'Yeah, I'm a "Perv" Too!'
Plus: Republicans seem likely to blow another winnable race, New York City's COVID czar attended pandemic raves, and more...
North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson said he won't end his campaign despite a CNN report that reads like a mad lib of campaign-killing material.
According to the article by CNN's Andrew Kaczynski, Robinson called himself a "black NAZI" and a "perv" in posts on Nude Africa, a message board that's ostensibly for sharing porn but also looks like a throwback to websites from 25 years ago.
But wait, there's more. Robinson also reportedly wrote about peeping on women in public showers, being thrilled by some absolutely filthy pornography (think The Human Centipede), and called for reinstituting slavery.
"Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few," Robinson, a black man, reportedly wrote.
The cherry on top of it all, given the GOP's current moral panic over transgender issues, is what CNN terms Robinson's "affinity for transgender pornography."
"I like watching tranny on girl porn! That's f*cking hot!" Robinson reportedly wrote. "And yeah I'm a 'perv' too!"
In an interview with CNN, Robinson reportedly denied that he'd made the posts on Nude Africa. After the report was published, he put out a video statement vowing to remain in the race and condemning what he called "salacious tabloid lies."
I wanted to take a minute to address the latest outrageous lies coming from my opponent's dishonest campaign: #ncgov #ncpol pic.twitter.com/RtteVUiozr
— Mark Robinson (@markrobinsonNC) September 19, 2024
Robinson is the current lieutenant governor of the state. According to the most recent polls (taken before this story broke, of course), he trails the Democratic candidate, state Attorney General Josh Stein, by a significant margin. He'd been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who held a fundraiser for Robinson at Mar-a-Lago.
While the CNN report certainly goes some unexpected places, Robinson has already courted plenty of controversy on the campaign trail. At some point, Republican primary voters might want to rethink the strategy of always picking the "craziest son of a bitch in the race," as Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) once famously termed it. You can likely add this year's North Carolina gubernatorial election to the lengthy list of winnable contests that the GOP has lost in recent years due to elevating utterly unacceptable candidates.
Anyway, congrats to J.D. Vance for no longer being the most toxic Republican running a high-profile race this year.
More COVID-19 hypocrisy from those in power. Dr. Jay K. Varma, New York City's senior public health advisor during the pandemic, says he attended sex parties and raves while publicly telling others to socially distance, according to a surreptitiously recorded video posted by Stephen Crowder, a conservative commentator. "I had to be kind of sneaky about it," Varma says at one point, while acknowledging that people would be "pissed" if they knew.
In a statement to The New York Times, Varma said the video clips were "taken out of context," but he did not dispute their content. "I take responsibility for not using the best judgment at the time," he said.
But that suggests he's apologizing for attending the sex parties and the raves, when his real offense is doing so while telling others to stay home—and advising political leaders who closed schools, businesses, and playgrounds. He should apologize for the hypocrisy of his "noble lies" instead.
Scenes from Washington, D.C.: I trekked into the nation's capital yesterday to attend the Competitive Enterprise Institute's annual dinner, where Magatte Wade was honored with the think tank's highest award for advancing the cause of freedom. Wade is the co-founder of Prospera Africa, which claims to have facilitated more than $86 billion in trade and investment between the United States and dozens of African nations.
"America delivered beyond my wildest dreams," Wade said, after recounting her immigrant story that involved traveling from Senegal to Germany to the United States. "Africa, my continent, is the poorest region in the world today because it is the most overregulated place in the world today."
Inspiring to meet @magattew, winner of the 2024 @ceidotorg Julian L. Simon Award! Compelling story of growing up in difficult circumstances in Senegal, finding her path through classical education, now advocating for economic liberty/opportunity for all Africans @AtlasNetwork. pic.twitter.com/3mWrw6lOHx
— Ajit Pai (@AjitPai) September 20, 2024
"The way you lower the temperature of politics is to lower the stakes of politics" - George Will @ceidotorg honoree at the National Cathedral tonight pic.twitter.com/LhVieOpm6j
— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) September 20, 2024
(Any typos in this morning's Roundup are a credit to the, let's say, quality of the event.)
QUICK HITS
- Rep. Matt Gaetz (R–Fla.) was seen at a sex party at a friend's home in 2017 with a 17-year-old girl, according to legal documents unsealed Thursday night. (Are you sensing a theme today?)
- Olivia Nuzzi, New York magazine's Washington correspondent, was placed on leave Thursday night after the publication learned that she'd been in "a romantic relationship" with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Nuzzi had profiled in 2023.
- It's former President Donald Trump vs. Gov. Ron DeSantis in a fight over legalizing weed in Florida.
- American officials are increasingly pessimistic about inking a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas before the end of President Joe Biden's term. "I'm not sure it ever gets done," one anonymous insider tells The Wall Street Journal.
- Political violence watch: A Kentucky sheriff was arrested after shooting and killing a district judge in the Letcher County Courthouse. Meanwhile, an Alaska man was arrested and charged after threatening to kill several Supreme Court justices and their families.
- "Perhaps no creature has been so widely written about yet so poorly understood."
