Trump rallies in North Carolina as controversy engulfs his handpicked candidate for governor

By Eric Bradner, CNN

(CNN) — Donald Trump returned Saturday for a campaign rally in North Carolina, where the former president is confronting a mess he played a key role in making in the critical battleground state.

The Republican nominee for governor, Mark Robinson – whom Trump has repeatedly compared to Martin Luther King Jr. – declined to drop out of the race by Thursday’s deadline, ignoring calls to do so from the NAACP, North Carolina newspaper editorial boards and some congressional Republicans.

That pressure followed a CNN report detailing his history of inflammatory comments on a porn website’s message board. Robinson, the current North Carolina lieutenant governor, referred to himself as a “black NAZI,” expressed support for reinstating slavery, made repeated graphic sexual comments and more.

The Trump campaign did not invite Robinson to the former president’s rally Saturday in Wilmington, and Trump made no mention of the lieutenant governor in his remarks.

On Friday, Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, launched a new television advertisement tying Trump to Robinson – the first time the Harris campaign has used an ad to connect the former president with a down-ballot candidate.

The ad doesn’t mention Robinson’s offensive porn message board comments, but it intersperses Trump’s past praise for Robinson with some of the GOP gubernatorial nominee’s anti-abortion comments, including Robinson voicing support for a statewide abortion ban that would not include exceptions.

It opens with clips of Trump calling Robinson “an unbelievable lieutenant governor” and referring to him as “better than Martin Luther King,” along with video of Robinson saying, “For me, there is no compromise on abortion” and “We could pass a bill and say, ‘You can’t have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason.’”

The effort to connect Trump with Robinson, who polls show is well behind Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein in the governor’s race, comes as the Harris campaign plots paths to 270 Electoral College votes that could include four Sun Belt states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.

Trump defeated Joe Biden by 1 point in North Carolina in 2020. But polls have shown a tight race between Harris and Trump this year. The former president’s path back to the White House would become much more difficult without the state’s 16 electoral votes.

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, said Saturday that the Robinson scandal will “play out in the court of public opinion,” in the most direct comments from the former president’s campaign yet about the matter.

“I don’t not believe him. I don’t believe him,” Vance told NBC 10 Philadelphia about whether he believes Robinson’s claims that the porn message board comments were not made by him. “I just think that these things sometimes play out in the court of public opinion. He’s going to make whatever arguments he wants to make. I’m sure the news media and others are going to investigate these comments further.”

Referring to how Robinson is officially on the North Carolina ballot, Vance said, “I think fundamentally it’s Mark Robinson and the people of North Carolina who get to decide whether he’s their governor, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”

In a statement to CNN following Thursday’s KFile reporting, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said: “President Trump’s campaign is focused on winning the White House and saving this country. North Carolina is an vital part of that plan. We are confident that as voters compare the Trump record of a strong economy, low inflation, a secure border, and safe streets, with the failures of Biden-Harris, then President Trump will win the Tar Heel State once again. We will not take our eye off the ball.”

Trump’s ‘bad trait’

Before Saturday, Robinson had been to most, if not all, of Trump’s recent North Carolina events. Last month, the lieutenant governor spoke at Trump’s economy-themed rally in Asheville, and the former president brought him onstage in Asheboro.

At a campaign rally in Greensboro in March, Trump recalled listening to Robinson speak while he was on his plane and described him as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

“I said, ‘I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two,’” Trump said at the time.

Robinson’s history of inflammatory comments about the civil rights movement, victims of a school shooting, the Holocaust and more have long made him a political lightning rod.

But Trump ignored that history and in March endorsed Robinson, who could join a long list of candidates Trump backed after they’d heaped praise on him and who went on to win the GOP nomination despite red flags only to then lose the general election. That list includes 2022 Arizona gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake, 2022 Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial contender Doug Mastriano and more.

“I have a bad trait,” Trump said last month at a rally in Georgia. “I only like people who like me.”

GOP frets over North Carolina

Some Republicans seemed to acknowledge that the Robinson revelations could effectively end their party’s hopes of winning the North Carolina governor’s office.

And many in the party quickly distanced themselves from Robinson. A previously scheduled fundraiser for Robinson featuring Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, the chair of the Republican Governors Association, is no longer happening, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The question, though, is whether a poor performance by Robinson would drag down other members of the party’s ticket in North Carolina, including Trump.

The state’s senior senator, Republican Thom Tillis, appeared to recognize the political reality of the race, saying on social media that Thursday was “a tough day” and that Republicans “must stay focused on the races we can win” – pointing to the presidential contest, as well as state legislative and judicial elections.

“If Harris takes NC, she takes the White House. We can’t let that happen,” Tillis said.

On Friday, the senator called on Robinson to take responsibility for his actions “if the reporting is true.”

“If the reporting on Mark Robinson is a total media fabrication, he needs to take immediate legal action. If the reporting is true, he owes it to President Trump and every Republican to take accountability for his actions and put the future of NC & our party before himself,” Tillis said on social media.

Conservative commentator Erick Erickson, on his radio show Friday, compared Robinson to Walker, Lake and other losing Trump-backed candidates.

“Every time you outsource your vetting of candidates to Donald Trump, it blows up in your face,” Erickson said. “This is now going to force Donald Trump to spend money in a state he should have locked up. That’s the problem.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Alayna Treene, Terence Burlij, Aaron Pellish, Kit Maher and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.

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