Trump's CDC Chief Is a (Covert) Christian Extremist

Weldon's vaccine ignorance has obscured his radical Christian agenda

Then-Reps. Dave Weldon (R-FL) and Mike “Please Don’t Hang Me” Pence (R-IN), at a May 24, 2005, news conference opposing stem-cell research that could save untold lives because they’re pro-life. (Screengrab / C-SPAN video that looks like it’s from 1893.)

RePresident-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a longtime Christian extremist who once protested an abortion clinic and co-founded a religious organization with a man later arrested for blockading clinics.

As I reported this weekend, a 2005 article suggested that Weldon, on religious grounds, objects to stem-cell science and rejects the science of evolution — a crucial aspect of detecting viral and bacterial mutations and controlling and preventing epidemics.

The Los Angeles Times reported in 1994 that Weldon was “associated with anti-abortion violence,” but that appears to overstate the case. He does, however, have a lengthy political and legislative record of curtailing federal support for abortion rights.

Before entering politics, Weldon co-founded a Florida organization called Space Coast Family Forum. Reportedly, Weldon compared his group to the Christian Coalition, the once-powerful far-right, theocratic organization of Pat Robertson.

One of the Space Coast Family Forum co-founders racked up a criminal record for his actions protesting abortion clinics. He left the group, reportedly due to his arrests.

Weldon only protested once, he reportedly said, outside a clinic. It was the Aware Woman Center for Choice in Melbourne, FL. Weldon said he found the experience “uncomfortable” and it was his last protest.

But his group, the Space Coast Family Forum, came out of the gate with a broad range of extremist positions. They fought what they called pornography. And instead of sex education in schools — which saves lives and helps prevent unwanted pregnancies — Weldon’s group wanted prayer in public schools, a clear violation of the secular principles on which the country was founded.

Not surprisingly, in the 1988 presidential campaign, Weldon backed Robertson, a conservative Christian who routinely denigrated other religions, opposed LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive rights, feminism, and pretty much anything that didn’t conform to his religious views.

Democrats alleged that Weldon’s Space Coast Family Forum “worked closely with Robertson’s Christian Coalition and Operation Rescue, the most notorious organizer of clinic blockades.” Weldon’s group allegedly acted as the political arm of a loose coalition that included groups focused on more extreme tactics.

A Robertson field director served as a consultant to Weldon’s first congressional campaign. Before Weldon even took office, the Brevard County newspaper, Florida Today, reported in December 1994 that “much of his politics are intertwined with his faith.”

In that race, Weldon had the backing of then-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA). He was part of Gingrich’s right-wing Contract for America.

When Gingrich came to town to help get Weldon into Congress, Florida Today published an editorial just before Election Day slamming the two as “snake oil” salesmen.

The editorial cited Weldon’s statement the previous month that the space industry wasn’t a big issue for voters there. A week later, it was his flagship issue.

The paper wrote that, “Despite his Republican trappings, Weldon is not a mainstream candidate.”

Referring to Weldon’s activism against abortion rights, the paper’s editorial said that Weldon’s activism “has revolved around the one issue that he is not making an issue in this campaign for obvious reasons.”

A similar dynamic played out when Weldon ran for re-election in 1996. In that campaign, too, he kept his Christian light under a political bushel. Newsday said no one in Congress that year was more conservative, but noted that Weldon’s campaign literature “makes no mention” of abortion.

Weldon continued to conceal his Christian extremism. In 2005, SpaceNews reported that Weldon said he didn’t try to persuade his congressional colleagues with religious arguments.

Because they failed.

“I don’t usually employ those arguments principally because in the course of public discourse they’re considered to be invalid,” Weldon told SpaceNews. “Now yeah, if there are a bunch of Christians who got together, some of whom were pro-stem cell, [it is] worthwhile employing religious arguments. But on the floor of the House or the halls of any university, those arguments are just considered non-applicable. So I don’t usually employ them.”

In other words, his religious arguments don’t work. Instead, he acts as though he’s motivated by other principles.

And he has more than once masked his political positions as something other than simple religious extremism.

Weldon opposed same-sex marriage, for instance, citing the tax implications of letting more people file jointly. “I think it would be wrong to take money out of the pockets of working families across America and use those tax dollars to give federal acceptance and financial support to same-sex marriages,” Weldon said in 1996.

Pushing a ban on so-called partial-birth abortions, Weldon wrote, “This is not a religious issue.”

Raised Catholic, Weldon later described himself as non-denominational.

Today, Politico reports that Weldon counts Jesus Christ as one of his biggest influences and calls Weldon a fierce proponent of banning late-term abortions. There’s no record, however, of Weldon being okay with abortions at any time (aside from exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or the mother’s health).

His voting record has a consistent theocratic bent, judging by a summary of the website On The Issues.

Weldon has voted to block judges from ruling on the insertion of “God” into the Pledge of Allegiance. He supports prayer and “God Bless America” displays in public schools and the use of taxpayer money to fund religious schools.

How Weldon’s religious views — and his willingness to conceal them — might affect his leadership of the CDC hasn’t been publicly explored. In the week since Trump announced him, there’s been virtually no mention in mainstream news outlets of Weldon’s theocratic, extremist record.

If Senate Republicans reject Trump’s demand for recess appointments, Democratic senators will have a chance to question Weldon at the confirmation hearing.

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Jonathan Larsen is a veteran journalist who’s worked at MSNBC, CNN, and ABCNews. You can support TFN by making a donation or becoming a paid subscriber. Thank you.