Mark Robinson: A Fascinating Case Study of the Failure of Cultural Conservatism

Mark Robinson at a Podium. Source: Raleigh Observer

Mark Robinson, the current lieutenant Governor and Republican gubernatorial nominee for North Carolina, initially gained popularity in July 2018 by going viral in an address to the Greensboro City Council, defending the Second Amendment. He leveraged this newfound fame to become Lieutenant Governor in 2019. However, Robinson’s reputation has recently been marred. As of September 2024, Robinson found himself involved in a scandal after news sites discovered his digital footprints. Specifically, he frequented transgender pornography sites and dating sites for married people, denied the Holocaust—calling himself a “black nazi”—and made repeated comments bragging about peeping into women's locker rooms.

While this scandal has obvious repercussions for Robinson’s campaign, it also represents a larger failure of the Republican Party to put forth a component nominee for the position– undercovering a deep fallacy in Republican ideology. For example, Dale Folwell, who lost the Republican primary to Robsinson by 65% shared Robsinson’s socially conservative views, such as opposing same-sex marriage, but had extensive experience in governance. Folwell served four terms on the House of Representatives, was Assistant Secretary of Employment Security at the North Carolina Department of Commerce, and in November 2016, became State Treasurer.

Prior to this election, Robinson’s only experience in government was as Lieutenant Governor. Instead of coalescing around experienced candidates such as Folwell, the GOP chose to platform Robsinson’s controversial behavior, hoping to benefit from its virality. For example, Donald Trump endorsed Robinson as early as March 2024. Dale Folwell called his one campaign one of, “courage, not rage,” comparing it to Robsinon’s, and hoped to return the Republican party to one of, “common sense, courtesy, humility and ethics.”

Regardless of partisanship, citizens must hold the major political parties to reject candidates like Robinson, urging politicians to meet higher standards. Moral discomfort with Robinson’s behavior even led the National Republican Governors Association to withdraw its financial support for Robinson, urging him to prove that the allegations were false. Following these events, in a press conference on Tuesday, October 15th, Robinson announced that he was taking legal action against CNN. 

Although Mark Robinson has recovered from other controversies, such as apologizing for an abortion he and his wife had, the pornography scandal has irredeemably marred his campaign and Robinson’s lawsuit looks unconvincing. Thus far, Robinson’s attorney has only claimed that the “posts could have been made by anyone,” and that the information was sourced from, “hacked, data breach files, obtained from the dark web.” Robinson’s team has yet to provide the public with any concrete evidence that the posts weren’t his. Enough time has elapsed between the conference and the initial report that nearly all of Robinson’s staff has resigned. Meanwhile, Josh Stein, the Democratic candidate, is leading in the polls, whereas support for Robinson has plummeted by twenty percent.

Robinson’s behavior on pornography and affair sites is particularly striking when compared to the “common-sense” conservatism he usually promotes. Conservatives aren’t necessarily Republicans, although conservatism dominates the party ideology. Robinson, a self-proclaimed conservative and Republican, seems to undermine the validity of his own ideology.

One of the primary components of conservatism is the fiscal branch, which refers to prudence in government spending, low taxes, and low government debt. The ideology is largely underpinned by the assumption that the government cannot create wealth and that the state’s role is not to provide social services.  This “laissez-faire” approach, however, is not seen in the social branches of conservatism. An unobtrusive federal government cannot coexist with a social ideology enforced by the state. In fact, social conservatism is imbued with hypocrisy. Opposition to abortion, non-nuclear households, (for example, J.D. Vance’s claims that “childless cat ladies” are running the country) and a secular state have no stakes in a demand for lower taxes or less government regulation. In fact, free-market competition is often disruptive to social stability and thus to traditional ways of life. When frequent economic transformation occurs, the exposure of new industries, ideas, and technologies can lead to the disruption of established social structures. The free-market social network is dynamic as opposed to stable. 

If conservatism is a staple of the GOP, the party is operating on a largely contradictory ideology. The incongruence of conservatism and the Republican party’s ideals with its behavior is epitomized most clearly by none other than Mark Robinson–who uses several idyllic images of suburbia in his own campaigns. If the GOP truly aspired for the nation to “return” to perfect picket fences and “morning again” in America– fuzzy as that notion may be– their moral aversions to controversial candidates would be far greater. 

Mark Robinson allegedly believes in what this country used to be. In his campaign videos, he praises pulling oneself up by their bootstraps instead of relying on the government. Robinson praises his mother for staying with her abusive husband instead of getting a divorce and not joining welfare programs when he died– for pulling herself up without government aid. Robinson believes in good old-fashioned ideals save for when he seeks to cheat on his wife and wants to consume pornography. He fails to hold himself to the same standards he campaigns upon. Robinson says he wants to fight for this country– but seems to have very little clue as to what he wants it to become. Does he believe in what this country could be?

Ultimately, though citizens can do their best to hold politicians accountable, both parties owe citizens competent nominees. Voters registered to either party should have numerous politically consistent options on the ballot. The Republican party’s failure to put forth a gubernatorial nominee whose ideology is consistent with their own beliefs demonstrates a deep internal incompetence, letting down North Carolina as a whole.