(NewsNation) — North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is the Republican nominee for governor, said in a recent campaign speech at a local church that “some folks need killing” after referencing how the U.S. has dealt previously with evil.
Robinson, who has described himself as a MAGA Republican, delivered the speech in late June. However, video of the speech surfaced Friday in a report from The New Republic.
“There’s a time when we used to meet evil on the battlefield,” Robinson says in the speech, which was delivered at The Lake Church in North Carolina. “And guess what we did to it? We killed it. We didn’t quibble about it. We didn’t argue about it. We didn’t fight about it. We killed it.”
Robinson then referred to the U.S. response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He also referred to the U.S. response to Nazis in World War II in which evil “was killed.”
Robinson then referenced liberals who would insist his comments sounded insensitive, to which he replied, “Too bad.”
“Get mad at me if you want to. Some folks need killing. It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity,” he said.
He added: “We have wicked people doing wicked things — torturing and murdering and raping. It’s time to call out those guys in green and go have them handled. Or those boys in blue and have them go handle it. We need to start handling our business again.”
When contacted for comment on Friday, Robinson’s campaign spokesman, Michael Lonergan, told NewsNation that Robinson’s comments specifically were directed at the historical references of the Japanese and Nazis in World War II.
Lonergan did not address a question about the comments made about the country needing to start handling its business again. Instead, he repeated that Robinson “literally and specifically” referred to the Nazis and Japanese in the speech, which lasted roughly 30 minutes, according to the New Republic.
Rev. Cameron McGill, the pastor of The Lake Church, told The New Republic that both Robinson and the pastor expected the gubernatorial candidate’s comments to be scrutinized but that Robinson defended his words.
“Without a doubt, those he deemed worthy of death [were] those seeking to kill us,” Cameron said in an email to the publication, adding that Robinson “certainly did not imply the taking of any innocent lives” and that the rest of his speech was “non-controversial.”