Loyal supporters of former President Donald J. Trump lined up Saturday afternoon to cheer him on at a rally at the Aero Center in Wilmington, North Carolina, their red shirts fluttering in the seaside breeze.
Asked about the former president’s chances of winning North Carolina, many participants were confident and full of energy. They would be the force that would allow Mr. Trump to hold on to his seat in this key state.
But many of their smiles faded when asked about Republican gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who has been under fire since CNN reported this week on lewd comments he made on a pornographic website several years ago. Robinson wrote on the site that he was a “black Nazi,” that he liked to watch transgender pornography and that slavery was not a bad thing, CNN said. He also recounted on the site how he “spied” on women in public gym showers as a teenager.
Few rallygoers believed the story about Mr. Robinson, who has previously been criticized for past Facebook posts that were widely condemned as racist, anti-Semitic and transphobic. And while many voters said they would still support him, some acknowledged the allegations were damning.
“Look, he’s done,” said David Huffman, 60, of Wilmington, who wore a collared shirt with an American flag print. “I’m still going to vote for Mark, but at this point, it’s worse than a Hail Mary.”
Not only was Mr. Robinson not at the rally, but Mr. Trump did not mention his name once to the thousands of supporters in attendance, the same people who helped fuel the lieutenant governor’s rise in 2020.
Those who persisted in voting for Mr Robinson used the same defence he deployed this week: it was all fake and the media could not be trusted.
Other supporters offered Mr Robinson some leniency.
“If that’s true, we all have a past, and some of us have ones we’re not proud of,” said Jason White, 41, of Columbus County. “People can change.”
Quintina Debose, 41, of Wilmington, said: “People do things all the time. They just don’t get caught.” The latest allegations, she said, were just a meaningless distraction.
But for some conservatives, the revelations are deeply disturbing. Even if Mr. Trump wins the presidential election, Mr. Robinson’s chances of success seem less promising, they say.
Thomas Hart, 31, of Wilmington, said he was confident in voting for Mr. Trump because his previous first choice, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had supported the former president. That sentiment doesn’t extend to Mr. Robinson, however, because he has made some “pretty crazy” remarks, Mr. Hart said.
Still, it was a Trump rally, and many remembered the support the former president had shown Mr. Robinson in the past.
Bryan Faulcon, 39, of Wilmington, said he didn’t believe the allegations, but even if they were true, Robinson still would have gotten his vote. The math was simple, Faulcon said: Politics trumps personality.
“They can’t bring it down,” he said.
