(The Center Square) – No lightning bolts, just solid campaign stumping on party values was spoken by North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson on Monday evening at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wis.
Calling party presidential nominee the “brave heart” the country needs, Robinson shared the shortened version of his tragic family upbringing with an alcoholic and abusive father. He told of a chance gas station meeting with a man facing bankruptcy he recently encountered on the campaign trail; his shot at history as the state’s first Black governor; and he hit on the night’s theme, “Make America Wealthy Again.”
“Under President Trump, the American Dream was alive and well,” Robinson. “Under President Trump there was hope. And we need that now more than ever. This November, let’s elect the brave heart of our time, Donald J. Trump, to get our economy back on track, restore the American Dream, and make America great again.”
His remarks were just over three minutes on stage at Fiserv Forum Arena, home of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
Speeches by Robinson are associated with the hot glare of a spotlight. It’s how he rose from commenting as a citizen at a Greensboro City Council meeting in 2018 to the office of lieutenant governor in 2020 and now the Republican choice for governor against Democrat Josh Stein.
At the Lake Church, in southeastern North Carolina’s White Lake, he spoke for about 30 minutes. Emotional at times talking about his family, he also talked about Americans killed in War War II.
He named the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, and mentioned “Nazis,” a reference to Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ Party. And he spoke of America’s response in fighting for democracy abroad.
Thus, the context has been left out with as the quotes reverberate.
“Some folks need killing!” Robinson said at White Lake. “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.”
Last Wednesday in a radio interview with Pete Kaliner in Charlotte, he said, “They chose one phrase that they didn’t like, took it out of context, and tried to use it as a weapon. But again, it’s just a symbol of their dishonesty.”
Since and again on Monday two days after the failed assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania, Democrats made Robinson an opportunity. He’s refused to take the bait and go back-and-forth with the attacks.
He said recently meeting the man facing bankruptcy took him back to lying awake at night, debating which bills were not going to get paid.
“Unfortunately today, many families are having that same experience,” Robinson said to delegates Monday, three days before Trump takes the stage in acceptance of the nomination. “Under Joe Biden, grocery prices have skyrocketed. Gas is nearly double. In North Carolina, factories just like the one I worked at are closing, leaving families feeling hopeless.
“But there is hope. And I’ve proved it. My wife and I never gave up. We kept our faith. We worked hard, and made it through those tough times. Now I stand before you on the verge of becoming the first Black governor of North Carolina.”
He said he wouldn’t forget his roots, or the struggles of the people he meets.
“And you know, there’s somebody else who will fight just as hard for you,” Robinson said. “President Donald J. Trump.”
