ICYMI: Robinson Under Fire For Violent Rhetoric

“It’s Time To Take…Threats Of Violence Literally And Seriously”

Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is once again spewing violent rhetoric, saying “some folks need killing.” Following the New Republic’s coverage of a June 30 speech where Robinson “appeared to endorse lethal violence against these unnamed enemies,” news organizations are shedding light on his “newly explicit calls for killing perceived enemies.”

Despite the “red flags,” the Robinson campaign has sought to minimize his comments and even ignored “a question about who the people with ‘evil intent’ are” that Robinson says “need killing.”

While national outlets have noted Robinson’s “history of controversial remarks,” they warn that these remarks represent a “dangerous low.” As MSNBC notes, “this is far from the first time Robinson has used the violent language of warfare.” Robinson has “expressed support for the 1970 National Guard shooting of anti-Vietnam War protesters at Kent State University.” He has also previously advocated for resisting the FBI, threatened to use his AR-15 if “the government gets too big for its britches,” said that God calls him to “go into battle and take the head of your enemy,” and supported “vengeance” against members of his own party.

These violent comments beg the question: “If Robinson’s solution to what he believes is ailing America is killing and brute force, does he intend to place Americans who disagree with him in the crosshairs?”

Extremist pastor Mark Robinson wants to be North Carolina’s next governor, and his vision for the country is one of bloody ruthlessness.

“Some folks need killing!” Robinson declared in a lengthy sermon delivered on Sunday, which was first reported by The New Republic. “It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity! When you have wicked people doing wicked things, torturing and murdering and raping. It’s time to call out, uh, those guys in green and go have them handled. Or those boys in blue and have them go handle it.”

But as Robinson continued speaking, he appeared to be speaking not of hostile military powers in open warfare, but of the domestic political boogymen regularly excoriated by the right.

Given that Robinson was ambiguous in his description of who exactly was in need of “killing” — and his already lengthy roster of hateful commentary against minority groups and opposing political ideologies — it’s no surprise the sermon is raising red flags.

In 2021, he referred to LGBTQ people as “filth.” Months later Robinson declared that heterosexual couples were “superior” to homosexual couples, and likened LGBTQ relationships to cow shit. In 2020, Robinson stated that he missed the days when women couldn’t vote. “I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote,” he said. “Do you know why? Because in those days, we had people who fought for real social change, and they were called Republicans.” The year before, he suggested that mass shootings were “karma” for the legalization of abortion. The list goes on and on.

If Robinson’s solution to what he believes is ailing America is killing and brute force, does he intend to place Americans who disagree with him in the crosshairs?

MSNBC: ‘Some folks need killing’: North Carolina Lt. Gov takes Christian nationalism to dangerous low

On the Sunday before the Fourth of July, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, stood on a church pulpit and called for the extrajudicial killing of people he considered to be enemies of Christian America. Republicans’ continued support for and promotion of Robinson’s candidacy show how the GOP and the religious right have mainstreamed calls for violence in the name of Christian nationalism.
The exact identity of the “folks” who deserved death was unclear. There are “wicked people doing wicked things, torturing and murdering and raping,” Robinson said. But he clearly had in mind a far broader spectrum of leftist foes, warning about those “making 1776 a distant memory” and those advancing “the tenets of socialism and communism.”
Robinson, an unabashed Christian nationalist, has a long history of extremist and bigoted positions, promoting conspiracy theories, and making racist, antisemitic, homophobic and transphobic attacks on fellow Americans. He launched his political career by attacking gun control and ridiculing survivors of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He has expressed support for the 1970 National Guard shooting of anti-Vietnam War protesters at Kent State University, denied the Holocaust and called for trans women to be arrested for using women’s restrooms.
This is far from the first time Robinson has used the violent language of warfare to pit MAGA Republicans like himself against others. In 2021, he said in a speech that he was born “to be one of God’s freedom fighters” in order to “literally make war on the devil.” He warned he wanted to make “the literal foundations of hell tremble, and I want this nation to join with me in doing it.” That same year, Robinson said in another speech that Christians and conservatives must “get as bold and unafraid and warlike in spreading the truth in this nation as these people have been in spreading the lies that are currently destroying it.”

Salon: “Some folks need killing!”: It’s time to take MAGA threats of violence literally and seriously

The Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, let loose with this recommendation at a recent campaign stop: “Some folks need killing!” Robinson hollered this in a thoroughly paranoid and overheated speech inside a church, calling “killing” a “matter of necessity!” But even here, we can see Robinson trying to construct some wiggle room for himself, by being vague about which people “need killing.”

Huffington Post: Republican Mark Robinson Declares ‘Some Folks Need Killing’ In Bizarre Rant

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the state’s Republican nominee for governor, declared that “some folks need killing” in a bizarre rant at a church Sunday.

Robinson, whose speech was first reported by The New Republic, has a history of controversial remarks.

He’s also called the 1960s Civil Rights Movement “crap,” shared Islamophobic posts on social media, quoted Adolf Hitler, denied the Holocaust, suggested that transgender women should “find a corner outside somewhere” instead of using their preferred public bathroom, and described school shooting survivors as “spoiled, angry, know it all CHILDREN.”

NC Newsline: Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson at NC church meeting: “Some folks need killing”

As first reported by The New Republic, North Carolina Lt. Gov. and Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson told a North Carolina church audience on Sunday, June 30 that “some folks need killing.”
Again, it was not obvious who the wicked people are that Robinson would have military and law enforcement personnel “handle.”

But in and around the remark, Robinson also made reference to “the tenets of socialism and communism,” whose adherents, he appeared to say, are wronging people like him and his supporters.

“They’re watching us. They’re listening to us. They’re tracking us. They get mad at you. They cancel you. They dox you. They kick you off social media. They come in and close down your business,” he said.

Lonergan, however, did not respond to a question about who the people with “evil intent” are that Robinson alluded to immediately prior to the “killing” comments.

News & Observer: In speech about freedom ‘slipping away,’ Mark Robinson talks about ‘wicked people,’ killing

North Carolina’s Republican candidate for governor used a recent speech about freedom to talk about how he sees the United States “slipping away” from the Declaration of Independence and how he thinks “wicked 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 ultra-conservative church and made controversial comments. In 2023, he talked about “hell’s gates” and targeted teachers and LGBTQ+ people. Before a speech June 30 at Lake Church in Bladen County celebrating the Fourth of July, the pastor hosting Robinson said he thinks the devil is behind President Joe Biden.

Robinson claimed “they” are watching, tracking, listening to, canceling, doxxing and mad at “you” and “us.”