(Washington) Former President Donald Trump denounced anti-Semitism in the United States on Thursday, hours after an explosive CNN report detailed how one of his ally running for governor of North Carolina made a series of racist and sexual comments on a website where he also called himself a “black Nazi.”
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson vowed to stay in the race despite the report, and Mr. Trump’s campaign appeared to distance itself from the candidate while portraying the swing state as a key to winning back the White House.
Donald Trump has often expressed support for Mr Robinson, who has been seen as a rising star in his party despite a history of inflammatory remarks on race and abortion.
PHOTO JONATHAN DRAKE, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Mark Robinson had already sparked controversy with his comments denying the Holocaust, praising Hitler and vilifying Martin Luther King.
Donald Trump did not comment on the allegations during his speech Thursday to a group of Jewish donors in Washington. His campaign issued a statement on the CNN story that did not mention Mr. Robinson, saying instead that Mr. Trump is “focused on winning the White House and saving this country” and that North Carolina was a “critical part of that plan.”
Mr. Robinson’s reported remarks — including a 2012 comment in which he said he preferred Adolf Hitler to lead Washington — clash with Donald Trump’s denunciations of anti-Semitism in Washington and his claim that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, sympathized with enemies of Israel.
The story could also threaten Donald Trump’s chances of winning North Carolina, a key battleground state, with Robinson already trailing his Democratic opponent in public polls.
“This story is not about the North Carolina governor’s race. This is about the presidential race,” said Paul Shumaker, a Republican pollster who worked for Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and warned that Donald Trump could be at risk of losing a state he won in 2016 and 2020.
“The question is going to be whether Mark Robinson costs Donald Trump the White House,” Shumaker added.
After the allegations against Mr Robinson were made public, a spokesman for Kamala Harris’ campaign, Ammar Moussa, reposted a photo of Donald Trump and the embattled candidate on social media.
“Donald Trump has a problem with Mark Robinson,” he wrote.
The North Carolina Republican Party issued a statement supporting Mr. Robinson, noting that he “categorically denied the allegations made by CNN, but that will not stop the left from trying to demonize him with personal attacks.”
Trump has sought to gain traction among black voters and has often aligned himself with Robinson throughout the campaign, which has increasingly taken him to North Carolina. At a rally in Greensboro, he called Robinson “Martin Luther King on steroids,” a reference to the civil rights leader, for his ability to speak.
Mark Robinson was on Mr. Trump’s trail as recently as last month, when he appeared with the Republican candidate at an event in Asheboro, North Carolina.
Recent polls of North Carolina voters show that Mr. Trump and Mr.me Harris are in a tight race. The same polls show Democrat Josh Stein with a lead of about 10 points over Mark Robinson.
Donald Trump recounts his White House record to his Jewish supporters
Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris both made appearances designed to fire up their most loyal supporters, Mme Harris appearing on a live broadcast with Oprah Winfrey.
Mr. Trump appeared Thursday with Miriam Adelson, co-owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and widow of billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
“My promise to Jewish Americans is this: With your vote, I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House,” Trump said at the donor event in Washington, titled “Combating Anti-Semitism in America.”
“But in all honesty, I already am,” Trump added.
Mr. Trump has also been criticized for his association with extremists who spew anti-Semitic rhetoric, such as far-right activist Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. And when former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke endorsed Donald Trump in 2016, Trump responded in a CNN interview that he knew “nothing about David Duke, I know nothing about white supremacists.”
But during his four years in office, Mr. Trump has endorsed a series of policy changes long sought by many of Israel’s advocates, such as moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.
In his remarks, Mr. Trump criticized Mme Harris for the Biden administration’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas and for what he called anti-Semitic protests on college campuses and elsewhere.
“Kamala Harris has done absolutely nothing. She has not lifted a finger to protect you or to protect your children,” Trump said. He also repeated a talking point that Jewish voters who vote for Democrats “should get their heads examined.”
Several attendees at the event said they were unaware of Robinson’s story or declined to discuss it. Representative Virginia Foxx, a conservative Republican from North Carolina who was asked about the CNN report beforehand, told reporters she would not take questions.
Later Thursday, Trump was scheduled to address the Israeli-American Council’s national summit to honor the victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The summit will also focus on combating anti-Semitism.