Peeping Toms and ‘black Nazis’ - what the Mark Robinson scandal tells us about the US election race | Arwa Mahdawi

Do you have: a) unconventional scientific opinions; b) an inability to keep your thoughts and genitals to yourself; c) a soft spot for slavery; and d) a US passport?

If you answered "yes" to most of the above, then congratulations, you've got what it takes to be a Republican politician. As you may have noticed, the main qualification for serving as a Republican lawmaker appears to be bizarre and unexpected behaviour. You couldn't invent some of these people.

There's Joe Arpaio, for example: the former Republican sheriff of Maricopa County who, in the 1990s, forced all the inmates of a tent jail he later described as a "concentration camp" to wear pink underwear. Then there's former Texas congressman Joe Barton, who resigned after a nude selfie scandal and was convinced that nobody should be worried about carbon dioxide emissions hurting the environment because CO2 is "in your Coca-Cola". Recently, a Vermont Republican, Mary Morrissey, was caught after a months-long campaign of secretly pouring water into her colleague's bag. And far-right Florida congressman Matt Gaetz keeps getting investigated for sexual misconduct.

I could go on. Entry into the GOP Hall of Shame is very competitive. Still, it looks like we've got a new and notable contender. Enter Mark Robinson, who is running to become the governor of North Carolina. Robinson, CNN reported last week, was allegedly active on an adult messaging board called Nude Africa between 2008 and 2012 (before his political career), and had a lot to say on topics like Hitler, slavery and pornography.

Posting under the name "minisoldr", Robinson mused that slavery wasn't that bad after all, writing "some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring [slavery] back. I would certainly buy a few." Robinson also called himself a "black NAZI!", described Martin Luther King Jr with racial slurs, and said he'd "take Hitler" over Obama-era legislators.

Oh, but there's more! Robinson allegedly referred to himself as a "perv" for his porn preferences and admitted to "peeping" on women in public gym showers when he was 14. The would-be governor has denied making these comments and embraced all the usual self-pitying guff about it being a liberal witch-hunt.

Just to be clear, Robinson isn't just some random dude who has decided to take a crack at obtaining political office. He's currently the lieutenant governor of North Carolina, the ninth most populous state in the US. The man is already in a position of power. He's also been heartily endorsed by Donald Trump, who has called him "Martin Luther King on steroids".