Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson addresses prior comments, Trump endorsement

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Taste the Mediterranean now at Whole Foods Market. Must be 21 plus. Please drink responsibly. Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson of North Carolina, the Republican gubernatorial candidate. Lieutenant Governor, thanks so much for joining me.

Thanks for having me here, it's a pleasure. And Governor, and Lieutenant Governor, congratulations about getting the nomination. To become Governor, what would that mean to you? Well, Brian, I think it would mean a lot to a lot of people here in North Carolina, but to me personally, to be able to become Governor and continue the 13 years of progress that our General Assembly has done in taking us from the economic doldrums that we're in under the Democrats to the success that we see now, it would mean everything.

It would also be historic, being the first black Governor of North Carolina, that would be something personally for me that I think would be quite satisfying as being a student of history. Well, Donald Trump is firmly in your camp. Here's what he said about you. This is Martin Luther King on steroids. Okay, now I told that I told that I told that to Mark, I said, I think you're better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two. And he looked at me and I wasn't sure, was he angry because that's a terrible thing to say, or was he complimented?

I have never figured it out. But I'm telling you, he's right. When I said that to you, you look like I don't know if I like that comment. You should like it because you are outstanding and you're going to be the next governor. So obviously, North Carolina, is it going to be a tough fight for Republicans and Democrats and the Republicans have won Obama's last one and one I think won it run for president.

What are those? The comment meant a lot to you. I mean, with Donald Trump's support, you do a lot of things in Republican Party. Absolutely.

I took that compliment very well. And those somebody big shoes to fill. But the president, he's done great things. He did great things as president. We think that he'll do great things again.

And we know that the road to the White House is going to run right through North Carolina. So partnership with a man who's had proven success in the White House is going to be key for us. And that's the key term here. Proven success. There's been proven success on my side of the aisle here in North Carolina. And there's been proven success with the Trump administration when he was president. So proven success is the key here.

True. So, Lieutenant Governor, a lot of things you say people are pointing out that are controversial. Here's one of them. This narrative about Republicans being racist and cannot stand Mexican people and black people and women is ridiculous. Idiotic guy was on stage in Kansas a few days ago and asked her, what America are we going back to to make America great again? The one where women couldn't vote or black people were swinging from trees? I would say to him if I was standing in front of him, I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn't vote.

Do you know why? Because in those days we had people who fought for real social change and they were called Republicans. And they are the reason why women can vote today. Those days that he talked about when black folks were swinging from trees. Guess who it was out there fighting to bring that to an end, to bring Jim Crow to an end? It was Republicans. So they took the headline, I absolutely want to go back to a day where America where women couldn't vote.

Is that what you meant? Oh, absolutely not. That's just pure foolishness. And these people know it. Look, Brian, the bottom line is this. These folks are going to do everything they can.

They're going to throw every smokescreen they can, every old Facebook post they can bring up. Americans, North Carolinians, they don't want to care about that. What they want to care about are the substantive issues that we're facing. A mom who's worried about her children coming home safe from school. A wife who's worried about her husband coming home who is a police officer.

A husband who's worried about his wife coming home as a police officer coming home safe. Folks who are worried about pornography being presented to their children in public education. Folks who have their children stuck in failing public schools. They don't want to care about this stuff. They want to hear about, number one, the issues that we're facing.

And most importantly, they want to hear about the solutions to those issues. But you were just pointing out that it was Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln and people like that, Republicans, who were pushing back against segregationist Democrats at the time in the South. And you weren't saying you weren't going for women to vote, but you were asked a choice. And you said, well, it was the first thing we did is blacks got the right to vote.

And then Frederick Douglass put all his attention with Susan B. Anthony to make sure women were right behind him. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's the that's the exact point. You know, you can't discuss history with a leftist because whatever you say, they're going to take your words and they're going to twist them. But in this race, again, we're going to continue to focus on those substantive issues. We know these folks take our words out of context. We know that everything that we say is going to be highly scrutinized. But here's what they can't scrutinize. They can't scrutinize the fact that on policies, policies that affect people and places, states and cities and our nation, the left hand side of the aisle fails.

