Republicans Just Nominated a Conspiracy Theorist Who Compared Gay People to Maggots

After eight years of Democratic leadership, North Carolina’s next governor could be a guy with a long history of shitposting on Facebook.

Mark Robinson, the winner of the state’s Republican primary for governor on Tuesday, has served as North Carolina’s lieutenant governor since 2021. He shot into the national spotlight in part by devoting himself to Donald Trump and making a slew of incendiary, deeply bigoted comments. Trump has endorsed Robinson for the state’s top job, and even called him “Martin Luther King on steroids” at a recent campaign event.

Much like Trump, Robinson entered politics later in life and has an outsider attitude, with a social media history to match.

In a 2014 Facebook post, Robinson posted a Hitler quote about “pride in one’s own race.”

Though he did not attribute the quote to Hitler, instead fashioning it into a guessing game by writing “history who said it #1.” The post remains up on his personal Facebook page.

The post resurfaced after his election to statewide office, and Robinson defended it at a Moms for Liberty event last year. “Because you quoted Hitler, you support Hitler,” Robinson said. “I guess every history book in America supports Hitler now. They all quote him.”

In addition to quoting Hitler, Robinson has come under fire for Islamophobia, writing in a long 2017 rant that Muslims in America were “INVADERS.”

“For many years now Muslims have been ‘immigrating’ to countries that have customs they despise, laws they challenge, and norms they refuse to tolerate,” Robinson said.

Robinson has also been outspoken with his hatred for LGBTQ people, with one post reading: “We have pushed homosexuality over the top. Mark my words PEDOPHILLA is next, which will be closely followed by the END of civilization as we know it.”

During a 40-minute sermon delivered at Berean Baptist Church in 2021, Robinson compared LGBTQ people to “maggots” and described straight couples as “superior.”

Robinson’s personal Facebook page is also the site of several misogynist memes, including a post that insinuated Michelle Obama was a man and another disparaging actress Ashley Judd’s accusations of sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein. Robinson has also defended Weinstein and other men accused of widespread sexual misconduct like Bill Cosby and Matt Lauer, saying “everyone’s got something in their past.”

In line with other evangelical Republicans, Robinson has called abortion a “moral evil, like slavery,” though in recent months has refused to even speak the word after North Carolina imposed a 12-week abortion ban.

Robinson is no stranger to spreading conspiracy theories, either. He has shown interest in the debunked birther conspiracy, and implied Covid lockdowns were done to spite then-President Trump, writing in March 2020: “Sadly, what we suspect is true. It seems the globalist will stop at nothing to destroy the progress of American Exceptionalism that this PRESIDENT promised and DELIVERED.”

A representative for Robinson’s campaign did not respond to press inquiries from Rolling Stone. With the GOP victory secured, Robinson is set to go head-to-head against Democratic nominee Josh Stein, North Carolina’s attorney general, in November.

More from Rolling Stone

• North Carolina GOP Candidate Wants to 'Go Back to the America Where Women Couldn't Vote'

• Nikki Haley Finally Quits, Doesn't Endorse Trump

• Adam Schiff Wins California Senate Primary, Edging Katie Porter Out of Congress

Best of Rolling Stone

• The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign

• Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal

• The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence