvation through Jesus Christ, how he didn’t want to wear a mask in a store during COVID-19 restrictions and why he doesn’t celebrate Juneteenth.

Robinson is North Carolina’s first Black lieutenant governor, and if he wins in the fall, he will be the state’s first Black governor. As for Juneteenth, Robinson said he is not from Galveston, Texas, which was where news of the Emancipation Proclamation last reached enslaved people, and noted that slavery did not end until the 13th Amendment was ratified. Ratification occurred on Dec. 6, 1865. Congress approved it on Jan. 31, 1865.

White House Reaction

Robinson, who is part of the MAGA wing of the Republican Party, has received support from former President Donald Trump. During his visit to Lake Church, McGill showed the congregation a photo of Robinson with Trump. Before Robinson’s speech, McGill also spoke about President Joe Biden.

“I said it here last week, and I know it’s probably offensive,” McGill said. “But people ask me all the time: Who is behind President Biden and that administration? Is it Obama or Clinton? Read the Bible. It’s the devil. It’s the father of lies. It’s the deceiver. It’s the divider. It’s the manipulator.”

Biden-Harris campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika criticized Robinson for “following Trump’s lead in calling for violence against his enemies.”

“Donald Trump sows division and hatred, openly fantasizes about revenge against his opponents, and encourages political violence. Mark Robinson, the extremist Trump endorsed and compared to Martin Luther King Jr., is following Trump’s lead by calling for violence against his enemies and saying that ‘some people need to be killed,’” Chitika said in an emailed statement.

“Mark Robinson and Donald Trump embrace a dangerous, violent, anti-American vision of the country – it is not who we are as Americans and it is the reason voters will end it in November,” he said.

Morgan Hopkins, a spokeswoman for Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein’s gubernatorial campaign, called Robinson “divisive and dangerous.”

“Mark Robinson’s repeated, violent rhetoric fits his pattern of sowing division and hatred rather than serving North Carolina families. We cannot have a governor who calls for extrajudicial killings,” Hopkins said.