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Morning, gang.
The last week has been politically explosive—and the fuses lead to Greensboro.
Late last week a CNN story connected Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, now the GOP nominee for governor, to years of posts on a pornographic website forum. The comments, made on the site during Robinson’s pre-politics years in Greensboro from 2008 to 2012, include him praising both Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf and transgender pornography, bragging graphically about a sexual affair with his sister-in-law, and saying he would like to see the return of slavery.
Robinson denies the report’s details. However, an online name and email used to make offensive comments on the site match those Robinson has used for years. The account on the site and the messages it posted closely match Robinson’s biographical details and use distinct language he continues to employ.
Since that report, the same online alias and email address have been linked to accounts on Ashley Madison, a site for those seeking extra-marital affairs, and Adult Friend Finder.
The CNN piece follows—and cites—an earlier investigative story from The Assembly, in which a half-dozen witnesses said Robinson frequented Greensboro porn shops for years in the 1990s and early 2000s. The men in the story alleged Robinson regularly paid to watch adult films in video booths and bought bootleg pornography so graphic it wasn’t legal in North Carolina.
For Robinson—a candidate who has built his political identity around conservative Christian morality, condemnations of LGBTQ people, and criticism of others’ sexual behavior—the revelations have been devastating. Donna King, editor in chief of the conservative Carolina Journal, called Robinson’s mounting scandals “death by a thousand cuts.” Though Robinson has reportedly faced GOP pressure to drop out of the race for the good of the party’s other candidates, he vowed last week to stay in.
Over the weekend, most of Robinson’s key campaign staff quit en masse, including his campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, finance director, and a senior adviser.
The Robinson revelations quickly eclipsed another national political story from earlier in the week: an apparent second attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump.
The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, has a long rap sheet in Greensboro. But, as journalist Jeremy Markovich correctly points out, he also had decades of peaceful, even laudable, years in the city before his descent into violence and extremism.
A retired Greensboro police officer told the News & Record that he believes Routh, with whom he had many professional and off-the-clock run-ins, unraveled in the late ’90s due to drug addiction.
For this week’s The Thread, Ian McDowell found video of a seemingly even-keeled Routh speaking before the city council in 2010, inspired by his son to push for a city skate park. McDowell takes a look at what happened to Routh between then and the alleged assassination attempt.
—Joe Killian
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Mark Robinson Faces Scrutiny Over Alleged Porn Site Comments
The Republican gubernatorial nominee denied he made posts cited in CNN’s report. But the outlet showed clear links between the account and Robinson’s other online profiles.
The Greensboro History of A Would-Be Trump Assassin
When Ryan Routh was arrested last week for pointing a semi-automatic rifle into a Florida golf course as former President Donald Trump approached, many in Greensboro recognized him instantly. Routh spent decades in the city, going from a well-known Eagle Scout to having frequent, dangerous run-ins with local police.
But few predicted the Trump incident, which Routh allegedly told a friend was an assassination attempt.
“I didn’t remember him at first, but it turns out he spoke before the city council,” said Mayor Nancy Vaughan last week. “Most of the time we have no background on individuals who come to speak before the council. Occasionally we’ll be concerned about speakers as they come more often and reveal characteristics that give us pause. You could probably go back and find a number of speakers who went on to do things we aren’t terribly proud of now.”
Routh was a frequent speaker shortly after Vaughan returned to the council in 2009. At a 2010 meeting captured on video, then-Mayor Bill Knight and Councilman Zack Matheny praised Routh for his continued advocacy to build a city skate park, inspired by his son and his friends.
At that time, there were still people in the city who remembered a 1991 incident in which Routh, then 25, fought and chased a suspected rapist in his Fisher Park neighborhood. The episode led to a “Law Enforcement Oscar” from the local chapter of the International Union of Police Associations. But in the years since, Routh was frequently on the wrong side of Greensboro police.
In April 2002, Routh was charged with possession of a “weapon of mass death and destruction,” described as a “binary explosive with a 10-inch detonation cord and blasting cap.”
After a guilty plea, Judge Henry E. Frye Jr. sentenced Routh to four days in jail and 60 months supervised probation, contingent upon receiving a mental health assessment and complying with the mandated course of treatment.
Later that year, Routh fled a traffic stop and barricaded himself inside the office of his roofing business with a gun. After surrendering, he received probation and a suspended sentence.
In February 2010, just months before he would speak before the council about building a skate park, Routh was charged with possessing stolen goods. He received special probation and a suspended sentence.
Around 2018, he abandoned his dilapidated home and former business in Greensboro and moved to Oahu, where he volunteered with the nonprofit HomeAid Hawai’i.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Routh, then a 56-year-old with no military experience who did not speak any Slavic languages, traveled to Kyiv and unsuccessfully tried to join the Ukrainian Foreign Legion.
According to his self-published book, Routh spent eight months in Ukraine. In Chapter 19, “Why Not Nuclear War?,” Routh called for a first strike on Russia.
“When I look back at Hiroshima and Nagasaki or tragic events such as Chernobyl and Fukushima, it all may be horrible,” Routh wrote. “But we have been able to manage the cleanup and deal with the disaster. Why are we afraid to deal with that again?”
It’s difficult to understand how someone like Routh spiraled out of control, Vaughan said, but it’s something she’s seen too often these days.
“There is obviously a mental health crisis in our country,” Vaughan said. “Certainly we’re seeing examples of it play out in public more often. A few decades ago the federal government defunded mental health care and really left it on the states. Now the cities are feeling the brunt of it.”
—Ian McDowell
Read this newsletter online or contact The Thread team with tips and feedback at greensboro@theassemblync.com.
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What We’re Reading
New Details in City Manager Exit: The City of Greensboro paid $220,000 to settle an employee’s claims of “unwanted touching” by former city manager Taiwo Jaiyeoba, WFDD reported this week.
Around the State
The GOP Finger Pointing Has Begun
Amid new revelations, a growing number of Republicans are distancing themselves from Republican Mark Robinson’s campaign for governor.
Dominoes on the Court
Republicans have a 5-2 majority on the state Supreme Court, and Democrats are fighting to hold onto Allison Riggs’ seat this year.
The Labor Commissioner’s Daunting Task
As workplace fatalities rise, the two candidates for the top regulatory job have starkly different platforms.
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