Donald Trump avoids the topic of Mark Robinson at a rally in North Carolina

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump had a special message for North Carolina voters on Saturday about controversial gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson.

Never heard of the guy.

Trump made no mention of Robinson, his party's candidate for governor of a key state, before or during a rally at the airport in Wilmington, North Carolina, two days after a high-profile story about Robinson's online habits threatened Trump's chances in a key battleground state.

“This is a very important state,” Trump told his North Carolina supporters at the rally, which Robinson did not attend. “If we win this state, I think it will be over quickly.”

CNN reported Thursday that Robinson, who is currently the state's lieutenant governor, “made a series of inflammatory comments on a porn website's message board more than a decade ago in which he called himself a 'black NAZI!' and expressed support for the reinstatement of slavery.”

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Robinson denies being the author of the articles cited by CNN.

Since the news broke, supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris have been working overtime to link Trump to Robinson in the hope of flipping a state that swung — narrowly — from Trump in the previous two presidential elections.

At the rally in Wilmington, the Harris team sent out a memo on the status of the campaign, which stated: “The fates of Donald Trump and Mark Robinson in North Carolina are closely intertwined.” It pointed out that both candidates oppose abortion rights, seek to repeal the current health care law and want to downgrade the Department of Education.

The memo also listed all the nice things Trump has said about Robinson over the years, from a comment in March that the North Carolina candidate was “Martin Luther King on steroids” to a claim in December that Robinson “will go down in history as one of the great leaders of our country.”

Democrats also highlighted an earlier remark by Robinson that “slavery is not bad. Some people have to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few.”

Trump has not commented on Robinson since the story broke, including whether or not he should drop out of the race for governor in North Carolina.

During the rally in Wilmington, Trump introduced a number of North Carolina Republicans, but Robinson was not present.

Trump also devoted himself to his new campaign theme: an appeal to female voters.

Harris is well ahead in polls among women, but Trump argues that they are worse off economically and less safe than when he was president. Trump argued that women would be better off if states decided on abortion policy, even though some want to ban the procedure.

“I'm going to fix this, women,” Trump once said. “I'm going to fix this.”

Shortly before the rally, Trump made a special announcement on his website, Truth Social: “We are announcing the launch of our official Trump coins! The ONLY OFFICIAL coin designed by me and proudly minted right here in the USA.”

Shortly after the CNN report aired on Thursday, the Trump team issued a statement thanking North Carolina voters – but Robinson's name was not mentioned.

“President Trump's campaign is focused on winning the White House and saving this country,” the statement said. “North Carolina is an essential part of that plan.”

Donald Trump avoids the topic of Mark Robinson at a rally in North Carolina

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