Raw and risqué revelations surfaced last week about North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson’s life between 2008 and 2012.

Revealed was his sinewy past as an adult porn commentator on a seedy website that reportedly included a voyeuristic and voracious appetite for viewing sexual bondage and more claims not even CNN felt appropriate repeating. I cannot print the worst posts.

Robinson also reportedly described himself as “a Black Nazi” and said in 2012, “I’d take Hitler over any of the s— that’s in Washington right now!.” He further denied the Holocaust as “hogwash” and promoted virulent anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

He also criticized the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., calling the iconic civil rights leader a “commie bastard,” “worse than a maggot,” and “Martin Lucifer Koon.”

“Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring [slavery] back. I would certainly buy a few,” Robinson wrote.

I have a few things to say to Mr. Robinson. First, slavery was horrendous and sadistic. Second, neither Adolf Hitler nor the current Nazis of the 21st century would have any use for you, me, or any other non-White or Jewish person, outside of wanting to murder us. Finally, for you to refer to Dr. King as a “maggot” is despicable. You ought to be glad he wouldn’t even have looked in your direction.

For his part, Robinson denounced the story as a “high-tech lynching” (remember when Clarence Thomas made the same comments about the Anita Hill hearings?) and insisted that such posts do not reflect his voice. However, the truth is they sound identical to his previous rhetoric. In June this year, Robinson stated that, “Some folks need killing!” He previously dismissed the Holocaust and argued that the comic-book hero, Black Panther, was a ploy by Jews “to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets.” He foolishly called Michelle Obama a man and derided Beyoncé’s music as being satanic.

As The Carolina Journal reported, some North Carolina Republicans immediately privately contacted Robinson and aggressively urged him to withdraw from the gubernatorial race. This was certainly not due to the new revelations that occurred. Indeed, large swaths of the conservative movement are familiar with Robinson’s incendiary rhetoric. Rather, they see the polls plummeting even further southward. Robinson had already trailed his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Josh Stein, by double digits before this additional controversy surfaced.

Truth be told, Robinson’s reputation is so deplorable even the national Republican Party is frantically fretting he could be a significant liability for Donald Trump, as well as Republicans down the ballot, for whom the Tar Heel state is important. The September 20 deadline for candidate name withdrawal has passed.

To be sure, Robinson’s sex life is his own personal business, and I doubt too many people really care about it. His dilemma is that he refuses to permit the same level of freedom and courtesy to others. He is a hard-liner on abortion, long supporting a complete ban despite having paid for an abortion for his wife. He’s also been outspokenly critical of LGBTQIA+ people, deriding transgender rights and calling homosexuality “filth.”

Robinson’s racism, anti-Semitism, embracement of slavery, and Holocaust denialism are far more troubling. Had he not decided to run for office, such hate-filled, scoundrel-like rhetoric would have remained disturbing and offensive rhetoric by some random person. The multiple staff members that abruptly resigned from his campaign speaks volumes. That being said, such resignations at this stage in the campaign are purely self-serving. Republican operatives as well as voters knew what sort of character deficits Mark Robinson had when they selected him as their party nominee. He was a bad person then and his atrocious behavior has now been exposed to a larger audience.

One can only wonder if Robinson himself is having bitter recriminations about his perverted and sadistic impulses. If his past behavior is any indication, the answer is highly unlikely.

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.