An amazing activist article in the far-left New Republic lit up X on Friday, July 5.
Greg Sargent authored the article, claiming Lt. Governor Mark Robinson said, "Some folks need killing." Sounds pretty awful, right?
The North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) quickly posted on X about it with state and national Democrats piling on, and the NCDP's post was called out by Robinson's campaign Communications Director Mike Lonergan.
"Absolute gutter lies from the shameless hacks of @JoeBiden campaign & @NCDemParty they’re defending the Axis powers when Mark Robinson was applauding the brave Americans that fought in and won WWII," Lonergan wrote.
Before proceeding, watch the extended clip (below) that goes beyond the 25 or 26 second versions floating around on line that leave out the initial references to WWII.
Additionally, the over 2 hour full video of the Lake Church event is available on Facebook. Robinson is first introduced around the 55 minute mark and after a discussion with Lake Church's pastor, he takes the podium around the 1 hour 26 minute mark. The public should take the time to watch his full remarks.
After telling a few self-deprecating jokes about his weight, Robinson opened up his formal remarks by saying, "I am not going to talk about politics today," before saying his talk was about "one thing, "freedom - what it means, how we got here." From there, Robinson spoke about the history of July 4, various Revolutionary battles and about those who died for the freedom we enjoy today before getting choked up about families who watched their sons go to war not knowing if their child would ever come home.
The theme continued from there, with Robinson saying the same "boldness" seen by those who died for our freedoms should be exhibited by Americans everyday today. It's not until the 1 hour 55 mark that he begins the comments on taking down the Nazis and Japanese after Pearl Harbor that precede the "some folks need killing" clip being circulated.
Returning to Sargent's article, despite the lead in about the Nazis and Japanese, as well as communists and socialists, nearly the entire article consists of Sargent insisting the people who "need killing" are those on the left that Robinson considers enemies. In doing so, Sargent’s assertion the left is being targeted for “killing” then becomes an unspoken admission that the left is comprised of socialists and communists if one follows his own argument.
In the section where Robinson's remarks are quoted Sargent goes to great lengths to explain what Robinson meant. Sargent even bolds phrases to make sure his opinion/extrapolation of the comments is justified.
His latest rant is yet another example of an ugly game widely played on the MAGA right, one supercharged by Donald Trump. It entails hinting that right-wing political violence is necessary and justified because a ubiquitous, all-seeing, all-powerful leftist threat—one that is pure invention—is already supposedly attacking and persecuting conservatives on a mass scale.
Here’s what Robinson said (bold mine):[W]e now find ourselves struggling with people who have evil intent. You know, there’s a time when we used to meet evil on the battlefield, and guess what we did to it? We killed it!...When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, what did we do? We flew to Japan! And we killed the Japanese Army and Navy!...We didn’t argue and capitulate and talk about, well, maybe we shouldn’t fight the Nazis that hard. No, they’re bad. Kill them. Some liberal somewhere is going to say that sounds awful. Too bad. Get mad at me if you want to.
Some folks need killing! It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity! When you have wicked people doing wicked things, torturing and murdering and raping. It’s time to call out, uh, those guys in green and go have them handled. Or those boys in blue and have them go handle it…We need to start handling our business again…Don’t you feel it slipping away?...The further we start sliding into making 1776 a distant memory and the tenants of socialism and communism start coming into clearer focus. They’re watching us. They’re listening to us. They’re tracking us. They get mad at you. They cancel you. They dox you. They kick you off social media. They come in and close down your business. Folks, it’s happening…because we have forgotten who we are.
Sargent then editorializes, dismissing what Robinson was describing and assigning his own interpretation.
Robinson might try to argue that he only meant that our enemies during World War II—and torturers and murderers and rapists today—deserve “killing.” But the sum total of his remarks plainly suggests otherwise. He seemed to analogize the need to kill World War II enemies to the need to kill enemies in the present, enemies who harbor “evil intent,” enemies conservatives are struggling against “now.”
What’s more, Robinson described those enemies in very broad terms. He suggested that conservatives will lose the spirit of 1776 (meaning their country) to enemies who harass them on social media and elsewhere unless they are prepared to unleash the army and cops to “handle” (i.e., kill) them. These appear to be the “folks” who “need killing.”
As the late President Ronald Reagan once said, "If you're explaining, you're losing."
There’s a difference between “explaining” and correcting the record or presenting a fuller picture as has been done in this article.
Having said that, it's fair game that Robinson is known for being bombastic and for having made controversial statements when he was a private citizen. And lieutenant governor, his candor has continued, usually in remarks given at appearances he has made in churches.
It's also fair game to say a number of his remarks reported on by media outlets suffer from the same editorializing applied by Sargent.
See:
More To The Story
By the way, Sargent cuts and chops up Robinson's remarks after the "boys in blue" line.
Sargent's abbreviated transcript:
We need to start handling our business again…Don’t you feel it slipping away?...The further we start sliding into making 1776 a distant memory and the tenants of socialism and communism start coming into clearer focus. They’re watching us. They’re listening to us. They’re tracking us. They get mad at you. They cancel you. They dox you. They kick you off social media. They come in and close down your business. Folks, it’s happening…because we have forgotten who we are.
What Robinson said, highlighting what Sargent omitted:
"We need to start handling our business again, because, guys, what I said at the beginning about you getting in your cars, listening to your radio, putting on what you want to put on, and saying what you want to put on, keep thinking about it. Don't you feel it slipping away? Don't ya feel it slipping away? The further we slip away from the concept of 1776 and why we declared our independence and how we declared our independence... the further we start sliding in making 1776 a distant memory, and the tenants of socialism and communism start coming into clearer focus. They're watching us. They're listening to us. They're tracking us. They get mad at you. They cancel you. They dox you. They kick you off social media. They come in and close down your business. Folks, it's happening and the reason why, the reason I would submit that it is happening to us is because we have forgotten who we are, where we came from, and who paid the price to get us where we are."
One quick final note - On June 30, the same Sunday Robinson was making his remarks at Lake Church, the NCDP was hosting a drag queen brunch at its headquarters in Raleigh.
The party's young chair, Anderson Clayton, was apparently in attendance.