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      The swing states in the south that could sway the election – podcast

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      Polling out this week suggests Kamala Harris could be outperforming Donald Trump in the crucial sun-belt states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina. So what happens if these polls are right? Can Donald Trump win the presidency without them?
      This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to George Chidi, politics and democracy reporter for Guardian US, about how these states could be be make or break for either candidate

      How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know More

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      Vance, Declining to Denounce Robinson, Lashes Out at Media Instead

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      Senator JD Vance of Ohio lashed out at the news media on Monday as he campaigned in North Carolina, deflecting questions about a scandal engulfing the campaign of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the embattled Republican running for governor in the state.Mr. Vance, who has previously cast doubt on a CNN report linking Mr. Robinson to disturbing comments on a pornographic forum, avoided mentioning the lieutenant governor during a campaign rally in Charlotte. When pressed by journalists, he declined to denounce Mr. Robinson but said the onus would be on him to convince voters that he didn’t make the posts, in which the report says he called himself a “black NAZI” and defended slavery.“What he said or didn’t say is between him and the people of North Carolina,” said Mr. Vance, former President Donald J. Trump’s running mate. He added: “I’ve seen some of the statements. I haven’t seen them all. Some of them are pretty gross, to put it mildly. Mark Robinson says that those statements are false, that he didn’t actually speak them. So I think it’s up to Mark Robinson to make his case to the people of North Carolina that those weren’t his statements.”As audience members booed and jeered the local journalists asking Mr. Vance about Mr. Robinson, with many standing up in their seats and turning around to shout at the press gathered in the back of the venue, Mr. Vance shifted his focus there as well. “This entire episode illustrates something that is fundamentally broken about the American media,” Vance said, later comparing the gathered journalists to “supermarket tabloids” and adding “I really cannot believe that the American media is so much more focused on this than on the struggles of their fellow citizens.”But Mr. Vance brushed aside the questions about Mr. Robinson, some of which were drowned out as the crowd roared against them. He declined to say if the lieutenant governor still had the endorsement of the Trump campaign.Mr. Trump, for his part, has avoided mentioning Mr. Robinson in recent days, including at his own rally in the state on Saturday. The scandal surrounding Mr. Robinson presents a delicate challenge to Mr. Trump, who called him “Martin Luther King on steroids.” More

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      Top staffers on Mark Robinson campaign quit after reports of offensive remarks

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      Several top employees on Mark Robinson’s campaign to become North Carolina’s next governor have quit their posts after a media report found compelling evidence that the Republican candidate previously described himself as a black Nazi, spoke favorably of reinstating slavery and shared other disturbing thoughts on a porn message forum.The departures announced on Sunday include the campaign’s senior adviser, campaign manager and finance director, among others. “I appreciate the efforts of these team members who have made the difficult choice to step away from the campaign, and I wish them well in their future endeavors,” Robinson said in a news release.One of the departing officials, Conrad Pogorzelski III, a senior adviser, helped Robinson win election as North Carolina’s lieutenant governor in 2020. Pogorzelski later became Robinson’s chief of staff and said that he “along with others from the campaign have left of our own accord”.The resignations came three days after CNN reported that Robinson had apparently authored porn forum posts which expressed a preference for Adolf Hitler over the president at the time, Barack Obama. He also reportedly called Martin Luther King Jr “worse than a maggot” and said he would “certainly buy a few” enslaved people if, as he wished, slavery were reinstated.Robinson denied that he was author of the posts and described them as “salacious tabloid lies”. He did not appear with Donald Trump at a campaign rally in North Carolina on Saturday and avoided the subject during a campaign appearance later that day at a race track in Fayetteville.Polls show that Robinson is trailing his Democratic opponent, Josh Stein, in polls. But in a statement on Sunday, Robinson said that the surveys had “underestimated Republican support in North Carolina for several cycles”.“I am confident our campaign remains in a strong position to make our case to the voters and win” in the 5 November election, he added.Stein appeared on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union and asserted that Robinson was “utterly unqualified, unfit to be the governor of North Carolina”.Lindsey Graham, Republican US senator of South Carolina, said on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press that Robinson deserved a chance to defend himself against the reporting from CNN. But Graham called Robinson “a political zombie if he does not offer a defense to this that’s credible”.Senior state legislative leaders are concerned that any association with Robinson could affect their polling in November. Yet further up the political scale, those who on Sunday attended a rally in support of Donald Trump appeared to be unmoved, even as the former president endorsed Robinson as he pursues a return to the White House.Bob Judson, a 70-year-old unaffiliated voter, told the Washington Post he “didn’t put much credence” in the allegations against Robinson. “We’ve all done things in our past that we’re sorry for,” Judson said. “Some of the things are crazy.”Rose Cannon, 69, told the outlet that Robinson was a “very positive, strong man”.“Now that this has happened, I don’t know,” Cannon said. “We’ll hear through it, and see what we think.”While Trump has not responded to CNN’s claims about Robinson, his running mate, JD Vance, said it was better “to let these things play out sometimes in the court of public opinion”.Vance is due to hold a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday as the Republican presidential ticket hopes to move on from the Robinson episode. On Sunday, the Ohio US senator posted a comment on social media that sought to blame inflation on Kamala Harris, the vice-president and Democratic presidential nominee, saying that was “my comment on Mark Robinson”.The Associated Press contributed reporting More

