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Trump Chief Scientist Nominee: ‘LGBT Behavior Is a Choice They Make,’ Marriage Could Lead to Pedophilia, Polygamy

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‘Defies Logic’ to Protect LGBT People

Sam Clovis, President Donald Trump‘s nominee to be the Chief Scientist at the Dept. of Agriculture, believes that the legalization of same-sex marriage can lead to pedophilia and polygamy, LGBT people should not be granted nondiscrimination protections, and being LGBT is not an innate characteristic but a choice. He is wrong on every point.

“Someone who engages in LGBT behavior — I don’t know what the science is on this, I think it’s still out — but as far as we know, LGBT behavior is a choice they make,” Clovis says wrongly, as CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Paul LeBlanc report (video below). “So we’re being asked to provide Constitutional protections for behavior, a choice in behavior as opposed to a primary characteristic.”

Clovis’ arguments are not based in science, and nearly every major medical organization not only around the country but around the world would disagree with his false claims.

“There’s no equivalency there between the civil rights issue associated between those protected classes and the civil rights of someone who engages in a particular behavior,” Clovis adds, in the video from his 2014 Senatorial campaign which he lost to Joni Ernst. “Follow the logic, if you engage in a particular behavior, what also becomes protected? If we protect LGBT behavior, what other behaviors are we going to protect? Are we going to protect pedophilia? Are we going to protect polyamorous marriage relationships? Are we going to protect people who have fetishes? What’s the logical extension of this? It can’t be that we’re going to protect LGBT and then we’ll pull up the ladder. That’s not going to happen, it defies logic. We’re not thinking the consequences of these decisions through.”

Clovis, when questioned, denies his views are “extreme,” but rather, “a logical extension of thought. And if you cannot follow the logic then you’re denying your in denial.”

67-years old, Clovis has failed to win the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate and Iowa State Treasurer, but was picked up by the Trump campaign as a policy advisor. Clovis has also supported Rick Santorum and Rick Perry.

CNN unearthed a good deal more of Clovis’ anti-LGBT beliefs, including that he thinks, as he says in the video, if same-sex couples are allowed to marry ministers and priests will “be accused of hate speech” for reading the Christian bible in church.

He calls same-sex marriage a “deception” by the LGBT community in order to obtain 14th Amendment protections. Clovis tells a young man in a local bakery it would be “dangerous” and “a very slippery slope” if “the people in that lifestyle get those protections.”

In a 2013 blog post Clovis makes similar arguments as he does in the video, but falsely adds that getting rid of traditional marriage is a goal of progressives.

“Dismantling marriage is one of the dual goals of this whole progressive effort,” he writes. “If the gay rights movement can get marriage redefined, then there will be further inroads made to undermine one of the pillars of American strength. Further, as the traditional family is about procreation, education, socialization and religious familiarization, that institution serves as a direct threat to the progressive movement’s aim of ridding society of God and coercing behaviors among those ruled in pursuit of the perfection of man through ‘progress.’ One should not be fooled.”

Clovis also believes that LGBT people deserve no federal nondiscrimination protections – and that religious protections must take priority over protecting LGBT civil rights.

“Homosexuality and personal choices about one’s sexual preferences is not at issue. Businesses today have extended support to life partners in a number of ways. It’s just good business if that is what it takes to get the best person for the job,” added Clovis.”On the other hand, businesses and their owners should be able to make decisions about who is employed if hiring people who do not behave in accordance with some deeply held religious belief system is at issue. Just as the government should not force business owners or enterprises to provide contraceptives or morning-after pills because of religious beliefs, the government should not be in charge of hiring practices, either. Religious freedom, perhaps the most fundamental of all protected freedoms, must be free of government interference.”

LGBT groups are speaking out.

“Unfit & unacceptable,” is how Lambda Legal described Clovis, after the CNN story was published. GLAAD posted this tweet:

“Few less qualified to be USDA’s top scientist” says HRC president Chad Griffin.

To comment on this article and other NCRM content, visit our Facebook page. 

This article has been updated to correctly identify the federal agency as the USDA, not the FDA.

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News

Revealed: The Real Reason Kristi Noem Was Fired

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12 hours ago

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March 5, 2026

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The rumor mill was spinning fast on Thursday as news reports from multiple outlets revealed President Donald Trump was considering firing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Within hours, he did, announcing the nomination of U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as her replacement.

Some critics pointed to Noem’s damaging testimony before Congress this week, when she declared that President Trump had approved her spending $220 million in an ad campaign that, as one GOP senator said, boosted her name recognition. On Thursday, Trump told Reuters, “I never knew anything about it.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that the “final straw for Trump was Noem’s combative hearing Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The president watched the testimony and was apoplectic about her performance, telling advisers that evening he would remove her from the job, according to people familiar with the matter.”

READ MORE: ‘Dereliction of Duty’: Trump Officials Slammed Over Failure to ‘Keep Americans Safe’

But according to NBC News, Noem was not fired only because of her testimony.

