July 19, 2021 • 27 mins
Blunt, passionate, conservative, patriotic — for this podcast, Gianno talks to Mark Robinson, the outspoken lieutenant governor of North Carolina. The first Black American to occupy his current office, Mark Robinson is a rising superstar in the Republican Party who has taken the GOP by storm. He discusses his amazing life story, how he got into politics, his future in the GOP, critical race theory, big government, faith, and much more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Up next. How woud you know called part of the
If brutal honesty makes you uncomfortable, then this podcast isn't
for you, because today you're going to hear some straight
talk from someone who isn't afraid to tell it like
it is. Passionate, blunt, conservative, patriotic. The outspoken Lieutenant Governor
of North Carolina, Mark Robinson is in the House, a
(00:22):
rising superstar in the Republican Party who has taken a
GOP by storm. This is outllowed with Gianno called well,
Lieutenant Governor, is really a pleasure to have you. I've
learned about you recently and I follow your Facebook page
and I've been seeing the videos, and I get really
(00:43):
excited and fired up when I hear you speak. So
thank you for all you're doing, not just for the
party but the country. Well, thank you for having me here.
We appreciate all those all those kind words. We certainly do.
Thank you absolutely. Before we get into politics and the
issues of the day, I want to talk to you
about your upbringing. I know you face adversity with an
abusive father and you found yourself in foster care. Tell
(01:06):
us what life was like growing up, Where were you raised,
how did you overcome a rough childhood? Well? Uh, born
and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. Uh, my childhood when
I looked back on my childhood, I had a happy childhood.
But it was right with all those things. My father
was never abusive towards me or my siblings, but he
(01:27):
was very abusive towards my mother. Uh. They had a
very contentious, very violent relationship. He was an alcoholic. Uh.
And he died when I was around twelve. When well,
when I was twelve, I was in the fifth grade
when he died my mom. That left my mom with
five children in total. All of us were in school
(01:47):
range from twelfth grade the first grade. UM, and so uh.
You know, she had a choice. She could either go
to work or or or go to the go towards welfare.
She chose to work. She was a custodian. She did
that for a number, for gosh, for almost thirty years.
She was a coustodian. And that's how she took care
of us. And I saw her have her priorities in
(02:08):
order and do things on that custodian salary that the
people would say was impossible, but she did it. And
that taught me a great deal about what it takes
to make it in life. What it takes to make
it in life, It's for you to go out and
earn your living and four your destiny. And that's what
my mom did, and that's the example from shows. She
also had a very strong faith in God, which I
(02:29):
you know, I sustained her as well, so uh the
primary source for strength as a matter of fact. So
uh that was that was what my offbering was like
like and that's what I learned. And this is uh
as like I said, it's what helped leave me to
where I am right now. Wow. And the faith in God,
I think is the critical point. And I've seen you
talk about that and viral clip after viral clip about
(02:51):
how how how you believe and why you believe and
why you believe this is the best country in an
entire world and how God Jesus Is really had his
hands on America. Can you expound on that please? Well,
you know people people don't like to admit it. You
know a lot of people that don't like to admit
the fact that the reason why uh, this country is
(03:12):
has been blessed because people pray for God to bless
this nation. We say it in our songs, you know,
we say it in our in our founding documents. We
we say that every everywhere, everywhere you turn around. We
always give God credit for for what he's done and
what he can do and what he will do. And
I think because of that, he hears it and he blessed.
And of course we're not perfect people. We're not perfect people.
(03:33):
We're not a perfect nation. We never have been, and
we don't claim to be. But we ultimately we know
who we is we have to answer to, and we
know who it is that oh that we owe the
credit to, and that's who, that's who we give that
credit to. And as far as it's being the greatest
nation on earth, you know, I don't see Mary. I've
read this this this morning on social media, and it's true.
America is so great that even the people that hate it,
(03:55):
hate America, won't leave. That's how great America is. The
people who claim to hate it leads. Uh, this is
this is still the greatest snakes on our still a
place where you can make dreams come true. And uh,
that's I mean, that's just the way it is. The
proof is, like they say, the proof is in the
Putt indeed it is. And like I mentioned before, viral
(04:16):
video after viral video, you really arrived on the national
scene for a lot of people in two thousand and eighteen, UM,
and it was because of a viral video of you
defending gun rights in the second Amendment of the meeting
at the Greensboro City Council And that got you noticed.
And from what I understand from watching the interview with
(04:37):
you and Governor Mike Huckleby, UM, it got over two
hundred million views, he said, I mean from there, I
mean you talked about what people told you you could
do in terms of creating a brand for yourself and
making a lot of money because you're this you know,
this fresh star before millions of people, but you chose
(04:59):
to serve instead. And what got you into politics. I've
been politically aware, what I call politically aware for many
many years. That started way back and uh the mid nineties,
I guess. Uh. I had a friend who uh challenged
me to think better and uh, you know, to do
my own research. And I did that and once I did,
(05:20):
I found out that I was a conservative and I
always had been a conservative. And then I started looking
at the two parties, the Republican Party Democratic Party, and
learning about the differences between the platforms and the differences
between the histories of the two parties, and of course
I logically fell on the on the right hand side
of the Republican Party. And uh so i'd like to
tell folks, you know, uh uh, being involved in politics
(05:44):
is not it's not really well, you have you have
an option, but here are the options. You can make
the determination of how you're governing and who governed you
or somebody else can make that determination. And somebody else
is making that determination, it's probably not going to turn
out good for you. The founders made this country so
that the people could decide who who it is that
(06:05):
would govern them. And when we don't take that responsibility
series we end up with people who don't have our
best interests at hard. We need to make sure that
we we take it serious and politics needs to be
something we all need to be involved. And that's like
I said that about involved, absolutely, And I love your
story reminds me of my own, which I talked about
my book Taking for Granted. I love to send you
(06:26):
a copy of that. But yeah, just learning the distinctions
between the parties and realizing that oftentimes, especially as black conservatives.
