Donald Trump once knew Mark Robinson such that he introduced North Carolina’s Lt. Governor as “Martin Luther King Jr. on steroids.” That is quite an endorsement even though no one should ever embrace it. Let King’s legacy stand alone. But Donald Trump delivered the endorsement, even while knowing of Robinson’s issues present back then. Robinson has long been known as a dangerous flame thrower, intolerant of all who register any dissent, and emblematic of the farthest right in even the Trump-supporting crowd. Now, however, Trump knows even less than he used to.
Of course, the entire Robinson campaign has shattered over the revelation of him posting on a porn site as a “black Nazi” – even though these deeper troubles were likely known in North Carolinian GOP circles going back two years. But yesterday, according to The Daily Beast, Trump claimed to not know a thing about Robinson’s disgrace and what it might mean for a state with 16 electoral votes up for grabs. According to the Beast, Trump spoke to a wide array of issues, perhaps wildly away in doing so:
Speaking Thursday to reporters at a press conference in Trump Tower, the former president addressed a wide range of topics, including the migrant crisis, the war in Ukraine, and even touched on the indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Okay, check that box. Yes, he should know about Mayor Adams’s burgeoning criminal behavior, it’s important and relevant to his hometown. And yes, of course, the war in Ukraine, the one Trump blames on Biden as if Putin has no agency in it at all. Immigration is, in fact, a huge topic and problem that needs to be addressed. So, good. Right? No.
As he left the podium, a reporter asked if he was planning to pull his endorsement of the lieutenant governor. Trump responded “I don’t know the situation” before quickly walking away and taking another reporter’s question.
Not good. This guy is supposed to be in politics and in Republican politics at that. Robinson embodies MAGA so much that even Trump-supporters don’t support him. But saying he knows nothing of the situation is actually worse than endorsing Robinson. How can he not know. All it takes is one campaign staffer warning Trump: “Hey, when they bring up Robinson, say you don’t know all the issues, but it sounds bad.” That’s it! “Sounds bad” is now a substantive answer in today’s political battles but he couldn’t even manage that. Instead, Trump comes across as laser-focused on anything but lurking trouble that isn’t even Trump’s fault.
Making it even worse, I’ve already written on the fact that Robinson’s deep troubles with the Nazi-thing were known by the blood-red power brokers in North Carolina two years ago and certainly two months ago. It certainly appears that the campaign knew plenty enough to keep Trump’s reference to MLK safe from future review. And that circles back to a dysfunctional campaign staff or boss. Something.
Really, anything. If Trump wants to be on top of it again then he needs to be on top of things under him. To be a leader he needs to sound like a leader. A simple “Sounds bad” is likely good enough. A chance to say “Your fired” by noting “I don’t like any of it, it’s bad” would sound like a leader who doesn’t have time for people who do themselves in. But Trump wouldn’t be Trump if he didn’t have the back of anyone supporting him.
This is a massive campaign failure in the face of a big possible gain. Instead, the intolerable “Know nothing” falls back on the campaign and the campaigner.
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected]
Another red flag in his campaign, job interview for POTUS. Being uninformed is not a good quality when one is hoping to be elected.
His campaign already has so many red flags, it looks like a 1950s Moscow May Day parade.
YES, I always tell people, the first job of a “president” is putting a team together and managing it such that he or she wins.
Well, in don-old’s defense, he is a fucking moron.