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      Top Aides Resign From Embattled North Carolina Candidate’s Campaign

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      Most of the senior staff members on Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s campaign for North Carolina governor resigned on Sunday, dealing a seismic blow to the embattled Republican who has faced widespread criticism after an explosive CNN report that he had made a series of disturbing comments on a pornographic website.Among the resignations was his top campaign consultant, Conrad Pogorzelski III, who for years had been one of Mr. Robinson’s most loyal confidants and who had been the only consultant to take a chance on him during his run for lieutenant governor four years ago.Mr. Pogorzelski confirmed his resignation in a text message on Sunday evening, saying he and seven other campaign staffers had resigned on “our own accord.”The other resignations included Chris Rodriguez, the campaign manager; Heather Whillier, the finance director; and Jason Rizk, the deputy campaign manager. Two political directors, John Kontoulas and Jackson Lohrer, and the director of operations, Patrick Riley, also resigned.The 11th-hour shake-up in the campaign less than 50 days before the election will only exacerbate the troubles already plaguing Mr. Robinson, the fiery Trump acolyte who has been widely criticized for comments perceived as racist, antisemitic, transphobic and hateful.CNN reported on Thursday that Mr. Robinson had written on a porn site years ago that he was a “black NAZI,” that he enjoyed watching transgender pornography and that slavery was not bad. He also recounted on the site how he went “peeping” on women in public gym showers as a teenager. Mr. Robinson has denied that he wrote the posts and ignored calls from some fellow Republicans to withdraw from the race.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Lindsey Graham calls reports of Mark Robinson’s ‘black Nazi’ posts ‘beyond unnerving’

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      The senior Senate Republican Lindsey Graham has said reports that the North Carolina Republican candidate for governor, Mark Robinson, calling himself a “black NAZI!” in posts on the porn forum Nude Africa a decade ago are “beyond unnerving” and should see him end his political career if proven true.“If they’re true, he’s unfit to serve for office,” the long-serving South Carolina senator said Sunday. “If they’re not true, he has the best lawsuit in the history of the country for libel.”But Graham stopped short of calling for Robinson, who has denied claims made by CNN that the incendiary entries on the forum are his own, to step down from his bid for the state governorship or that Donald Trump, who has called Robinson “Martin Luther King on steroids”, should drop his endorsement of the candidate.“I think what’s going to happen here is that he deserves a chance to defend himself,” Graham said. “He’s claiming they were artificially created.”Graham advised Robinson, who has a history of controversial and racist statements, to “hire me the best lawyer I could find. I’d sue the hell out of CNN, because what they’re saying about him is just unbelievable.”But Graham said Robinson “needs to do more … he has a right to defend himself. He has an obligation to defend himself. This is hanging over his campaign.” But he said he did not think that the Trump protegee’s comments “hurt Trump”.“But as to Robinson, he’s a political zombie if he does not offer a defense to this that’s credible,” Graham added.Robinson’s alleged porn site comments dominated the US Sunday talk shows, a day after Trump held a rally for 10,000 supporters in North Carolina without mentioning Robinson or the candidate appearing on stage.“These are not my words and this is not anything characteristic of me,” Robinson, who is the first Black lieutenant governor of North Carolina, has said of the alleged posts. He has said that he intends to remain in the race.Robinson’s opponent, the former state attorney general Josh Stein, told CNN that his opponent’s “vile insults” made him “utterly unqualified” to be governor.“What he said in the posts is in keeping with what he has said publicly on Facebook” Stein said. “He embraced Hitler, he compliments Hitler, he says he’s a Nazi, he buys little toy SS soldiers, he insists he wants to bring back slavery … things that defy comprehension.”One of Robinson’s alleged comments on the site, which was made while Barack Obama was in the White House, included: “I’d take Hitler over any of the shit that’s in Washington right now!” and “Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring [slavery] back. I would certainly buy a few.”The controversy over Robinson’s alleged comments come as North Carolina, a typically red state, is a must-win state for Trump if he is to reach the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the White House.Polls show Stein averaging about a 10-point lead over Robinson, but other Democratic candidates on the ballot in the state, including the presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, are in tighter races.How far Robinson’s alleged comments will affect Trump’s support is unknown, but Democrats are hoping to tie them to Republican campaigns locally and nationally.The North Carolina Democratic party chair, Anderson Clayton, has said Robinson is a “standard bearer” amid signs that local Republicans will stand by their candidate. “He represents their party … The rest of the Republican ticket would serve as nothing but a rubber stamp for his agenda,” she said.On Sunday, the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie told ABC This Week that a controversy of Robinson was “predictable” because Robinson’s tenure in public life “has shown erratic, sometimes highly offensive statements over and over again”.But Christie acknowledged that it was a problem for Republicans because “as Donald Trump is your recruiting agent for candidates in swing states, we’re going to continue to get our rear ends handed to us.”Christie said he doubted that other Republicans would be affected, a political concept know as “reverse coattails”, but said Robinson “is starting to get the feel for what it’s like to have been a former friend of Donald Trump’s”.He added: “Donald Trump, from a political perspective, smells rotting flesh better than anybody you’ll ever find … And I bet you, George, before we get to November 5, he’s going to claim to not even really know who Mark Robinson is.” More

