FACT CHECK: Mark Robinson Caught Lying About His “Some Folks Need Killing” CommentsLatest News Year in Review

FACT CHECK: Mark Robinson Caught Lying About His "Some Folks Need Killing" Comments

After weeks of dodging basic questions and trying to avoid accountability for proudly declaring that "some folks need killing," Mark Robinson finally addressed his comments and took the opportunity to attempt to deceive North Carolinians about his dangerous rhetoric.

When asked about his comments directly, Robinson claimed that they were taken out of context, that he was talking in a "historical context."However, as multiple news outlets have pointed out, that could not be further from the truth - especially as Robinson said in the same rant "We now find ourselves struggling with people who have evil intent" and has "frequently denounced his opponents as 'evil' and 'wicked.'"

Read more below:

• Cardinal and Pine: "His press team said he was talking only about killing Nazis and the Japanese in World War II, and accused the news media and Democrats of taking his comments out of context. But his full comments show that Robinson, who has a history of violent rhetoric against those he disagrees with, used World War II not as a history lesson, but as a model for how his supporters should respond to present day threats. And he has long made it clear who he sees as threats: abortion providers, public school teachers, and Democrats, all of whom, he often says, are plotting to turn the United States into a socialist prison."
• The New Republic: "Robinson might try to argue that he only meant that our enemies during World War II-and torturers and murderers and rapists today-deserve 'killing.' But the sum total of his remarks plainly suggests otherwise. He seemed to analogize the need to kill World War II enemies to the need to kill enemies in the present, enemies who harbor evil intent,' enemies conservatives are struggling against 'now.'"
• The News & Observer: Robinson "went beyond wartime when he spoke about the punishment he wants for 'wicked people.'"
• NC Newsline: "The question that arises, however, is, if a history lesson was all he intended, why did Robinson couch the remark the way he did?… even if one takes the most charitable conceivable view toward what Robinson said, it's undeniable that it was unnecessary and reckless."

"No matter how much he hides and lies, Mark Robinson cannot rewrite his record of spewing dangerous, violent rhetoric," said DGA National Press Secretary Devon Cruz. "North Carolinians deserve better."

###