A right hand side of the aisle wins every time. And that's what we're going to focus on. It's only a kick. A jump. A block. It's only a serve. It's only a tackle. A run. It's only for the fans. After all, it's only pressure. You got this.

Adidas. So just to go through some of the things that are going to be hitting you for the next six months. How do you feel about feminism? Yes, I think that feminists have done great work in this country as far as pushing equal rights for women. One of the things that we were slowest with in this country was was given work, was given women equal rights, both in the workplace and politics all across the spectrum. We have seen that change dramatically in my lifetime. Unfortunately, we're starting to see some of it be pushed back now because of some of the foolish moves by leftists. We're currently trying to destroy the great system of women's sports in this country that we built.

They're now trying to tear that down. So I think that women have done great work in this country. But you're not again. But you don't want you want you don't want you want biological women playing with biological women. And that's absolute.

Yeah, absolutely. I want the same thing to those women who fought so hard for Title nine and for equality in sports. I want the same thing that they want. I want them to have an equal level playing field. And right now that's being destroyed.

So those folks who say that I'm against women, I would say the folks that are against women are the ones who want men to enter sports and put them out of their scholarships and have them on the bench in favor of biological men. Do you have anything against Muslims? Do you believe the Holocaust happened?

Absolutely. The Holocaust happened. Look, I can remember the days of 7th, 8th, 9th grade when we first studied the Holocaust when we were in junior high. I can remember the pictures vividly of the folks, of the survivors of Auschwitz and Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen. I remember hearing and reading about the stories of the trucks full of Zyklon B gas. And I remember seeing the callous way that these inhumane Nazis stacked up human beings like cork would.

And it it shook me to my core to know that there were human beings who existed on this planet that would do that. To say that that didn't exist is an absolute, just an absolute falsehood, something I've never believed because here it is, Brad. I've come to know this since then after studying history extensively. Anti-Semitism has existed on this planet for hundreds of years, hundreds of years before Adolf Hitler. And the difference between the Holocaust and before this, the Holocaust of World War Two, it caught it on camera. It caught it on camera and it's it's submitted it in our minds.

And that's the reason why we're so determined to make sure that it never happens again, because we now know how dangerous it is. So, of course, the Holocaust happened. And anyone who denies it, I think is an absolute fool. And there people are saying that you did and you don't and your view on Muslims. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the Muslim religion.

Of course, the United States of America is a constitutional Republican. The first tenet of our Constitution gives the right to freedom of religion. And so there's absolutely nothing wrong with the Muslim faith. And the vast majority of Muslims are absolutely peaceful people. But just like any other religion, there are radicalized sects, both in Christianity, both in Islam that do dastardly things. But we can't blame the entire religion for the radicals that exist inside of them.

The same way we wouldn't if we don't blame Christianity for the acts of groups like the Ku Klux Klan. So to be to be governor of North Carolina right now, do you think you have the Republican Party behind you? I know Senator Thom Tillis endorsed your challenger.

He did. And I'm not I'm not interested in anything that Tom Tillis has to say. As far as I'm concerned, Tom Tillis has abandoned the base of our party. We're looking forward now towards a new Republican Party that's going to embrace a myriad of people across the board. Not just the old standard Republicans, as my opponent once said, of having a Republican Party of 50 years ago. It's now time to open our Republican Party up to everybody, to all those people out there who believe those conservative values like we do, who believe in limited government, who believe in individual liberty, who believe that parents have the right to educate their children and all those great concepts such as that. And so the Republican Party is going to go through a change. We're going to drag it back to where it needs to be. A party is here for everybody and not just here for the upper edge long folks like Tom Tillis. All right.

Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson in a dead heat with Josh Stein firm after grabbing the Republican nomination. And it's eight months to the sprint to see if you'll become the first black governor of North Carolina. Thanks so much for joining us, Mark. Thank you, sir. We appreciate you. All right. Talk to you again.