Source: CNN, The News & Observer
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is back in the national news again after CNN uncovered horrific, disgusting Facebook posts from 2018 where he mocked the survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting that occurred on Valentine’s Day in 2018.
His numerous posts on the topic mostly targeted a group of surviving students who had called for more gun control measures after a former student murdered 14 students and three staff members – and injured another 17 – with an AR-15-style rifle (coincidentally, Robinson’s favorite gun).
The number of times Robinson apparently felt compelled to write about these students borders on obsessive.
His first post was sent on Feb. 20, 2018, just six days after the shooting. In it, Robinson posted a picture of some of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students who had made media appearances, with the caption, “the look you get when you let the devil give you a ride on a river of blood to ’15 minutes of Fameville.’”
Less than a week later, on Feb. 26, 2020, Robinson posted a picture of school massacre survivor David Hogg’s appearance on MSNBC with his name Photoshopped to read “Media Hogg,” along with nine crying laughing emoji.
About 90 minutes later, the now-lieutenant governor posted another poorly Photoshopped image, this time it was a picture of Hogg’s face pasted on “The Dukes of Hazzard” character Boss Hogg’s body with a caption that read, “Just as corrupt as the TV character. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂”
In a 285-word rant posted on his public profile the very next day, Robinson called the students “spoiled, angry know it all CHILDREN,” “media prosti-tots,” and “spoiled little bastards.”
Robinson wrote that if a “hard nosed nonsense [sic] conservative had walked into that school and put into place the ideals and principles that would have avoided that massacre, you spoiled little bastards would have kicked and screamed like babies in a crib. That’s what you are doing now.”
He continued, saying that “A baby’s cries are useful and necessary. You are simply making irritating noise.”
Nearly a month later, on March 24, 2018, Robinson posted again about the Parkland students because they had just launched the “March for Our Lives” movement that called for more effective gun control and held a massive rally in Washington, D.C.
In his first post of the day, he complained about the rally and called it “a march of pawns in Washington” and mocked attendees.
Less than 45 minutes later he posted again, and once again called the school shooting survivors “pros-ti-tots” and accused them of being “agents” of the Communists he believes are controlling the nation’s schools, government and media.
The next afternoon, on March 25, Robinson once again criticized then-18-year-old mass shooting survivor and activist David Hogg, calling him a “damn commie stooge,” and referring to fellow survivor and activist X Gonzáles as “that bald chick.” He called the pair “stupid kids.”
Around two weeks later, Robinson once again targeted Hogg and Gonzáles on Twitter. He posted a meme in response to a graphic someone had made criticizing conservatives (like Robinson) who had been mocking survivors. In his response, he wrote that when children “got sassy,” adults needed to make sure the “CHILDREN knew their place.”
He sent another meme on Twitter on May 12. He posted a picture of a Black college-aged student holding a sign reading, “The 2nd Amendment was written when I was deemed 3/5 of a person,” and then posted a picture of himself with text saying, “put that sign down and go read a book dummy” and “They live. They breathe. They’ll procreate. #funnybutscary.”
Many of these social media posts are full of comments from people praising Robinson’s views and pushing conspiracy theories about Parkland students being “crisis actors,” the shooting being a “false flag” operation, and how Communists and Marxists control America’s schools and government.
Robinson didn’t just focus on the Parkland shooting survivors in 2018. He also had frequent posts that defended law enforcement and attacked left-wing protesters. In an appearance on a podcast that year, Robinson defended the National Guardsmen who fatally shot students during what became known as the Kent State Massacre and said that type of response should be used with today’s protesters.
“The shooting that happened at Kent State … people have got to understand it. We have the constitutional right to peacefully assemble. Now peacefully assemble does not mean you could throw bricks at National Guardsmen, bust out windows and block traffic. Once you cross that line into violence and … disruption … you are no longer a protester,” he said. “You are now a criminal and you need to be dealt with like a criminal. And we need some politicians in office in some of these cities that’s gonna let people know from the get-go, you go in the street and block traffic, if you block buildings, if you destroy property, you are going to be dealt with swiftly and harshly.”
The press coverage of Robinson’s social media posts even made it to the White House after the Biden administration saw his comments on CNN, The News & Observer reported.
“Gun crime is now the leading killer of American children,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates told McClatchy in a statement. “There’s a deep urgency for leaders in both parties to take a stand against this horrifying violence with common sense steps to keep weapons of war off our streets and out of our schools.”
“Not only do these backward views side with the profits of the gun lobby over children’s lives, but they mock survivors of school shootings and families who have endured the worst pain imaginable. Lt. Governor Robinson’s statements are undignified and grotesque,” Bates said.
A few days after CNN’s story ran earlier this month, Robinson released a statement on Twitter under the headline “Robinson responds to attacks from liberal elite.”
In his response, Robinson defended his comments by saying that it was “disheartening to see that the media and my opponents are focusing on comments I made while I was still a factory worker.” Nowhere in his statement does he explain how it’s supposed to make any difference where he worked when he made the comments if he still stands behind them five years later.
His statement accused “activist ‘journalists’ in the media,” of targeting him with “coordinated attacks.”
While it’s not surprising that Robinson refused to accept any responsibility for his vile comments, it’s interesting that having his exact words quoted back to him is what he considers an “attack.”
Perhaps the lieutenant governor should read his posts again and do some quiet introspection in order to determine why hearing his own words quoted back to him makes him so angry.
