Ron DeSantis’s “rapid response director”, Christina Pushaw, has viciously attacked a leading pro-life campaigner – Frank Pavone – for supporting Donald Trump, saying it “makes sense” that he is no longer a priest after a campaign by the far-left saw the Vatican defrock him for being an outspoken conservative.
Pavone, 64, is one of the highest-profile pro-life campaigners in America, and as director of the Priests for Life group was one of the highest profile Catholic clergyman in America prior to being removed from the priesthood. Pushaw, despite claiming to be a pro-life Catholic, now says she had never heard of him.
Pushaw is best known for her libertarian political positions and work as a registered foreign agent for a top Zelensky ally. She is close friends with homosexual surrogate fathers Dave Rubin and his “husband” David Janet, and has declared herself as “in favor of” illegal immigrant “dreamers”. Despite this, she felt comfortable attacking Pavone for his support for Donald Trump.
The Vatican, under Jesuit liberal Pope Francis, long persecuted Pavone for his political views, ordering him to step down from the Catholics for Trump advisory board in 2020 and finally defrocking him in late 2022 for disobedience to his liberal bishop.
Pavone had often been critical of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and other allegedly Catholic Democrats who promote abortion, and has described the bishops who lobbied against him as “Democrat loyalists”. Pavone’s supporters have often compared his harsh treatment by the Vatican to that of Rev. James Martin, another Jesuit whom the Pope has repeatedly promoted despite the fact he advocates for gay marriage and other LGBTQ priorities in defiance of Catholic teaching.
Pavone explained his position on Trump’s abortion remarks at length as Pushaw and the DeSantis campaign were attacking him, observing that Trump is “running a campaign in which he’s trying to help his party, our party, speak in a politically effective way on this issue.”
“Now, I’m not saying that justifies compromising morally – it doesn’t,” he continued. “You don’t compromise morally, you become politically wise. Jesus himself said it, you’ve got to be wise as serpents… because you look at what you’re trying to accomplish, you consider where your audience is, and you say, let me talk about this persuasively to lead them from point A to point B.”
Polls show Americans oppose abortion up to birth, supported by many Democrats and legal in Democrat-led Washington D.C. and multiple Democrat-led states – but only a minority support restrictions earlier than 12 weeks with no exceptions for rape.