I'm not sure what you're experiencing upbringing was, but mine
on the South Side of Chicago. I realized quickly after
our research the two party systems in the history that
we largely have been lied to about the Republican Party
and the history Democrats have did such a brilliant marketing
(06:48):
job to make people think that the Republican Party was
just a racist party. They created slavery, Jim Crown, all
these other things, and to find out none of that
was true was actually the Democratic Party was pretty astounding
to me and made me really, uh question the people
that were around me. Did you have the same experience, Yeah, well, uh, honestly, yeah.
I mean, you know, when you really look at the
(07:10):
stories and you just you're just blown away by how
much misinformation there is out there. You know, Uh, just
one small thing you could take out of that you
take a look at, uh, or something like the epithet
that's thrown Uncle Tom. People throw that as an epithet
and then and and many of the people that use
(07:30):
that word don't have a clue is that where it
came from. They don't understand anything about who the character
Uncle Tom was in the book and what he did,
and they don't they don't understand it all the Uncle
Tom with somebody who sacrificed his life because he refused
to turn away, to turn turn over to runaway girls
would run away from the horrible master Simon legree. They
(07:53):
don't have a clue that in that book that he
was beaten to death by two other black slaves who
would do anything to it, including beating a good man
to death at the behalf of Simon mcgree. The evil
matter when you read that book and you understand that book,
it's one of the books that opened my eyes up
more than anything about what you just said about how
(08:13):
the Democratic Party and the leftists have turned this entire
thing around. You can see a micro calls him of
all their lives and coming to understand what that book
and that name represents. And that's just one example of
the way that that folks have been lied to and
this whole thing has been turned upside down. Only say
it and and of course we're talking about from a
historic perspective, but those lives continue today. And I want
(08:36):
to play this audio for you that a majority with
James Clapporn was just on MSNBC, and he was talking
about the funded police movement, which we know a lot
of progressives folks just generally on the left said was
the best way in terms of creating uh more fairness
and equality when it comes to policing in America, and um,
(08:58):
what they believe is that the best route forward. If
you would just take a listen, I want to get
your response. On the other side, defunded police is a
non start, even the black people. And if you don't
think that's true, then look at the results of what
just happened in York sitting this election. So the proof
is in the pudding. I know what I'm talking about.
I talked to people every day and defund the police.
(09:22):
Is it cool around the Democratic Party? What do you
What do you think about that? From the majority with Clyburn,
it just goes to show you how ludicrous the statement
is defunded police. You know, even if this guy, a
progressive Democrat, is saying it's hard for you know, it's again.
You know, I've told some ideas, uh everything that the
(09:44):
left has it counted. They've cut counted climate change. All
the predictions they've made about climate change have not come true.
They they are now their their accounting critical race theory.
We know those things are not true. There now they
now counted defunding the police. We see the horrible effects
of that. Everything that they tell it's almost like a
collection of I told you so. We conservatives were screaming
(10:09):
from the raptors. If we contained this anti police rhetoric,
we're gonna see crime go through the route. It's gonna
go through the roof. And what has happened. Crime has
gone through the roof. So you know, Uh, it's it's no.
It's actually shocking to hear him say that. Uh, admit
that in public, but he's absolutely right. It's just it
(10:30):
is one of the dumbest things, uh, one of the
top five dumbest things I think there's ever been proposed, uh,
in in my lifetime and possibly in the history of
this nation. We're talking to Mark Robinson and Lieutenant Governor
of North Carolina and rising superstar within the GOK. We've
got much more with him right after a quick break.
(11:03):
You know what's interesting to me, and I gotta tell you,
I'm gonna be just straight up honest with you. There's
you know, obviously a lot of figures and figures in
are in the Republican Party, but you, in my opinion,
you and Rhon de Santa's are the most exciting two
people in the Republican Party, and I think have the
most rolls, robust opportunity for the party. I listened to
(11:26):
speeches of yours and it sounds like a Baptist preacher.
And I'm gonna tell you, I think that the words
in which you use, in the way in which you
disseminate your message is one in which would resonate with
all coalitions, all constituencies, black folks, white folks, expanding folks, whatever.
You're just a truth teller. Why do you think your
stars is rised so quickly in the in the GOP
(11:50):
and national and nationally it's a matter of people have
been hungry for somebody to stand up and just tell
the truth. And too many people are afraid to stand
up and tell the truth. Know we we see it
all the time. We see folks that you know you
you know what's right. You don't people know exactly what's right.
Then you have a room full of people sitting there
in in a in a collect why it would be
(12:11):
a school board, whether it be a city council, whether
it be Congress, and everybody in the room will know
what the right thing to do is, and nobody will
stand up and do the right thing. That's what we
need in this country. We need people that are unafraid
to stand up and just tell the truth. And sometimes, yeah,
the truth hurts and the truth sounds ugly, but sometimes
just needs to be told. And that's what people want
(12:32):
to hear. They want to hear somebody tell the truth. Now,
I've told people several times, you know that my my
goal is not to get elected in any office. That's
not the ultenate goal. Ulten and goals to leave people
with the truth and let people here here the truth.
And if they don't want to, they want to reject
the truth hunts, and so be it, so be it
reject the truth. But that's that's that's gonna that's gonna
(12:53):
be what I'm gonna tell people all the time, and
that it turns out that that's what the majority of
people out there they want to hear, soolutely it is. Now,
you're lieutenant governor. Now in North Carolina, the governor is
a Democrat. You're well respected. Now tell me what what
what why did you choose to run for Lieutenant governor. Well, uh,
we looked at running a lot of officers, a lot
(13:15):
of different officers, and when we looked at this office
in particular, we thought it was you know, it suited
our skill set just right. What the job entails uh
uh you know a lot of what this job entails
is having what they call a bully pull pit to
be able to push, uh, push back against things and
push for things that you uh, that you stand for.
And we said, hey, you know, we're pretty good at that.
(13:38):
I think we'll we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll try to step
into this role. And so far we've done well at it.
Uh and we uh, we're gonna continue to try to
do well at because you know, the states it's doing
well right now, doing very good. But I believe this
state can do a whole lot better in the future.
But I think what it's gonna take to do a
whole lot better in the future is to continue with
(13:59):
the conservative prince will that have gotten us to this point.
And uh so we decided to get in there and
help these conservatives here in North Carolina. They helped fight
to make this state even better. Yeah. Absolutely, Now I
tell you people don't just love you, they're genuinely excited
about your political future. So with that being said, what
is your future in the GOP? Do you have any
(14:20):
aspirations beyond lieutenant governor at this point? Well, we're sitting
down with our folks and we're talking about what we
think the next step is the best step, next best
step will be. We have to determined that yet, But
as soon as we do, we're gonna let the people
know and we're gonna try to rally wherever it is
we need a rally to get to that point. Uh.
(14:41):
But we like said, we have not made that decision
firmly yet, but we will here pretty soon. Okay, so
not firmly. But I have to ask, and I'm sure
a lot of people are asking you this question, what
about if not the top job that being president, would
consider being someone's running mate if they asked you, maybe
round the sentence if he was to choose to run, Well,
(15:01):
you know, right now, nothing is off the table. What
I want to do is I want to go to
a place where we can be the most effective for
the causes that we believe in. And if that should
happen to be, no matter what that that where that
place might be. We're all for something of that, of
that nature. We would evaluate it and we would feel
like that, Uh, it was good with me and good
(15:22):
with my family and good with God. We go that direction.
But what we want to do is find out a
place where we're gonna be absolute most effective. Absolutely, And
I can appreciate that. And I'm glad that you're thinking
about that because there's a lot of folks. I'm sure
we put a lot of a lot of time and
energy behind your candidacy, with with whatever role you may choose,
I want to switch gears and move the President Biden.
(15:45):
You said last month that President biden Is administration are
turning America into a socialist hell whole, and you urge
fellow Republicans to run to the trouble. What did you
mean by that? Uh, don't arn away from it. Don't
run away from it, run to it. There's trouble. There's
you know, we have we have uh, we have enemy.
(16:08):
We have enemy inside our camp. We have a we
have an enemy that's no longer outside the gate. They
are inside the wire. They are actively working against this nation.
I believe to bring this nation down, to bring what
Barack Obama calls UH fundamental change to our to our
system of government, and to our way of life. We
have to actively go to those people and confront those
(16:30):
people and confront that problem. We have to work to
make sure we get those people out of office, and
we have to work to make sure we get people
in offices that are gonna have this country's best interests
at our i e. Making sure that capitalism, our constitution,
and all the good things that come from and continue
to stand in this nation. So we need to confront
it headlong. We do not need to be afraid this
(16:51):
whole thing is shrinking away and hoping that somebody else
to do it. That time is over. We gotta step
up it. We gotta take this calls on them. We
gotta be the want to do them. Mark, I absolutely
agree with you. Let's dig into that further after a break.
What are your thoughts of the current Republican Party, Because
I'll tell you, you know, Democrats, Uh, in spite of
(17:15):
their failings and all this other stuff in the policy.
We can talk about the cultural wars, we can talk
about any number of things. They seem to be kind
of tough in a way that they all lie cheat steal,
it doesn't matter, and they'll look you in their face
and say, oh, no, Republicans want to defund the police,
not us. Like it's like, no, Republicans were the party
of slavery, not us. No, like they would say all
(17:37):
these different things, which they just said something three months
ago or maybe even the day before. They don't have
a problem doing any of those things. And we got
some Republicans. I think back to the Hunter Biden situation.
Hunter Biden using an inn word. We see what happened
with um the congressman when he said something about white
supremacy to the New York Times, when the white supremacy
(17:58):
become a bad thing, nationalism or something like that he said. Anyway,
they stripped him of his comedian assignments, essentially put him
out the party. Hunter Biden. You know, no no comments
from the White House, no comments from any Democratic leader.
You see Sheldon white House, the senator, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
belonging to a quote, as it was reported, all white
(18:20):
social club, but white only. That's what it was called,
a white only social club. And they won't say anything
about it. But you know, Republicans, we gotta be do
the right thing. Put folks out the party, and you know,
they can do and say whatever they want. What is
the party need to do? And that's right, the right
thing to do. Let me comment on that. But what
is it that the Republican Party needs to do in
(18:41):
this day and time when you've got so many lives
coming from the left and also the liberal media who
perpetrate those same lives. They have to be bold and
telling the truth, just like President Trump was President Trump
over Frank Stamp to tell the truth. That's why people love.
There are too many folks who, uh say, well, you know,
we shouldn't say that because that will have the wrong
(19:01):
kind of tone. Look, how do you call somebody a liar?
If they're somebody is a proven liar. The only way
to call that person a liar effectively is to say, hey,
you're a liar. You know, if somebody is a proven
bigger and has proven it time and time again that
they would have said bigger at things, and if push
bigger at policy, how do you call that person the biggert?
(19:24):
You say, hey, this person is a biggert who pushed
bigger at policies. It's time for for for conservatives to
stop being timid with the truth. I say it like this,
we gotta be as bold with the truth as they
are with their lives, and often times we are not.
We've kept to around things, and we don't want to attack.
We don't want to punch, and be quite frankly, we
(19:46):
don't want to kick. Sometimes we need to do all
all of that and more because there are people out
there right now are doing things that are absolutely egregious.
These people out of here to the pushing CRT and
pushing these on the police. And I've already openly claimed
to be so, and already openly proudly for claim to
be socialists and tell us that they want to change
(20:08):
the minds of our children, and tell us they want
to bring the country down. We need to fight those
folks with everything that we have, and those people that
are not doing it should be ashamed themselves. I can
agree with that. I appreciate that sentiment, and and thank
you for mentioning CRT also known as critical race theory
for those who may not know, I want to ask
you another question about a statement you made last month.
(20:29):
You said the following, the government cannot give the American dream,
but the government will give you as false hope, and
that will give you a nightmare. The American dream only
comes through hard work, stead fastness, and standing up and
controlling your own destiny, not allowing the government to do that,
but doing it yourself. I agree with that message wholeheartedly.
(20:50):
What can be done to push more Black Americans to
fully embrace this message and stop voting for the big
government Democrats and start voting for conservatives. Of things we
can do is, you know, we could might remind folks
of their of their history. You know, it's funny when
things in this nation were at their worst for black people.
(21:11):
Black people were at their best when we were in
our own neighborhoods. Uh, and we were confining those neighborhoods
by segregation. When we were on our own schools and
we were confined to those schools by segregation. Uh. We
had uh homes with two two parents. We had uh doctors, lawyers. Uh.
(21:33):
We had we were building schools, we were building we
built churches, we built whole communities. Uh. Those trends started
to change once we turned our power over to the
federal government and start believing that the federal government was
in control of our destiny, our fortunes started to change
the single parenthood start going through the roof. UH, Crime
(21:56):
in our neighborhoods start going through the roof, Our education
numbers start dropping dramatically. UH. In order to get those
things back, we've got to understand that we are not
to rely on the federal government. We are to rely
on each other, on our families, on our communities. Sure,
the federal government has a role to play because they
set they set the rules, they make the rules, so
(22:18):
to speak, and they're supposed to be the guardians of
our constitution to keep our freedoms. But the real question
is not what the federal government will do for you,
is what will you do with the rights that you have.
That's the real question, and that's what we've got to
get back to, not even what you can do for
your country, really because we want to do it for
our country. But I believe that the best thing that
(22:40):
you can do for this country, the best thing you
can do for this country, the best thing you can
do for your state, your your your your city, and
your neighborhood and your family, is by understanding that you
have to do what's right with your You have to
do what's right with your rights, and if you do that, Uh,
I think that we get folks to to really believe
(23:02):
in that, do that. I think that's how we get
back to that good place we were wanting. Now, before
I let you go and thank you for that, for
sharing that with me or with us, rather before I
let you go, I know you're you're a man of faith.
You've been vocal about it. I want to ask you
just two questions. Here's a two part question. I want
to know what role does your faith playing your life
(23:24):
and in your politics? And does it concern you that
it seems to be that our country is becoming increasingly
secular and outright hostile to faith. Well, you know, you know, wisdom,
Wisdom comes from from from faith. Wisdom comes from God.
Where where there's no God, there's no real wisdom. That's
(23:45):
bottom line. Where there is no God, there's no wisdom.
Because the very first step in in in in wisdom
is having a fear of God. That's the very first
that's the very first step in with So where there
is no there's old faith in God, there's no wisdom.
And I'm convinced to that you can see it in
the chaos. Has been bread in our school system that
has pushed God out of the public square, which leads
(24:08):
me to the second part that the more we continue
to push God, in the principles of God, out of
the public square, out of politics, out of education, out
of mass media, out of out of all of our businesses,
we're just gonna see more and more chaos. Never in
my lifetime, but I would have thought that human beings
would be confused about whether or not somebody's a man
or woman. But here we are, and while we're there,
(24:30):
we're there because people simply refuse to acknowledge God's creation,
simple creations. There are men and there are women, and
people refuse to acknowledge that. And because of that, we're
now living in the age of chaos right again. Well,
you know what I want to tell you. I thank
you for for giving us some time today to to
(24:51):
learn more about you. And I know for those who
don't uh and this is their first opportunity to learn
about you, I'm sure they're gonna want to learn more
word about you. Can you tell us if you've got
anything playing in North Carolina that folks at homes you
know about? And where should people stay updated? Is it Facebook?
Or how can they they be in touch in that
(25:13):
way to follow what you're doing. People that keep up
with us on Facebook at Mark Robinson uh, and they
can keep up for us at on Facebook at Mark
Keith Robinson. That's my personal page. They can also keep
up with us on Twitter at Mark Robinson n C.
And uh, we're also on Uh, we're on Instagram as well,
(25:34):
but I'm not sure the addressed because I very rarely
go on Instagram, but we do have a page there.
When I said, we have a pretty strong following there.
So you keep up with us on all those social
media platforms and uh uh. Like I said, we just
are happy to have the support of people out there
and continue to want to do things to keep that
sport a man. And I certainly follow you on Facebook,
(25:55):
and I appreciate all that you're doing for the for
the party in the country, in your state, of course,
and certainly you have definitely piqued the attention of many
folks outside of North Carolina, and we're going to continue
to follow you and support what you're doing. So thank you,
Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson for joining me on out Loud
(26:15):
with Gianno called. Well, all right, thank you for having me.
We'll appreciate. I want to thank Mark Robinson again for
a great interview. If you're enjoying the show, please leave
us a review and rate us with five stars on
Apple Podcasts. If you have any questions for me, please
email me at out loud at engistreet sixty dot com
(26:36):
and I'll try to answer them in our future episodes.
