North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Robinson defends comments that “people need to be killed”

Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson wipes sweat from his head as he speaks at the North Carolina GOP Convention in Greensboro, N.C., Saturday, May 25, 2024. (Woody Marshall/News & Record via AP)

(NewsNation) — Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s lieutenant governor and Republican candidate for governor, said in a recent campaign speech at a local church that “some people need to be killed” after referring to how the United States has dealt with evil in the past.

Robinson, who describes himself as a MAGA Republican, gave the speech in late June, but a video of the speech surfaced in a New Republic report on Friday.

“There were times when we met evil on the battlefield,” Robinson said in his speech delivered at Lake Church in North Carolina. “And guess what we did with it? We killed it. We didn’t argue about it. We didn’t argue about it. We didn’t fight about it. We killed it.”

Robinson then referred to the US response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He also referred to the US response to the Nazis in World War II, in which evil was “killed.”

Robinson then pointed to liberals who insisted his comments sounded insensitive, to which he replied, “Too bad.”

“Get mad at me if you want. Some people need to be killed. It’s time someone said it. It’s not about revenge. It’s not about being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity,” he said.

He added: “We have bad people doing bad things – torturing, killing and raping. It’s time to confront these guys in green and hold them accountable. Or these guys in blue and hold them accountable. We need to start taking our affairs into our own hands again.”

When asked for comment on Friday, Robinson’s campaign spokesman Michael Lonergan told NewsNation that Robinson’s comments were specifically related to historical references to the Japanese and Nazis in World War II.

Lonergan did not respond to a question about comments that the country needed to get its own affairs back in order. Instead, he reiterated that Robinson had referred to the Nazis and Japanese “literally and explicitly” in his speech, which lasted about 30 minutes, according to the New Republic.

Rev. Cameron McGill, pastor of the Lake Church, told The New Republic that both Robinson and the pastor expected the gubernatorial candidate’s comments to be criticized, but Robinson defended his words.

“Without a doubt, those he deemed worthy of death were those who wanted to kill us,” Cameron said in an email to the publication, adding that Robinson “certainly did not imply the killing of innocent people” and that the rest of his speech was “uncontroversial.”