Donald Trump has declined to withdraw his endorsement of Mark Robinson, the North Carolina Republican whose campaign for governor has been derailed by the revelation that he identified as a "Black Nazi" in a series of lewd posts he made on a pornographic website, CNN reported.
A self-proclaimed “perv,” Robinson, in posts made before he entered public life, defended slavery, proclaimed himself a fascist and said that he enjoys watching transgender pornography. The posts, revealed by CNN, came after Robinson was previously shown to have engaged in Holocaust denial.
Trump, who has described Robinson as "Martin Luther King on steroids," refused to back away from the candidate when given an opportunity on Thursday.
"Are you going to pull your endorsement of Mark Robinson?" a reporter asked Trump on Thursday. The Republican nominee responded with feigned ignorance: "Uh, I don't know the situation."
Trump's refusal to back away from the North Carolina Republican comes despite concerns among some of the former president's allies that Robinson could draw down the GOP ticket. A recent poll found Robinson now trails his Democratic opponent, former state Attorney General Josh Stein, by double digits.
Robinson continues to deny making any comments on the pornographic website, “Nude Africa," despite being linked to the 2008-2012 posts by his personal email address.
Robinson’s public comments have differed drastically from his online persona. As a candidate, he has railed against transgender people, claiming he is a defender of women. Privately, however, he confessed to "peeping" on women in a public gym, per CNN.
As Salon previously reported, Robinson also has a long history of promoting conspiracy theories on his Facebook page, including the false claim that Muslims set fire to Notre Dame.
