'Opposition researcher's dream': Insiders panic that Trump ally will cost him key state

Insiders in Donald Trump’s campaign are increasingly worried that an ally’s extremist past could hand a key swing state to Joe Biden in November.

The Daily Beast reported concerns that the former president’s aligning himself with North Carolina’s far-right candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, is damaging his chances of taking the state.

“He’s an opposition researcher’s dream,” Democratic strategist Morgan Jackson told the Beast.

“Mark Robinson is the most extreme candidate for public office, period, in North Carolina, much less the race for governor.”
He added, “If you're a CEO and you're thinking of moving your business to North Carolina, and Mark Robinson is the governor, I think your employees are going to tell you they want to go somewhere else."

Among the extremist opinions Robinson has voiced are denial of the Holocaust and a desire to roll back feminism. “I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote,” he said in 2020.

But a Trump strategist told the Beast, “DJT likes him a lot."

"Clearly, it's not great," he added.

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North Carolina-based GOP strategist Paul Shumaker said Robinson's campaign could have a "reverse coattails" effect on Trump — meaning Republicans who vote against Robinson might also vote against Trump rather than split their tickets.

"The Biden campaign will attempt to tie the two together,” Shumaker said.

“Trump will distance himself and withdraw his endorsement if Robinson becomes too much of a liability. [I] can't underscore Ds' turnout problems enough."