Trump calls GOP candidate with a history of offensive remarks 'Martin Luther King on steroids'

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Former President Donald Trump likened North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson to Martin Luther King Jr. in an endorsement Saturday, despite the gubernatorial candidate’s long history of controversial comments about homosexuality, religion and victims of sexual abuse.

“This is Martin Luther King on steroids,” Trump said of Robinson at a pre-Super Tuesday rally in North Carolina.

“I told that to Mark. I said, I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two,” he continued as he offered Robinson his endorsement in the Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday.

Robinson has been a vocal supporter of the former president and first endorsed Trump for re-election in June while speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington, D.C.

Robinson, a pastor, is a polarizing figure, catching harsh criticism for his past comments about women, Muslims, Jewish people and members of the LGTBQ community.

The favorite to secure the North Carolina gubernatorial Republican nomination has, for example, insinuated that homosexuality is a stepping stone to pedophilia, harshly ridiculed school shooting survivors who promoted gun-control reform, encouraged forms of Holocaust denialism and used antisemitic tropes.

In October, Robinson insisted he was not antisemitic and distanced himself from some of his former social media posts.

“There have been some Facebook posts that were poorly worded on my part,” he said in remarks before the state Legislature, adding: “There is no antisemitism standing here in front of you.”

In 2021, Robinson faced calls to resign for saying, “There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism,