Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said Sunday that GOP gubernatorial candidate and North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson “is the opposite of everything Dr. [Martin Luther] King represented,” and described him as “white supremacy in blackface.”
In an interview on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” Warnock slammed Robinson, who was the subject of a CNN report last week alleging that he had once made multiple lewd comments on a pornographic website in which he expressed support for slavery, called himself a “black Nazi,” described Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a maggot” and said that if “he had been in the KKK,” he would have called the late civil rights leader “Martin Luther Koon.” Robinson has denied the report.
“[Robinson] talks about his desire to bring back slavery. I mean, this talk is way beyond the pale. Calling himself a black Nazi. These are his words,” Warnock told Psaki.
Warnock reflected on Robinson’s words, noting that he is currently a pastor at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Georgia, where King was co-pastor from 1960 until his assassination in 1968.
The senator also connected Robinson to former President Donald Trump, saying, “The people of North Carolina need to take into account that this is Donald Trump’s nominee.”
Warnock accused Trump of supporting Robinson for the same reasons Trump supported Warnock’s 2022 opponent, former professional football player Herschel Walker.
“[Trump] tried this in my race. This is not the first time he’s put forward a Black candidate who is unfit and unqualified to serve with this cynical idea that the electorate is somehow going to be confused about who this person represents,” Warnock said.
Trump has not spoken about Robinson since the CNN story broke, but has previously praised him several times. Robinson was noticeably absent from Trump’s rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday.
At a rally last month in Asheboro, North Carolina, Trump wished Robinson luck and told those in attendance, “Mark has to win. He has to win. Has to win. He’s a good man.”
In March, at a pre-Super Tuesday rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, Trump said Robinson is “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
“I said that to Mark. I said, ‘I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you’re Martin Luther King times two,'” the former president said at the time.
NBC News reported last week that despite pressure from allies and people within his own campaign, there are no plans to formally withdraw support from Robinson.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
