Donald Trump might not be the most stellar example of virtuous Christian living, but perhaps the media could have shown him more grace regarding his awkward but overall well-meaning new enterprise launched ahead of the Easter weekend.
As Fox News reported Tuesday, Trump has partnered with country singer Lee Greenwood to sell what they called the “God Bless the USA” Bibles.
Retailing for almost $60 each, the Bibles contained, not just the King James translation of the Bible, but also copies of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Pledge of Allegiance, and a handwritten chorus of Greenwood’s song, “God Bless the USA.”
To be fair, it did kind of take away from the Scriptures themselves by including these founding documents, but, as with Trump’s video advertising the enterprise, it appears to have been made with good intentions.
Trump shared the news on his own social media platform Truth Social, telling followers “Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless The USA Bible.”
Not everyone seemed enthused by Trump’s new business venture.
Newsweek reported that Tara Setmayer, senior advisor for the Lincoln Project, called it a “blasphemous grift” on the social media platform X.
There’s NOTHING “holy” about selling Bibles “endorsed by Trump.” More blasphemous grift.
Beware:
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Matthew 24:24 pic.twitter.com/U8ZeVeOmcJ— Tara Setmayer 🌻 (@TaraSetmayer) March 26, 2024
Is there anything wrong with Trump selling Bibles?
Clearly, much of the negative response came from bias against Trump, but by far the worst ridicule came from the hysterical liberal news network CNN.
As shown in this video, CNN first showed the video Trump recorded to promote the Bible, calling the Bible his “favorite book,” and saying “We must make America pray again.”
Admittedly, Trump seemed rather awkward in the video, and prior interviews have not exactly demonstrated much in the way of Trump’s biblical literacy, but, again, overall he seemed sincere.
The CNN anchors, however, did not see it that way.
“Just a reminder,” the anchor said, “this is the man who once said this,” then playing a clip where Trump showed off his weak knowledge of Scripture.
In this clip, Trump tried to reference Scripture, saying “2 Corinthians 3:17, that’s the whole ball game, ‘where the Spirit of the Lord’ — right? — ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.’”
That verse actually said, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” so he got the gist of the quote, at least.
More so than did the CNN anchors, one of whom began by asking one of the other anchors “Could you please remind me what is 2 Corinthians?” before giggling sheepishly.
As the anchors then continued deriding Trump for this business move, they further demonstrated, not just their lack of Biblical literacy, but historical literacy as well.
As CNN contributor (and former Obama and Biden staff member) Ashley Allison said, “This is a preview, again, of how Trump sees the way he wants to rule the world … through an authoritative theology … the Bible is the root in which we’re going to govern this country, even though this country was founded on the separation of church and state.”
According to Allison, “if he wins in November, and becomes president, he could not just say, like, I’m selling Bibles, but I’m mandating that in our schools, everyone has a Bible, in these institutions, everyone has a Bible, and that’s not what America is about.”
Now, Allison was wrong about many things, but among the worst of her takes was fearing the inclusion of Bibles in public institutions.
For one, the phrase “separation of church and state,” came from the private writings of Thomas Jefferson — the Constitution forbade an established church on the federal level, because there were already established churches at the state level.
For another, what would be so bad about reinstating the Bible into America’s public institutions?
Ever since the 10 Commandments and Christian teachings were pushed out of schools, chaos has ensued.
And now, school shootings and LGBT indoctrination have become ubiquitous in modern American schools.
The Christian message brought peace and sanity.
Trump’s sale of Bibles might seem awkward, but he should be praised — not mocked — for attempting to bring prayer and scripture back into public life.
If anything, Trump understood the Founding Fathers’ intentions for this country far better than any of the so-called “experts” on CNN’s disgraceful panel.