And please sign it for my monthly newsletter at Ginglis
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And if you're interested in learning more about my story,
please pick up a copy of my best selling book
title Taken for Granted, How Conservatism Can Win Back to
(26:56):
the Americans their Liberalism Failed. Special thanks to our producer
Drew Steele, researcher Aaron Klingman, and executive producers Debbie Myers
and speaker New Gingridge, all part of the Gingish Free
sixty Network
Up next. How woud you know called part of the
If brutal honesty makes you uncomfortable, then this podcast isn't
for you, because today you're going to hear some straight
talk from someone who isn't afraid to tell it like
it is. Passionate, blunt, conservative, patriotic. The outspoken Lieutenant Governor
of North Carolina, Mark Robinson is in the House, a
(00:22):
rising superstar in the Republican Party who has taken a
GOP by storm. This is outllowed with Gianno called well,
Lieutenant Governor, is really a pleasure to have you. I've
learned about you recently and I follow your Facebook page
and I've been seeing the videos, and I get really
(00:43):
excited and fired up when I hear you speak. So
thank you for all you're doing, not just for the
party but the country. Well, thank you for having me here.
We appreciate all those all those kind words. We certainly do.
Thank you absolutely. Before we get into politics and the
issues of the day, I want to talk to you
about your upbringing. I know you face adversity with an
abusive father and you found yourself in foster care. Tell
(01:06):
us what life was like growing up, Where were you raised,
how did you overcome a rough childhood? Well? Uh, born
and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. Uh, my childhood when
I looked back on my childhood, I had a happy childhood.
But it was right with all those things. My father
was never abusive towards me or my siblings, but he
(01:27):
was very abusive towards my mother. Uh. They had a
very contentious, very violent relationship. He was an alcoholic. Uh.
And he died when I was around twelve. When well,
when I was twelve, I was in the fifth grade
when he died my mom. That left my mom with
five children in total. All of us were in school
(01:47):
range from twelfth grade the first grade. UM, and so uh.
You know, she had a choice. She could either go
to work or or or go to the go towards welfare.
She chose to work. She was a custodian. She did
that for a number, for gosh, for almost thirty years.
She was a coustodian. And that's how she took care
of us. And I saw her have her priorities in
(02:08):
order and do things on that custodian salary that the
people would say was impossible, but she did it. And
that taught me a great deal about what it takes
to make it in life. What it takes to make
it in life, It's for you to go out and
earn your living and four your destiny. And that's what
my mom did, and that's the example from shows. She
also had a very strong faith in God, which I
(02:29):
you know, I sustained her as well, so uh the
primary source for strength as a matter of fact. So
uh that was that was what my offbering was like
like and that's what I learned. And this is uh
as like I said, it's what helped leave me to
where I am right now. Wow. And the faith in God,
I think is the critical point. And I've seen you
talk about that and viral clip after viral clip about
(02:51):
how how how you believe and why you believe and
why you believe this is the best country in an
entire world and how God Jesus Is really had his
hands on America. Can you expound on that please? Well,
you know people people don't like to admit it. You
know a lot of people that don't like to admit
the fact that the reason why uh, this country is
(03:12):
has been blessed because people pray for God to bless
this nation. We say it in our songs, you know,
we say it in our in our founding documents. We
we say that every everywhere, everywhere you turn around. We
always give God credit for for what he's done and
what he can do and what he will do. And
I think because of that, he hears it and he blessed.
And of course we're not perfect people. We're not perfect people.
(03:33):
We're not a perfect nation. We never have been, and
we don't claim to be. But we ultimately we know
who we is we have to answer to, and we
know who it is that oh that we owe the
credit to, and that's who, that's who we give that
credit to. And as far as it's being the greatest
nation on earth, you know, I don't see Mary. I've
read this this this morning on social media, and it's true.
America is so great that even the people that hate it,
(03:55):
hate America, won't leave. That's how great America is. The
people who claim to hate it leads. Uh, this is
this is still the greatest snakes on our still a
place where you can make dreams come true. And uh,
that's I mean, that's just the way it is. The
proof is, like they say, the proof is in the
Putt indeed it is. And like I mentioned before, viral
(04:16):
video after viral video, you really arrived on the national
scene for a lot of people in two thousand and eighteen, UM,
and it was because of a viral video of you
defending gun rights in the second Amendment of the meeting
at the Greensboro City Council And that got you noticed.
And from what I understand from watching the interview with
(04:37):
you and Governor Mike Huckleby, UM, it got over two
hundred million views, he said, I mean from there, I
mean you talked about what people told you you could
do in terms of creating a brand for yourself and
making a lot of money because you're this you know,
this fresh star before millions of people, but you chose
(04:59):
to serve instead. And what got you into politics. I've
been politically aware, what I call politically aware for many
many years. That started way back and uh the mid nineties,
I guess. Uh. I had a friend who uh challenged
me to think better and uh, you know, to do
my own research. And I did that and once I did,
(05:20):
I found out that I was a conservative and I
always had been a conservative. And then I started looking
at the two parties, the Republican Party Democratic Party, and
learning about the differences between the platforms and the differences
between the histories of the two parties, and of course
I logically fell on the on the right hand side
of the Republican Party. And uh so i'd like to
tell folks, you know, uh uh, being involved in politics
(05:44):
is not it's not really well, you have you have
an option, but here are the options. You can make
the determination of how you're governing and who governed you
or somebody else can make that determination. And somebody else
is making that determination, it's probably not going to turn
out good for you. The founders made this country so
that the people could decide who who it is that
(06:05):
would govern them. And when we don't take that responsibility
series we end up with people who don't have our
best interests at hard. We need to make sure that
we we take it serious and politics needs to be
something we all need to be involved. And that's like
I said that about involved, absolutely, And I love your
story reminds me of my own, which I talked about
my book Taking for Granted. I love to send you
(06:26):
a copy of that. But yeah, just learning the distinctions
between the parties and realizing that oftentimes, especially as black conservatives.
