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Did you know that Robert Patterson, who currently serves as the acting associate commissioner at the Social Security Administration’s Office of Strategic and Digital Communications, has a lot of gross and hateful views? It is so surprising to find such a man with a position in the Trump administration.




As pointed out by Media Matters for America, before he landed a job with the Trump administration, and after he worked for the first Bush administration, Patterson served as an editor for a conservative site called The Family in America, which espouses values of, well, you can probably guess.

There, he co-authored a blog post arguing that using a condoms and birth control “works against the health and well-being of women,” and that a condom, specifically, “robs a woman” of the “remarkable chemicals” that are found in semen. In another lovely co-authored blog post, he wrote that working women were the cause of the childhood obesity epidemic. “Perhaps it is time for American health officials trying to combat our national epidemic of childhood obesity to look for ways to get mothers back in the home,” he and writer Bryce Christensen suggested in a post titled, “Mom’s Employed; Junior’s a Couch Potato.” Patterson also advocated for welfare programs that “recognize a conventional division of labor among married participants.” It probably doesn’t surprise you to know that Patterson is also virulently homophobic. He has defended his posts by saying they are backed up by scientific research, which is honestly something I’m surprised he believes in.


The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Patterson’s editing gig at the website led to his resignation from Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare in 2012. However, his views fit right in with the Trump administration, where he is regarded as “a policy expert, professor and op-ed contributor,” per the Social Security Administration’s website. With that, I wish you a happy Friday, free to consider the many “remarkable chemicals” found in semen.