NC Lt. Governor Robinson calls protesters 'speed bumps'

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — North Carolina’s Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson made an appearance in the pulpit of a Sunday service in Winston-Salem.

While at Berean Baptist Church, he shared his thoughts on recent events in Durham, and Raleigh, and announced he will be making a political trip to Israel in the next week.

Robinson said when he looks to the left-hand side of the political aisle, he sees it as a “stupid contest.”

In regards to combatting crime, he said that there is a revolving door of crime and we are slowly sliding in to chaos where “lawlessness reigns.”

Human Speed Bumps

“You don’t have to go to Los Angeles or Chicago or New York City — you can go to Durham. Go to Durham,” Robinson said.

“The other day in Durham we had people who were protesting,” Robinson said while using air quotes. “By blocking the highway,” he continued, “Laying down in the middle of the street, making themselves into human speed bumps.”

Following laughter, applause, and an audible “amen” from the congregation, Robinson said if he were the governor, he’d call in the State Highway Patrol to “get these folks and get them out of the street.”

After facing backlash for not supporting supposed peaceful protests, Robinson said, “The law prescribes that peaceful protest takes place on the sidewalk, not in the middle of the highway.

“We are people that have become so far removed from the law and with the wisdom thereof, that we abandon every principle that made us live in a safe and prosperous society. And now we’re living in chaos right there in Durham, folks blocking the road, protesting for terrorists who are murdering Israelis and Americans in Israel, protesting for those folks. We allow it, we have a mayor, we have a mayor in Durham who can’t keep his streets clear for traffic to go through.”

Israel Trip Planned

A trip to Israel Robinson originally planned to be on for 10 days with 30 people has now been rescheduled to five people with private security during a three-day period.

“It’s more of a political trip than it is just going for tourism,” Robinson said. “The main point of going is to show unity with the people of Israel.”

After waffling on whether or not to go in light of the “current trouble” in Israel, Robinson said he thought about other who had stepped outside their comfort zones.

“I thought about all the times other people stepped outside of their comfort zone, overcome fears and realized that sometimes, not sometimes, but all the time—to whom much is given, much is required, and a great responsibility has been put on my shoulders, a great responsibility,” he said. “And now is my time to carry some of that weight.”

Robinson said he intends to show the people of Israel that “we stand arm in arm with her, because if the United States of America abandons Israel, the United States of America has abandoned God, and if she abandoned God, she will be no more. Go and ask the Romans. Go and ask every nation that has ever opposed Israel.”

Parade Politics

While sharing his “faith story” with the church, Robinson also chimed in on recent decisions made regarding the Veteran’s Day which has been canceled in Raleigh and the annual Christmas parades which is being altered to not include motorized vehicles after a young dancer’s death last year.

Speaking mostly to the Christmas parade, he said, “The City of Raleigh and the folks who run it are either not smart enough or not willing to do the work to put on a Christmas parade. The very laws that lay in front of them they have disregarded ’em out of laziness or stupidity.”

“I have no confidence in the ability of anyone who sits in a seat of power in a city that cannot administer a simple parade,” Robinson continued. “How in the world can you administer a police department? How in the world can you administer the tax dollars that we send you and expect you to spend wisely?”

To decision-makers in the City of Raleigh, Robinson said, “You are literally worthless to the seat that you sit on and the people that you serve.”