GREENSBORO, NC – Former President Donald Trump likened North Carolina Gov. Mark Robinson to Martin Luther King Jr. in his endorsement Saturday, despite the gubernatorial candidate’s long history of controversial comments about homosexuality, religion and victims of sexual assault.
“This is Martin Luther King on steroids,” Trump said of Robinson at a pre-Super Tuesday rally in North Carolina.
“I told Mark that. I said, I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you’re Martin Luther King twice,” he continued as he offered Robinson his endorsement in Tuesday’s Republican gubernatorial primary.
Robinson has been a vocal supporter of the former president and first endorsed Trump’s re-election in June when he spoke at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington.
Robinson, the pastor, is a polarizing figure and has come under fire for past comments. women, MuslimsJewish people and members of the LGTBQ community.
The favorite to secure the Republican nomination for governor of North Carolina, e.g. hinted that homosexuality is a stepping stone to pedophilia, school shooting survivors were harshly mocked promoting gun control reform, promoting uniforms Holocaust denial and used anti-Semitic tropes.
In October, Robinson insisted he was not anti-Semitic and distanced himself from some past social media posts.
“There are some posts on Facebook that are poorly worded by me,” he said in the comments in front of the state legislature and added: “There is no anti-Semitism standing before you here.”
In 2021, Robinson faced calls for his resignation: “Nowhere in America should anyone teach any child to be transgender, homosexual, any of that impurity.”
In response, he said he would “fight” for the rights of the LGBTQ community.
“Let me be clear: I will fight and protect all citizens, including those in the LGBTQ community, to express themselves as they wish,” he said at the time. “It’s their right as Americans, and I don’t think the government has any role in telling them otherwise. However, the idea that our children should be taught the concepts of transgenderism and exposed to sexually explicit material in classrooms is abhorrent.”
Trump’s comments in Greensboro marked at least the second time the controversial lieutenant governor has been compared to the iconic civil rights leader.
“The first thing was the voice,” Trump said of Robinson in a video posted online from an event at Mar-a-Lago in December. “Then I said, ‘You know what, I swear you’re Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” said Trump.
Trump has faced backlash for his recent comments addressing Black Conservative Federation annual gala in South Carolina.
“I was accused a second time and a third time and a fourth time and a lot of people said that’s why black people love me because they’ve been hurt and discriminated against so badly and they actually looked at me like, ‘I’m discriminated against,'” she said.
Trump also insinuated that black people embraced and related to his trophy photo in a unique way. He has allies started trying to try to win over more black voters in November.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt called Robinson “a great American respected by the people of North Carolina,” in a statement to NBC News.
“The mainstream media’s attacks on African Americans who support President Trump are old and tired,” he added, “but we expect them to increase as polls show more and more black Americans are choosing to support Trump over Biden.”