I'm not sure what you're experiencing upbringing was, but mine
on the South Side of Chicago. I realized quickly after
our research the two party systems in the history that
we largely have been lied to about the Republican Party
and the history Democrats have did such a brilliant marketing
(06:48):
job to make people think that the Republican Party was
just a racist party. They created slavery, Jim Crown, all
these other things, and to find out none of that
was true was actually the Democratic Party was pretty astounding
to me and made me really, uh question the people
that were around me. Did you have the same experience, Yeah, well, uh, honestly, yeah.
I mean, you know, when you really look at the
(07:10):
stories and you just you're just blown away by how
much misinformation there is out there. You know, Uh, just
one small thing you could take out of that you
take a look at, uh, or something like the epithet
that's thrown Uncle Tom. People throw that as an epithet
and then and and many of the people that use
(07:30):
that word don't have a clue is that where it
came from. They don't understand anything about who the character
Uncle Tom was in the book and what he did,
and they don't they don't understand it all the Uncle
Tom with somebody who sacrificed his life because he refused
to turn away, to turn turn over to runaway girls
would run away from the horrible master Simon legree. They
(07:53):
don't have a clue that in that book that he
was beaten to death by two other black slaves who
would do anything to it, including beating a good man
to death at the behalf of Simon mcgree. The evil
matter when you read that book and you understand that book,
it's one of the books that opened my eyes up
more than anything about what you just said about how
(08:13):
the Democratic Party and the leftists have turned this entire
thing around. You can see a micro calls him of
all their lives and coming to understand what that book
and that name represents. And that's just one example of
the way that that folks have been lied to and
this whole thing has been turned upside down. Only say
it and and of course we're talking about from a
historic perspective, but those lives continue today. And I want
(08:36):
to play this audio for you that a majority with
James Clapporn was just on MSNBC, and he was talking
about the funded police movement, which we know a lot
of progressives folks just generally on the left said was
the best way in terms of creating uh more fairness
and equality when it comes to policing in America, and um,
(08:58):
what they believe is that the best route forward. If
you would just take a listen, I want to get
your response. On the other side, defunded police is a
non start, even the black people. And if you don't
think that's true, then look at the results of what
just happened in York sitting this election. So the proof
is in the pudding. I know what I'm talking about.
I talked to people every day and defund the police.
(09:22):
Is it cool around the Democratic Party? What do you
What do you think about that? From the majority with Clyburn,
it just goes to show you how ludicrous the statement
is defunded police. You know, even if this guy, a
progressive Democrat, is saying it's hard for you know, it's again.
You know, I've told some ideas, uh everything that the
(09:44):
left has it counted. They've cut counted climate change. All
the predictions they've made about climate change have not come true.
They they are now their their accounting critical race theory.
We know those things are not true. There now they
now counted defunding the police. We see the horrible effects
of that. Everything that they tell it's almost like a
collection of I told you so. We conservatives were screaming
(10:09):
from the raptors. If we contained this anti police rhetoric,
we're gonna see crime go through the route. It's gonna
go through the roof. And what has happened. Crime has
gone through the roof. So you know, Uh, it's it's no.
It's actually shocking to hear him say that. Uh, admit
that in public, but he's absolutely right. It's just it
(10:30):
is one of the dumbest things, uh, one of the
top five dumbest things I think there's ever been proposed, uh,
in in my lifetime and possibly in the history of
this nation. We're talking to Mark Robinson and Lieutenant Governor
of North Carolina and rising superstar within the GOK. We've
got much more with him right after a quick break.
(11:03):
You know what's interesting to me, and I gotta tell you,
I'm gonna be just straight up honest with you. There's
you know, obviously a lot of figures and figures in
are in the Republican Party, but you, in my opinion,
you and Rhon de Santa's are the most exciting two
people in the Republican Party, and I think have the
most rolls, robust opportunity for the party. I listened to
(11:26):
speeches of yours and it sounds like a Baptist preacher.
And I'm gonna tell you, I think that the words
in which you use, in the way in which you
disseminate your message is one in which would resonate with
all coalitions, all constituencies, black folks, white folks, expanding folks, whatever.
You're just a truth teller. Why do you think your
stars is rised so quickly in the in the GOP
(11:50):
and national and nationally it's a matter of people have
been hungry for somebody to stand up and just tell
the truth. And too many people are afraid to stand
up and tell the truth. Know we we see it
all the time. We see folks that you know you
you know what's right. You don't people know exactly what's right.
Then you have a room full of people sitting there
in in a in a collect why it would be
(12:11):
a school board, whether it be a city council, whether
it be Congress, and everybody in the room will know
what the right thing to do is, and nobody will
stand up and do the right thing. That's what we
need in this country. We need people that are unafraid
to stand up and just tell the truth. And sometimes, yeah,
the truth hurts and the truth sounds ugly, but sometimes
just needs to be told. And that's what people want
(12:32):
to hear. They want to hear somebody tell the truth. Now,
I've told people several times, you know that my my
goal is not to get elected in any office. That's
not the ultenate goal. Ulten and goals to leave people
with the truth and let people here here the truth.
And if they don't want to, they want to reject
the truth hunts, and so be it, so be it
reject the truth. But that's that's that's gonna that's gonna
(12:53):
be what I'm gonna tell people all the time, and
that it turns out that that's what the majority of
people out there they want to hear, soolutely it is. Now,
you're lieutenant governor. Now in North Carolina, the governor is
a Democrat. You're well respected. Now tell me what what
what why did you choose to run for Lieutenant governor. Well, uh,
we looked at running a lot of officers, a lot
(13:15):
of different officers, and when we looked at this office
in particular, we thought it was you know, it suited
our skill set just right. What the job entails uh
uh you know a lot of what this job entails
is having what they call a bully pull pit to
be able to push, uh, push back against things and
push for things that you uh, that you stand for.