“An administration official told NBC News that the president decided to fire Noem due to ‘a culmination of her many unfortunate leadership failures including the fallout in Minnesota, the ad campaign, the allegations of infidelity, the mismanagement of her staff, and her constant feuding with the heads of other agencies, including CBP and ICE,'” the news outlet reported.

The allegations of infidelity were in full swing during her congressional testimony, as U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) grilled the DHS chief.

“Secretary Noem, at any time during your tenure…have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?” the Congresswoman asked.

“That is garbage and it is offensive that you have brought that up,” Noem responded..

“It is about your judgment and decision-making,” Kamlager-Dove replied.

Lewandowski, according to Fox News, is also expected to exit DHS.

READ MORE: Trump’s Iran War Triggers Gas Price Shock — Especially in Red America

 

Image via Reuters

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‘Bad to Worse’: Mockery Ensues as Trump Trades Noem for ‘Erratic’ Mullin

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14 hours ago

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March 5, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s announcement that Republican U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin will become the new Secretary of Homeland Security — replacing embattled Kristi Noem — is drawing mockery.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported that “Trump loves watching Mullin on TV and often praises him, which was a factor in this decision.”

Calling him “erratic” and “unstable,” California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom slammed Mullin’s nomination.

“Markwayne Mullin could not remember if we were at war THIS WEEK,” he said. “His state has one of the highest crime rates in the country — with a murder rate 40% higher than California’s. He literally tried to fight union workers during a hearing and told them to ‘shut your mouth.’ And said ‘I don’t want reality’ at a Senate hearing about race.”

The president may have another challenge ahead of him.

After dodging increasing calls for Noem’s impeachment over her controversial congressional testimony on Wednesday, he wrote that Mullin will be the new DHS Secretary as of March 31. Politico’s Kyle Cheney notes there are other factors at work.

According to Cheney, “it’s not clear how Trump can simply announce this is effective on March 31. Mullin is not Senate-confirmed and not eligible to become acting secretary under laws governing cabinet-level vacancies.”

If it’s a matter of getting enough Democrats to support Mullin, Trump can already count on the Senator from Pennsylvania.

“As a member of the Homeland Security Committee + Ranking Member of Subcommittee on Border Security: I’m not sure how many fellow Democrats will vote to support our colleague  @SenMullin as the next DHS Secretary, but I am AYE,” Democratic Senator John Fetterman wrote.

Meanwhile, critics continued to express opposition to the decision to hand the reins of the more than $100 billion federal agency to Mullin.

“Firing Noem to hire Markwayne Mullin is the definition of going from bad to worse,” declared Democratic strategist Max Burns.

Some pointed out that Mullin is the only current U.S. Senator to not hold a bachelor’s degree.

Others noted that he is “the same guy who was hiding from MAGA rioters during the January 6th insurrection.”

And some pointed to reports “showing him in violation of the STOCK Act.”

The progressive social media account The Tennessee Holler called Mullin “one of the biggest Trump sycophants in Congress.”

The Atlantic’s Norman Ornstein added, “That Markwayne Mullin is the dumbest member of the Senate was a qualification for Trump to choose him to head DHS.”

 

Image via Reuters

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Trump’s Iran War Triggers Gas Price Shock — Especially in Red America

Published

15 hours ago

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March 5, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s war against Iran is having harsh effects on the price of gas for consumers, but no one is being harder hit than his red-state base.

According to Patrick De Haan, the widely-cited head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, as of Thursday morning, the national average price of gasoline stands at $3.24 per gallon.

“That’s now just 1.4 cents shy of its highest national average since 2024 — and, based on GasBuddy’s tracking, the highest national average so far during President Trump’s two terms,” De Haan writes.

What that means is collectively, he says, Americans are paying about $90 million more at the pump than just one week ago.

At the state level, 49 out of 50 states have seen at least a ten-cent increase since last week. And twelve states are seeing at least a 30-cent increase in just the past week.

READ MORE: ‘Total Scumbag Move’: MAGA Rages as Trump Faces Demands to End Texas GOP War

Who is being hit the hardest?

Nine of the top ten highest price increases are being seen in red states.

De Haan says that Louisiana is being hit the hardest, with a 39.7-cent per gallon increase over last week.

Georgia is seeing a 37.5 cent increase. Iowa, Indiana, and West Virginia are all in the 35-cent range. Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Ohio in the 34-cent range. South Dakota comes in at a 32.6-cent increase. And Illinois, a blue state, comes in at number ten, at 31.1 cents per gallon.

According to Michael Gunther, senior vice president at Consumer Edge, the “pain isn’t evenly distributed.”

He says that “customers of value-oriented, drive-dependent brands — Dollar General, Jack in the Box, Boot Barn — allocate the highest share of their wallet to gas. Lower-income, suburban consumers with very little cushion to absorb a sustained spike.”

De Haan adds that gas prices will continue to climb.

“While the national average gas price is seeing a slower climb today, increases will likely throttle back up soon as wholesale gasoline prices jump again,” he notes.

READ MORE: Trump Uses Voter ID Push to Stoke Base With ‘Men in Women’s Sports’ Claim

 

Image via Reuters 

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