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      Trump’s Base in North Carolina Still Supports Mark Robinson, but Some Doubt He Can Win

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      Faithful supporters of former President Donald J. Trump lined up on Saturday afternoon to cheer him on at a rally at the Aero Center in Wilmington, N.C., their red shirts billowing from a beach-side breeze.When asked about the former president’s chances of winning North Carolina, many in the crowd were confident and brimming with energy. They would be the force to keep the battleground state red for Mr. Trump.But many of their smiles shrank when they were asked about the embattled Republican nominee for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who has been under fire since CNN reported this week on the lewd comments he made on a pornography website several years ago. According to CNN, Mr. Robinson wrote on the site that he was a “black NAZI,” that he enjoyed watching transgender pornography and that he defended slavery. He also recounted on the site how he went “peeping” on women in public gym showers as a teenager.Few rally attendees believed the article about Mr. Robinson, who had already faced criticism for old Facebook posts that were widely condemned as racist, antisemitic and transphobic. And while many voters said they would still stand behind him, some acknowledged that the allegations were damning.“Look, he’s toast,” said David Huffman, 60, of Wilmington, who wore a collared shirt printed with the American flag. “I’m still going to vote for Mark, but at this point it’s worse than a Hail Mary.”Not only was Mr. Robinson not at the rally, but Mr. Trump also did not mention his name once to the thousands of supporters who were in attendance, the very people who helped fuel the rise of the lieutenant governor in 2020.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump Heads to North Carolina as Mark Robinson’s Campaign Reels

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      With somewhat awkward timing, former President Donald J. Trump plans to campaign in North Carolina on Saturday as his pick for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, faces accusations of making disturbing posts on a pornographic website.Mr. Trump’s visit to Wilmington, N.C., for a rally will take place two days after CNN reported that Mr. Robinson had once called himself a “black NAZI!” and defended slavery years ago on a pornographic forum.Mr. Robinson, whom Mr. Trump endorsed in March, has denied the report and vowed to stay in the race. But both parties are looking closely at the fallout, which could have a spillover effect in the presidential contest, given that North Carolina is a key battleground state that Mr. Trump won twice but that Democrats see as competitive.The lieutenant governor, who has a long history of making inflammatory and offensive remarks, is not expected to attend Mr. Trump’s rally on Saturday, according to a person familiar with the program’s details. Mr. Robinson was also absent when Mr. Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, visited the state on Wednesday, the day before CNN released its report.A spokesman for Mr. Robinson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. The Trump campaign avoided weighing in on the controversy when asked for comment on Friday.Democrats, who last carried North Carolina in the 2008 presidential race, are seeking to remind voters in the increasingly competitive state about Mr. Trump’s past praise for Mr. Robinson. Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign released a television ad on Friday, “Both Wrong,” highlighting Mr. Trump’s past warm words for Mr. Robinson and some of Mr. Robinson’s past polarizing statements. At least nine electronic billboards around the state will display ads on Friday and Saturday paid for by the Democratic National Committee linking the two Republicans.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      With Robinson Candidacy, North Carolina Republicans Fear Damage to Years of Gains

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      Explosive posts by the Republican candidate for governor, Mark Robinson, are sending waves of anxiety through a state party that has long been tactical and disciplined.The great Republican wave that swept the South starting in the late 20th Century — the very wave that Lyndon Johnson predicted after signing the Civil Rights Act in 1964 — came relatively late to North Carolina. But when it finally hit in 2013, with Republicans controlling both the legislature and the governor’s mansion for the first time since Reconstruction, it did so with breathtaking force. Led by a group of savvy, tactically skilled state lawmakers, North Carolina Republicans set out to undo decades of center-left policy enshrined by Democrats, and to remake the rules of the political game in their favor.They engaged in gerrymandering that ensured the party a near-lock on the state legislature and lopsided control of the state’s House delegation in Congress. They paved the way for a conservative state Supreme Court that upheld a strict voter ID law. And after gaining a veto-proof majority last year, they banned most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.And while Republicans lost the governorship in 2016, they had harbored hope of winning full control of state government again this year, bringing North Carolina in alignment with most other Southern states.Then came Mark Robinson.Long before this week, when CNN reported that Mr. Robinson had called himself a “black NAZI!,” discussed his pornography habits and praised slavery in an adult online forum, the bellicose Republican nominee for governor (and current lieutenant governor) was polling poorly against his Democratic rival, Josh Stein.But now more than ever, Mr. Robinson, with his antisemitic and anti-gay rhetoric and performative, polarizing brand of politics, is sending waves of anxiety through the state party.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More