In speech about freedom ‘slipping away,’ Mark Robinson talks about ‘wicked people,’ killing

North Carolina’s Republican candidate for governor used a recent speech about freedom to talk about how he sees the United States “slipping away” from the Declaration of Independence and how he thinks “wicked people” should be punished by the military and police.

This is the second year in a row that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has given an Independence Day-themed speech at an ultra-conservative church and made controversial comments. In 2023, he talked about “hell’s gates” and targeted teachers and LGBTQ+ people. Before a speech June 30 at Lake Church in Bladen County celebrating the Fourth of July, the pastor hosting Robinson said he thinks the devil is behind President Joe Biden.

Robinson’s speech, still available on the church’s Facebook page, has gained attention for his comments about why he thinks “some folks need killing,” referencing Germans and Japanese in World War II, but he talked beyond that.

As first reported by The New Republic, Robinson said, “There was a time when we used to meet evil on the battlefield. And guess what we did to it? We killed it. We didn’t quibble about it. We didn’t argue about it. We didn’t fight about it. We killed it. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, what did we do? We flew to Japan and we killed the Japanese army and navy.”

“We didn’t even quibble about it. I didn’t start this fight, you did! You want to be left alone, you should have left me alone. We didn’t argue and capitulate and talk about, ‘Well, maybe we shouldn’t fight the Nazis that hard.’ No, they’re bad. Kill them. Some liberal somewhere is gonna say that sounds awful. Too bad,” Robinson said to the congregation.

“Get mad at me if you want to. Some folks need killing,” he said.

Robinson had spent most of his speech on the topic of freedom, praising Revolutionary War soldiers, Union soldiers in the Civil War and the sacrifices made by parents whose sons and daughters served in the Vietnam War. But he went beyond wartime when he spoke about the punishment he wants for “wicked people.”

‘Wicked people’ and defending remarks

“It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity. We have wicked people doing wicked things — torturing and murdering and raping. It’s time to call out those guys in green, go have them handle it. Those boys in blue, have them go handle it. We need to start handling our business again,” Robinson said.

The U.S. Army and other branches of the military usually wear green uniforms depending on their location, and are under the federal government. Law enforcement officers, referred to as those “in blue,” serve at the town, city, county and state level. The lieutenant governor has no jurisdiction over the military or police. The governor can request the National Guard, and the N.C. Department of Public Safety, which includes the State Highway Patrol, is a Cabinet agency of the governor’s office.

Robinson spoke during the church’s two-hour service. Before his speech, he had a conversation in rocking chairs by the pulpit with Lake Church pastor, the Rev. Cameron McGill. The church, which also has a lakefront retreat camp, is in White Lake, and is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

McGill also serves on the Bladen County Board of Commissioners. McGill said the church will also host U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, who is running for attorney general, and Dave Boliek, who is running for state auditor.

In response to Robinson’s speech, McGill told The New Republic that “without a doubt, those he deemed worthy of death [were] those seeking to kill us,” adding that Robinson “certainly did not imply the taking of any innocent lives” and that the rest of his speech was “non-controversial.”

Mike Lonergan, Robinson’s campaign spokesperson, criticized news organizations and Democrats on social media, saying they took Robinson’s words out of context, claiming that they are “defending the Axis powers.” The Axis powers during World War II included Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy, while the Allied powers included the U.S., Great Britain and France, among others.

Robinson thinks freedom is ‘slipping away’

By saying “handling our business again,” Robinson explained by referencing something he said at the beginning of his speech, about people on their way to the church having the freedom to dress how they like and listen to what they want on the radio. He thinks those freedoms are “slipping away.”

“Keep thinking about it. Don’t you feel it slipping away? Don’t you feel it slipping away?” he repeated. “The further away we get from the concept of 1776 and why we declared our independence and how we declared our independence. The further we start sliding into making 1776 a distant memory, and the tenets of socialism and communism start coming into clearer focus.”

Robinson claimed “they” are watching, tracking, listening to, canceling, doxxing and mad at “you” and “us.”

He also used his speech to preach about salvation through Jesus Christ, how he didn’t want to wear a mask in a store during COVID-19 restrictions and why he doesn’t celebrate Juneteenth.

Robinson is North Carolina’s first Black lieutenant governor, and if he wins in the fall will be the state’s first Black governor. For Juneteenth, Robinson said he isn’t from Galveston, Texas, which was the location where news of the Emancipation Proclamation last reached enslaved people, noting that slavery was not ended until the 13th Amendment was ratified. Ratification was on Dec. 6, 1865. Congress passed it on Jan. 31, 1865.

White House reaction

Robinson, who is part of the MAGA wing of the Republican Party, has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. During his visit to the Lake Church, McGill showed the congregation a photo of Robinson with Trump. Before Robinson’s speech, McGill also talked about President Joe Biden.

“I said here last week, and I know it’s offensive, probably,” McGill said. “But people ask me all the time, Who’s behind President Biden, and that administration? Is it Obama, is it Clinton? Read your Bible. It is the devil. He is the father of lies. He is the deceiver. He is the divider. He is the manipulator.”

Biden-Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika criticized Robinson for “following Trump’s lead in calling for violence against his enemies.”

“Donald Trump sows division and hatred, openly fantasizes about revenge against his opponents, and encourages political violence. Mark Robinson — the extremist Trump endorsed and compared to Martin Luther King Jr. — is following Trump’s lead in calling for violence against his enemies and saying that ‘some folks need killing,’” Chitika said in an emailed statement.

“Mark Robinson and Donald Trump embrace a dangerous, violent, and anti-American vision of the country — it’s not who we are as Americans, and it’s why voters will put a stop to it in November,” she said.

Morgan Hopkins, a spokesperson for Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein’s campaign for governor, called Robinson “divisive and dangerous.”

“Mark Robinson’s repeated and repulsively violent rhetoric fits into his pattern of spewing division and hate rather than serving North Carolina families. We cannot have a governor who calls for extrajudicial killings,” Hopkins said.