Panicking Lindsey Graham Scrambles to Distance Trump and Mark Robinson
Representative Lindsey Graham flailed while trying to help Donald Trump distance himself from North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson.
Within 24 hours of the bombshell report last week alleging Robinson had left inflammatory and explicit comments on a pornography website’s message board, the Democratic National Committee launched a series of digital and billboard ads linking Trump to the North Carolina lieutenant governor.
Graham appeared on Fox News Monday night to try to separate the two and to bail out Trump’s slowly sinking campaign in the Tar Heel State.
“That’s literally their campaign in North Carolina, is trying to make people believe that Donald Trump somehow is involved with Mar—uh with the Robinson guy,” Graham said. He stumbled slightly, appearing to avoid saying Robinson’s first name.
“Donald Trump knew nothing about this. I knew nothing about it. They’re trying to guilt by association,” Graham whined. “If you’re Republican, you own Mark Robinson.”
Lindsey Graham: Their campaign in North Carolina is trying to make people believe that Donald Trump is somehow involved with Mar— with the Robinson guy. pic.twitter.com/c155mLP7xR
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 24, 2024
Later, Graham tried to shame Democrats for going so low as to link Trump to a candidate he has openly endorsed and fawned over for more than a year. (In June 2023, Trump called Robinson “one of the great stars of the party, one of the great stars in politics.”)
“This is really a hit job, it’s unconscionable. And if we did this to them, it would be blowing up the entire mainstream media,” Graham said.
Unfortunately for Graham, Trump’s statements about Robinson are well documented, and that’s exactly what the advertisements are about. The billboard design will feature a photograph of Trump and Robinson standing together, with comments the former president has made about Robinson, according to NBC News.
The former president called Robinson “Martin Luther King on steroids” during a rally they both attended in Greensboro, North Carolina, in March—a particularly strange comment made even weirder by the fact that Robinson has allegedly called himself a “black NAZI.” During a rally as recently as August, Trump said that Robinson was “a very good man.” Trump has also called Robinson “outstanding” and an “incredible gentleman,” and said things like, “We have to cherish Mark.”
Now it seems that Graham, and by extension Trump, wants to sweep their whole relationship under the rug—but the Democrats aren’t willing to let anyone forget. Meanwhile, Robinson’s staffers are ditching him left and right, and Robinson, who has maintained that he is innocent, is strangely turning down offers from I.T. specialists to help him exonerate himself.