JewishInsider: “Mark Robinson, the lieutenant governor of North Carolina and a leading Republican candidate for governor, found his efforts to declare solidarity with Israel backfiring — by drawing renewed scrutiny to his long history of invoking antisemitic conspiracy theories and casting doubt on the Holocaust….
In a series of previously unreported Facebook posts, which remain publicly available, Robinson shared a quotation attributed to Adolf Hitler, compared the toppling of a Confederate statue to Kristallnacht and frequently minimized the legacy of the Holocaust while decrying the threat of communism, among other inflammatory remarks.
The newly unearthed comments could add to mounting concerns among GOP activists in North Carolina who are worried that Robinson’s past offensive statements will hurt his chances to win the general election in a key battleground state next year — especially at a time when rising antisemitism is receiving closer attention after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack in Israel.
In recent months, Robinson has faced bipartisan backlash over past statements that promoted anti-Jewish tropes, flirted with Holocaust denial and belittled Muslims, women and transgender people, among other minority groups. Former Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC), a Republican who is also running for governor, has called Robinson’s remarks “troubling” and “100% antisemitic.”
The lieutenant governor, whom polls show as the front-runner, is now facing five Republican primary challengers, including Bill Graham, a wealthy trial lawyer who announced his campaign last week, vowing to spend millions of his own money. The winner is expected to face off against a Jewish Democrat, Josh Stein, who is the state’s attorney general. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is term-limited.”