And we said, hey, you know, we're pretty good at that.
(13:38):
I think we'll we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll try to step
into this role. And so far we've done well at it.
Uh and we uh, we're gonna continue to try to
do well at because you know, the states it's doing
well right now, doing very good. But I believe this
state can do a whole lot better in the future.
But I think what it's gonna take to do a
whole lot better in the future is to continue with
(13:59):
the conservative prince will that have gotten us to this point.
And uh so we decided to get in there and
help these conservatives here in North Carolina. They helped fight
to make this state even better. Yeah. Absolutely, Now I
tell you people don't just love you, they're genuinely excited
about your political future. So with that being said, what
is your future in the GOP? Do you have any
(14:20):
aspirations beyond lieutenant governor at this point? Well, we're sitting
down with our folks and we're talking about what we
think the next step is the best step, next best
step will be. We have to determined that yet, But
as soon as we do, we're gonna let the people
know and we're gonna try to rally wherever it is
we need a rally to get to that point. Uh.
(14:41):
But we like said, we have not made that decision
firmly yet, but we will here pretty soon. Okay, so
not firmly. But I have to ask, and I'm sure
a lot of people are asking you this question, what
about if not the top job that being president, would
consider being someone's running mate if they asked you, maybe
round the sentence if he was to choose to run, Well,
(15:01):
you know, right now, nothing is off the table. What
I want to do is I want to go to
a place where we can be the most effective for
the causes that we believe in. And if that should
happen to be, no matter what that that where that
place might be. We're all for something of that, of
that nature. We would evaluate it and we would feel
like that, Uh, it was good with me and good
(15:22):
with my family and good with God. We go that direction.
But what we want to do is find out a
place where we're gonna be absolute most effective. Absolutely, And
I can appreciate that. And I'm glad that you're thinking
about that because there's a lot of folks. I'm sure
we put a lot of a lot of time and
energy behind your candidacy, with with whatever role you may choose,
I want to switch gears and move the President Biden.
(15:45):
You said last month that President biden Is administration are
turning America into a socialist hell whole, and you urge
fellow Republicans to run to the trouble. What did you
mean by that? Uh, don't arn away from it. Don't
run away from it, run to it. There's trouble. There's
you know, we have we have uh, we have enemy.
(16:08):
We have enemy inside our camp. We have a we
have an enemy that's no longer outside the gate. They
are inside the wire. They are actively working against this nation.
I believe to bring this nation down, to bring what
Barack Obama calls UH fundamental change to our to our
system of government, and to our way of life. We
have to actively go to those people and confront those
(16:30):
people and confront that problem. We have to work to
make sure we get those people out of office, and
we have to work to make sure we get people
in offices that are gonna have this country's best interests
at our i e. Making sure that capitalism, our constitution,
and all the good things that come from and continue
to stand in this nation. So we need to confront
it headlong. We do not need to be afraid this
(16:51):
whole thing is shrinking away and hoping that somebody else
to do it. That time is over. We gotta step
up it. We gotta take this calls on them. We
gotta be the want to do them. Mark, I absolutely
agree with you. Let's dig into that further after a break.
What are your thoughts of the current Republican Party, Because
I'll tell you, you know, Democrats, Uh, in spite of
(17:15):
their failings and all this other stuff in the policy.
We can talk about the cultural wars, we can talk
about any number of things. They seem to be kind
of tough in a way that they all lie cheat steal,
it doesn't matter, and they'll look you in their face
and say, oh, no, Republicans want to defund the police,
not us. Like it's like, no, Republicans were the party
of slavery, not us. No, like they would say all
(17:37):
these different things, which they just said something three months
ago or maybe even the day before. They don't have
a problem doing any of those things. And we got
some Republicans. I think back to the Hunter Biden situation.
Hunter Biden using an inn word. We see what happened
with um the congressman when he said something about white
supremacy to the New York Times, when the white supremacy
(17:58):
become a bad thing, nationalism or something like that he said. Anyway,
they stripped him of his comedian assignments, essentially put him
out the party. Hunter Biden. You know, no no comments
from the White House, no comments from any Democratic leader.
You see Sheldon white House, the senator, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
belonging to a quote, as it was reported, all white
(18:20):
social club, but white only. That's what it was called,
a white only social club. And they won't say anything
about it. But you know, Republicans, we gotta be do
the right thing. Put folks out the party, and you know,
they can do and say whatever they want. What is
the party need to do? And that's right, the right
thing to do. Let me comment on that. But what
is it that the Republican Party needs to do in
(18:41):
this day and time when you've got so many lives
coming from the left and also the liberal media who
perpetrate those same lives. They have to be bold and
telling the truth, just like President Trump was President Trump
over Frank Stamp to tell the truth. That's why people love.
There are too many folks who, uh say, well, you know,
we shouldn't say that because that will have the wrong
(19:01):
kind of tone. Look, how do you call somebody a liar?
If they're somebody is a proven liar. The only way
to call that person a liar effectively is to say, hey,
you're a liar. You know, if somebody is a proven
bigger and has proven it time and time again that
they would have said bigger at things, and if push
bigger at policy, how do you call that person the biggert?
(19:24):
You say, hey, this person is a biggert who pushed
bigger at policies. It's time for for for conservatives to
stop being timid with the truth. I say it like this,
we gotta be as bold with the truth as they
are with their lives, and often times we are not.
We've kept to around things, and we don't want to attack.
We don't want to punch, and be quite frankly, we
(19:46):
don't want to kick. Sometimes we need to do all
all of that and more because there are people out
there right now are doing things that are absolutely egregious.
