With North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson reeling from explosive allegations about his postings on the Nude Africa website, Donald Trump found a cute surrogate to bring onstage for his rally in the state: granddaughter Carolina.
Trump introduced his granddaughter, whose parent are Eric and Lara, at an outdoor rally in the crucial battleground that is her namesake.
‘Her name is Carolina and she’s beautiful and she’s sweet and she doesn’t know how evil life is – she hasn’t experienced it yet,’ Trump said while introducing her. ‘Make America Great Again,’ she said as Trump lifted her up to a microphone, to cheers from the MAGA faithful.
Then he brought up his grandson Luke to the podium surrounded by bulletproof glass after a pair of assassination attempts. ‘Vote for grandpa,’ he said.
But Robinson, who is fending off allegations about his postings on race and sex and even slavery, was not among the dignitaries Trump name-checked. He made no mention of him at all.
Trump holds his granddaughter Carolina to the microphone during the rallyÂ
Donald Trump is rejecting Kamala Harris ’ proposal for another presidential debate just weeks before Election Day, he told a rally in North Carolina on SaturdayÂ
The family moment came after Trump said he is rejecting Kamala Harris’ proposal for another presidential debate just weeks before Election Day.
‘It’s too late. I’d love to do another in many ways, but it’s too late,’ Trump told the rally crowd in Wilmington, North Carolina, with ‘Trump Force One’ in the background after a dramatic fly-by.
He said Harris wants the debate ‘because she’s losing,’ hours after her campaign advisor said she had accepted an Oct. 23 invitation from CNN to debate.
With no debate on the horizon other than a vice presidential standoff, the candidates will compete in an ongoing TV air war, with Harris far outraising Trump in August but Trump’s big donors cashing huge checks to outside groups.
They will also hold dueling press conferences and interviews. Trump ridiculed Harris for her recent town hall style event with Oprah Winfrey, and he played a video mocking some of her verbal crutches.
But Trump couldn’t stop himself from taking shots at President Biden, who is no longer running. Biden held his first full cabinet meeting in nearly a year Friday.
‘Is he the president? Because yesterday his wife took over the cabinet meeting, right?’ Trump said.
North Carolina is emerging as a state that is almost a must-win for Trump, although Harris has been giving it ongoing attention amid polls showing a very close race in Pennsylvania.
‘We win this state, I think it’s going to be over fast,’ Trump predicted.
Trump held the outdoor rally just hours after a bombshell report alleging the state’s Republican Gov. Mark Robinson made incendiary posts on the Nude Africa message board.
Trump seen being greeted by a raucous reception in Wilmington, North CarolinaÂ
Trump was in North Carolina to support embattled gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, pictured at a previous event on August 14, 2024Â
Trump singled out family members in the crowd, including RNC co-chair Lara Trump
Luke Trump urged a vote for his gramdfather
Trump also introduced Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), but made no mention of the embattled lieutenant governor following bombshell reports about his postings on a porn site
The timing was less than ideal. Robinson allegedly referred to himself as a ‘Black NAZI!’, while Trump in the past had praised him as ‘Martin Luther King on steroids.’Â
Although Robinson wasn’t there, Trump acknowledged multiple lawmakers from the stage, including North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd and Rep. Dan Bishop and various public officials including Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna.
He even introduced ‘front row Joes’ and other regular Trump rally attendees and a county commissioner, but made no mention of the Lieutenant Governor in his introductory remarks.
That comes amid fears Robinson’s implosion could harm Republicans up and down the ballot.Â
With no Robinson around, Trump brought two grandkids, the children of Eric and Lara Trump, on stage.
‘Her name is Carolina and she’s beautiful and she’s sweet and she doesn’t know how evil life is – she hasn’t experienced it yet,’ Trump said while introducing his granddaughter.
Grandson Luke gave a brief speech for his grandfather. ‘Vote for grandpa,’ he said.
Some of Trump’s supporters are ready to part ways Robinson, with one predicting the two men’s fate was now closely tied. ‘If things go south for Robinson, things go south for Trump,’ Trump backer Patty O’Neil told DailyMail.com outside the rally.
Robinson was facing pressure even from fellow Republicans to drop out of the race in the hours before CNN published the report Thursday.
His alleged ‘inflammatory’ comments included Robinson calling himself a ‘perv,’ describing ‘peeping’ on women when he was 14, declaring he likes ‘watching tranny on girl porn.’
Other incendiary or racist comments included stating ‘I’m a Black Nazi!’ and writing: ‘Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few.’
Trump predicted that he would win North Carolina in November, adding that he thinks ‘it’s going to be over fast’Â
Law enforcement take their positions on a rooftop at the North Carolina eventÂ
MAGA fans lined up for an outdoor rally Saturday were keyed in on the salacious allegations, with some saying they wouldn’t support the Republican officeholder.
‘I have followed politics for a while. I think that Mark Robinson is the October surprise,’ said Patty O’Neil, who runs a Wilmington pet-sitting business.
‘Mark Robinson is a very conservative independent-thinking black man, and there are plenty of people that want to take him down. Let’s think about Herschel Walker,’ she said, mention the Georgia Republican football star whose Trump-backed campaign imploded.
‘The concern that I have, that probably shouldn’t be spoken about aloud, is that the Republican Party needs to stand behind these black conservatives, period. If things go south for Robinson, things go south for Trump,’ she said.
Kevin Ibanez, a Long Island transplant and retired Suffolk County police officer, says he’s ready to take a pass on the controversial figure amid the latest reports.
‘I don’t think I’m going to vote for him. He’s a grown man going on a porn web site. I could skip him,’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t be on this porn web site. Come on! You’re a grown man,’ he said on the way to a Trump rally.
But Ibanez is more forgiving toward Donald Trump.
‘He’s a crazy man at times. But he’s the best for our country. I wish he could just calm his rhetoric a little bit. Just chill,’ he said. ‘He is what he is.’Â
Trump and Robinson pictured together at a rally in North Carolina on August 21, 2024Â
Raymond Bebb, originally from Pittsburgh and decked out in a Steelers outfit, was up to speed on the latest allegations.
‘I’m not happy about what I’ve heard, but we’ll see whether he resigns.’
We have a penchant for shooting ourselves in both feet,’ he said.
‘When you see crowds like this, and the crowds that he’s drawing all over in his visits to North Carolina, I think we’re ready for a new era.’
Robinson denied the report as salacious ‘tabloid trash.’
In a video before it came out, Robinson said: ‘Let me reassure you the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson. You know my words, you know my character and you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before.’
He also skipped Trump running mate J.D. Vance’s event in the state Wednesday.
