North Carolina’s most notorious antisemite is willing to do whatever it takes to become our next governor. So in the wake of last month’s Hamas attack, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson pulled out all the stops to show everyone just how much he loves Israel.

Robinson waited until actual NC Governor Roy Cooper left for a trip to Japan to hold an “acting governor” dress-up event where he declared North Carolina’s solidarity with Israel.

This week Robinson took his charade on the road, traveling to Israel with the North Carolina chapter of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group that Donald Trump described as “the largest faith based get out the vote organization in modern American history.”

And that’s exactly what Robinson’s actions over the last month are about–his desire to win votes and become the next governor of North Carolina.

Maya Angelou said, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” Since long before he needed votes, Mark Robinson has been showing us exactly who he is.

He’s a man who has repeatedly downplayed the Holocaust, shared antisemitic tropes, and used Yiddish insults to mock Jewish politicians.

In one post, Robinson put quotation marks around the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust, implying the figure was inflated.

In another he referred to discussing Nazis as a waste of time.

And in yet another Robinson called accounts of Jews being taken to concentration camps “hogwash.”

Robinson has called opposition to Donald Trump as a “globalist” conspiracy, employing a term typically used to refer to Jews who are seen as using their elite international connections to weaken Western society–an idea that was at the core of Nazi ideology.

Robinson used antisemitic tropes in a rant against the film Black Panther, which he said was “created by an agnostic Jew and put to film by satanic marxist” before employing the well-worn racist stereotype about Jewish people’s desire for money.

At the press conference last month where he dressed up as governor, Robinson was forced to spend most of his time defending his long history of antisemitic rhetoric to deeply skeptical reporters. The Lieutenant Governor said some of his previous comments were “poorly worded” and did not “convey [his] real sentiments.”

That’s hogwash.

Mark Robinson’s real sentiments are the ones he expressed over and over and over before he needed North Carolinians’ votes.

Don’t fall for the okey doke. The last thing North Carolina needs is an antisemite in the governor’s mansion.

At the November 2 meeting of the North Carolina State Board of Education, State Superintendent Catherine Truitt was pressed on her decision to not appeal the controversial approval of American Leadership Academy Monroe.

ALA Monroe will be managed by out-of-state for-profit charter operator Charter One, and Truitt received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions in June from representatives of this corporation–shortly after changes in state law gave her authority to appeal approval or denial of charters.

The State Board of Education had previously denied ALA Monroe’s charter on two occasions, voicing concerns about conflicts of interest in the school’s governance, rapid expansion of Charter One into North Carolina without sufficient evidence of academic success, and drawbacks of giving public tax dollars to an out-of-state corporation.

State Board Vice Chair Alan Duncan asked Superintendent Truitt to explain who advised her not to appeal the decision and why she did not consult staff attorneys at the Department of Public Instruction or the State Board of Education.

Truitt refused to disclose which attorneys she had consulted.

State Board Vice Chair Alan Duncan: “…Who was the outside attorney that you apparently relied upon for providing the responses given?”

Superintendent Catherine Truitt: “Our legal counsel, as wonderful as they are, are not experts in charter school law. And I would argue that no one on this board is an expert in charter school law. And so I turned to outside counsel who are experts in charter school law, and I’m happy to have that conversation with you offline.”

You can read the entire background on the Charter One-North Carolina controversy including Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson’s involvement here.