North Carolina official encouraged studying dictators to understand threats | Fact check

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
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The claim: North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson said many 20th-century dictators are being taken out of context

A July 5 tweet shows a video of North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson speaking at an advocacy group’s meeting.

“At Moms for Liberty's Philadelphia event, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) says dictators like Hitler, Stalin and Mao are being taken out of context and promotes reading their writings,” the tweet reads before quoting Robinson’s speech.

The tweet was shared more than 100 times on Facebook and retweeted more than 2,000 times on Twitter in a week. The organization that shared the video, Heartland Signal, also posted it on Facebook.

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Our rating: False

The video is deceptively edited. Robinson's full speech makes clear he was recommending people read the writings of dictators to understand the threats they posed.

Robinson's speech was about understanding threats, not endorsing dictators

Robinson, who is running for governor of North Carolina, was speaking at the Moms for Liberty's Joyful Warriors National Summit, which took place June 29 to July 2 in Philadelphia.

The tweet and other social media posts show Robinson saying, “Whether you’re talking about Adolf Hitler, whether you’re talking about Chairman Mao, whether you’re talking about Stalin, whether you’re talking about Pol Pot, whether you’re talking about Castro in Cuba, or whether you’re talking about a dozen other despots all around the globe, it is time for us to get back and start reading some of those quotes."

However, the clip leaves out important context about Robinson’s statement. A full version of his speech reveals he was not endorsing the dictators’ ideas. Instead, he was encouraging people to study them in order to understand the threats they posed.

“It’s time for us to start teaching our children some of those quotes,” he said. “It’s time for us to start teaching our children about the dirty, despicable, awful things that those communist and socialist despots did in our history."

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Robinson responded on Twitter to the edited video, saying, “Only Lying Leftists would take a speech DENOUNCING dictators, communists and socialists and try to make it seem like I support them. Despicable.”

Robinson’s speech repeats a historical inaccuracy by including Hitler among socialists. While “socialist” was part of the full name of the Nazi party, historians point out that the Nazis were fascists who were opposed to left-wing policies.

Robinson’s speech came a little over a week after a Moms for Liberty chapter in Indiana was pilloried for including a quote from Hitler on the front page of its newsletter. The organization later apologized.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Reuters and Check Your Fact also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: False claim Mark Robinson's endorsed ideas of dictators | Fact check