A Strange Fashion of Forsaking

 Like the rest of the nation, I have been deluged with headlines in recent days about North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson's bizarre reported history of offensive remarks. Of course, Robinson claims that the stories are false—he says he never wrote the posts that have been tied to his name. He alleges his Democratic opponent in the race planted these reports in an attempt to smear his reputation. 

Yet, Robinson quickly undermined his own claim by calling the story "lies from fifteen years ago." If they were entirely concocted by his Democratic opponent in the current race, though—how could they actually be that old? Indeed, it seems so likely at this point that Robinson did in fact say all the things he is accused of saying, that even those inveterate liars Trump and Vance are not repeating his counter-allegations. 

Trump—despite endorsing Robinson in the race and practically creating his political career in the first place—pointedly did not mention his name during recent campaign stops in North Carolina. Vance, meanwhile, was cornered by journalists and forced to address it. But even then, he did not full-throatedly endorse Robinson's version of events. In effect he said: Robinson's on his own, in this race. 

What a difference a year can make! Quite the change from the days when Trump applauded Robinson, in his usual bombastic style, as "Martin Luther King on steroids." Where is he now, that version of Trump? Where are all of Robinson's erstwhile defenders? The Times reports that even several members of his campaign staff have quit. They flee from me, Robinson must be thinking, that sometime did me seek. 

The line—from Thomas Wyatt—came to mind for me because the poem not only captures the way that one-time allies of Robinson have all stampeded away from him, in the wake of the scandal: but also, the bewildering element in their sudden betrayal. To be sure, Robinson's comments were grotesque. But there is also a blatant double-standard here—for so have been the comments of Trump and all his circle. 

After all, the same week that news reports alleged Robinson had once described himself as a "Black Nazi," Donald Trump made a series of unhinged antisemitic comments of his own. J.D. Vance doubled down on his decision to appear at an event alongside Tucker Carlson, even though the latter started this month by promoting overt Holocaust denialism and Neo-Nazi propaganda on his show. 

And have we all already forgotten that Trump's whole 2024 campaign began with a meeting with a pair of Hitler-admiring, Holocaust-denying antisemites? Why, then, does the Trump team disavow Robinson, but not their boss or vice presidential candidate? Or, if the answer to that is too obvious (self-interest being what it is), why do they not make more of an effort to distance themselves from Carlson's extremism? 

The answer, of course, is that Robinson at this point is enough of a foreordained loser in this election that he can be placed on the altar. He can be the sacrificial lamb for the GOP's sins. He is the mote in the party's eye that allows more respectable Republicans to overlook the beam represented by their national candidate. This is what accounts for their "strange fashion of forsaking" Robinson (Wyatt). 

Everyone can pile on by distancing themselves from Robinson (who does indeed seem quite horrible, don't get me wrong). And by doing so, they can ignore the fact that Trump, Vance, Tucker and all their cronies have been steadily normalizing extremism too. They can cast out Robinson (righty) for allegedly being a "Black Nazi," because this allows them all the better to ignore the other Nazis in their orbit. 

Tucker's interview with the Holocaust denialist, after all, may have been conducted in more polite terms. It may have been couched in a general sort of intellectual contrarianism that could masquerade to the unwary as legitimate historical debate. It took place on Tucker's show, rather than (as alleged here) a porn site. Yet Tucker's message, for those who can hear it, was the same as Robinson's: "I'm a Nazi." 

So, by all means, forsake Robinson. I obviously hope he loses this election by a landslide. People need to see that being a "Nazi" is not an acceptable position. But don't then ignore the much bigger creeps who created Robinson in the first place. To quote Brecht: "let's not drop our guard too quickly then/ Although the world stood up and stopped the bastard/ The [dog] that bore him is in heat again." (Tabori trans.)