These people out of here to the pushing CRT and
pushing these on the police. And I've already openly claimed
to be so, and already openly proudly for claim to
be socialists and tell us that they want to change
(20:08):
the minds of our children, and tell us they want
to bring the country down. We need to fight those
folks with everything that we have, and those people that
are not doing it should be ashamed themselves. I can
agree with that. I appreciate that sentiment, and and thank
you for mentioning CRT also known as critical race theory
for those who may not know, I want to ask
you another question about a statement you made last month.
(20:29):
You said the following, the government cannot give the American dream,
but the government will give you as false hope, and
that will give you a nightmare. The American dream only
comes through hard work, stead fastness, and standing up and
controlling your own destiny, not allowing the government to do that,
but doing it yourself. I agree with that message wholeheartedly.
(20:50):
What can be done to push more Black Americans to
fully embrace this message and stop voting for the big
government Democrats and start voting for conservatives. Of things we
can do is, you know, we could might remind folks
of their of their history. You know, it's funny when
things in this nation were at their worst for black people.
(21:11):
Black people were at their best when we were in
our own neighborhoods. Uh, and we were confining those neighborhoods
by segregation. When we were on our own schools and
we were confined to those schools by segregation. Uh. We
had uh homes with two two parents. We had uh doctors, lawyers. Uh.
(21:33):
We had we were building schools, we were building we
built churches, we built whole communities. Uh. Those trends started
to change once we turned our power over to the
federal government and start believing that the federal government was
in control of our destiny, our fortunes started to change
the single parenthood start going through the roof. UH, Crime
(21:56):
in our neighborhoods start going through the roof, Our education
numbers start dropping dramatically. UH. In order to get those
things back, we've got to understand that we are not
to rely on the federal government. We are to rely
on each other, on our families, on our communities. Sure,
the federal government has a role to play because they
set they set the rules, they make the rules, so
(22:18):
to speak, and they're supposed to be the guardians of
our constitution to keep our freedoms. But the real question
is not what the federal government will do for you,
is what will you do with the rights that you have.
That's the real question, and that's what we've got to
get back to, not even what you can do for
your country, really because we want to do it for
our country. But I believe that the best thing that
(22:40):
you can do for this country, the best thing you
can do for this country, the best thing you can
do for your state, your your your your city, and
your neighborhood and your family, is by understanding that you
have to do what's right with your You have to
do what's right with your rights, and if you do that, Uh,
I think that we get folks to to really believe
(23:02):
in that, do that. I think that's how we get
back to that good place we were wanting. Now, before
I let you go and thank you for that, for
sharing that with me or with us, rather before I
let you go, I know you're you're a man of faith.
You've been vocal about it. I want to ask you
just two questions. Here's a two part question. I want
to know what role does your faith playing your life
(23:24):
and in your politics? And does it concern you that
it seems to be that our country is becoming increasingly
secular and outright hostile to faith. Well, you know, you know, wisdom,
Wisdom comes from from from faith. Wisdom comes from God.
Where where there's no God, there's no real wisdom. That's
(23:45):
bottom line. Where there is no God, there's no wisdom.
Because the very first step in in in in wisdom
is having a fear of God. That's the very first
that's the very first step in with So where there
is no there's old faith in God, there's no wisdom.
And I'm convinced to that you can see it in
the chaos. Has been bread in our school system that
has pushed God out of the public square, which leads
(24:08):
me to the second part that the more we continue
to push God, in the principles of God, out of
the public square, out of politics, out of education, out
of mass media, out of out of all of our businesses,
we're just gonna see more and more chaos. Never in
my lifetime, but I would have thought that human beings
would be confused about whether or not somebody's a man
or woman. But here we are, and while we're there,
(24:30):
we're there because people simply refuse to acknowledge God's creation,
simple creations. There are men and there are women, and
people refuse to acknowledge that. And because of that, we're
now living in the age of chaos right again. Well,
you know what I want to tell you. I thank
you for for giving us some time today to to
(24:51):
learn more about you. And I know for those who
don't uh and this is their first opportunity to learn
about you, I'm sure they're gonna want to learn more
word about you. Can you tell us if you've got
anything playing in North Carolina that folks at homes you
know about? And where should people stay updated? Is it Facebook?
Or how can they they be in touch in that
(25:13):
way to follow what you're doing. People that keep up
with us on Facebook at Mark Robinson uh, and they
can keep up for us at on Facebook at Mark
Keith Robinson. That's my personal page. They can also keep
up with us on Twitter at Mark Robinson n C.
And uh, we're also on Uh, we're on Instagram as well,
(25:34):
but I'm not sure the addressed because I very rarely
go on Instagram, but we do have a page there.
When I said, we have a pretty strong following there.
So you keep up with us on all those social
media platforms and uh uh. Like I said, we just
are happy to have the support of people out there
and continue to want to do things to keep that
sport a man. And I certainly follow you on Facebook,
(25:55):
and I appreciate all that you're doing for the for
the party in the country, in your state, of course,
and certainly you have definitely piqued the attention of many
folks outside of North Carolina, and we're going to continue
to follow you and support what you're doing. So thank you,
Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson for joining me on out Loud
(26:15):
with Gianno called. Well, all right, thank you for having me.
We'll appreciate. I want to thank Mark Robinson again for
a great interview. If you're enjoying the show, please leave
us a review and rate us with five stars on
Apple Podcasts. If you have any questions for me, please
email me at out loud at engistreet sixty dot com
(26:36):
and I'll try to answer them in our future episodes.
And please sign it for my monthly newsletter at Ginglis
Street sixty dot com slash out loud. You can also
follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and parlor at Giano Caldwell.
And if you're interested in learning more about my story,
please pick up a copy of my best selling book
title Taken for Granted, How Conservatism Can Win Back to
(26:56):
the Americans their Liberalism Failed. Special thanks to our producer
Drew Steele, researcher Aaron Klingman, and executive producers Debbie Myers
and speaker New Gingridge, all part of the Gingish Free
sixty Network
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