Trump’s Bible grift is going to backfire
Donald Trump could be making a big mistake hawking the “God Bless the USA” Bible to his MAGA supporters: Some of them might actually read it. This latest grift might well flop, like Trump Steaks and those hideous gold-colored “Never Surrender” sneakers he’s trying to sell for $399. For its opportunistic Holy Week timing alone, the Bible venture deserves to be smitten by a wrathful marketplace.
If the MAGA faithful do buy those Bibles and look inside, however, they will find myriad reasons to forsake their profoundly flawed political hero.
They need only read as far as Exodus 20, in which Moses comes down from the mountain and pronounces the Ten Commandments. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” is an injunction Trump has bragged about habitually violating, as heard on the “Access Hollywood” tape. In that same recording, he also boasted about violating another commandment — “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife” — by saying he “did try and f---” a married woman.
Trump is scheduled to be tried in a New York courtroom on felony charges that stem from a brief sexual liaison with adult-film actor Stormy Daniels. At the same time, he is appealing an $83 million civil judgment against him for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he sexually abused in a department store dressing room, according to the court’s findings. I could go on and on.
“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” is yet another commandment Trump routinely ignores. Of the tens of thousands of documented lies he has told, many have been falsehoods about his real or perceived enemies. Just last month, he earned a gag order by telling lies about the daughter of the judge who presides in his impending criminal trial.
Of course, the commandments are found in the Old Testament, where God’s judgments can be harsh and definitive. The New Testament tells us that we all are sinners — and that we all can be saved.
That is the theological basis on which Trump’s unlikeliest loyal followers — evangelical Christians and their pastors — justify looking past the way Trump scoffs at so many of the Bible’s instructions. Yes, he is far from perfect, they tell themselves; but like all of us, he can find salvation through Jesus Christ. As we give him our campaign contributions and our votes, we can also pray for his redemption.
Anyone who forks over $59.99 for a “God Bless the USA” Bible and reads it, however, will see that Jesus gave detailed instructions for believers to obey. They are encapsulated in the Sermon on the Mount.
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth,” Jesus said. “… Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
That’s pretty much the diametrical opposite of the MAGA creed, which is more like: “Just win, baby.”
Later in the sermon, Jesus says, “Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.” Had Trump followed this legal advice, he would be facing fewer criminal trials and civil fines.
On another occasion, described in Matthew 25:42-46, Jesus gives clear instructions about what a righteous immigration policy should be. “I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me,” he says — and the dire consequence of behaving this way is to “go away into everlasting punishment.”
Evangelical voters — and their pastors, who presumably know in detail what the Bible says — have effectively suspended their belief in Jesus’ words. They cite Trump’s willingness to lead their crusade against abortion, although that is one issue Jesus never addressed.
Toward the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus does give a warning that could not be more relevant as Trump seeks to regain power: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”