Selling out both Bible and Constitution

What Trump is really marketing with his latest retail pitch

An earlier example of Bible as marketing prop, though this one wasn’t for sale. (From AP photo)

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The first United States senator I ever met was Joe Bottum, whose political career fizzled when I was 10 years old, yielding the first political joke I ever told: “Did you hear that Senator Bottum lost his seat?” Har, har. I must have been an annoying little boy.

Joe Bottum, a conservative Republican, later became a judge and a friend to my dad, a liberal Protestant minister, who told me when I got old enough to understand that he appreciated the judge’s respect for the separation of church and state. The two must be unallied realms, Pop explained, or else one would try to control the other, risking undue influence — in either direction — that would likely curtail somebody’s freedom.

That is, you don’t want the state controlling the church, because that would violate the First Amendment by limiting Americans’ freedom to choose their own religious practice, or none at all. But you also don’t want the church controlling the state, or else the tenets of the favored religion might come by law to limit the freedom of people who aren’t that religion’s adherents: Outside the promise of that version of God, then, they would be subject to people claiming to act on behalf of a power exceeding that of the state itself.

Over time, I came to understand that the freedom from the establishment of a religion, and religion’s free exercise, actually were underlying all the other freedoms protected by the First Amendment — freedom of speech and the press, which assured the Constitution’s protection of my field of work, as well as the freedom of assembly and the right to petition the government. They are all guaranteed freedoms, interwoven, and foundational to American democracy.

So I wonder what Pop and old Judge Bottum would have thought of Donald Trump’s latest commercial venture: hawking special-edition Bibles during Christians’ Holy Week at $59.99, plus shipping. Although the volume presents a translation of scriptures first published in 1611 — what we call the King James Version — this is a Bible unlike any seen before: The God Bless the USA Bible features not only the Old and New Testaments, but also the lyrics to the 1980s country ballad of that title by Lee Greenwood, a song typically played at Trump campaign rallies (it’s easier to sing than The Star-Spangled Banner), as well as the texts of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance.

“All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It’s my favorite book,” Trump asserted, in a video posted on Truth Social in the days leading up to Easter. “I’m proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. We must make America pray again.”¹

It’s the ultimate mash-up of church and state, a perfect presentation of, first, Trump’s cynical misuse of religion to support his egotistic ambitions and, second, the embrace of Trump by Christian nationalists, who eagerly use politics to advance their narrow reading of the book that Trump is peddling.

In a nation inured to the daily outrages of the Donald Trump era — the viciousness, heartlessness and nastiness, the haphazard policy positions often snatched from oddball notions of fringe thinkers, the assaults on democratic norms and human decency that many Trump supporters have to pretend not to notice — this isn’t just another bit of bad behavior by a mentally disturbed misanthrope. No, people of faith ought to view it as a sacrilege, and patriots ought to consider it traitorous.

A lot of other Trump-branded merchandise preceded The God Bless the USA Bible: steaks, vodka, cologne, wine, neckties and, most recently, $399-a-pair “Never Surrender” high-top golden sneakers, with stars and red stripes on the sides, and MAGA-red soles. What might separate the Trump Bible from that other merchandise he has pitched over the years isn’t the ultimate beneficiary of the sales — it’s Trump who gets the money, in every case — but rather what in the business world is known as brand credibility.

That is, it's perfectly in keeping with what we know of Donald Trump that he would sell gaudy sneakers and overpriced food and drink. The real estate that brought him a fortune, after all, is mostly gaudy and overpriced, too, appealing to people who mistake shiny fanciness for wealth and class. There’s no conflict between the Trump some of us have wearily watched for decades and that sort of product offering.

But if you know anything about the Bible, it strains credulity to think that Trump has ever given even a busy marketer’s quick scan of the volume he’s selling. Likewise, he has called for “termination” of the Constitution he once swore to uphold and now presents alongside the Bible. So Trump’s God Bless the USA Bible is tailored to sell to those who don’t care about the hypocrisy of someone ignoring the content of the product he’s pushing.²

Here’s how to think about brand credibility: If you know what Roger Federer has accomplished, not to mention how much money he has made, you can embrace the notion that he wears a Rolex, not a Timex. Likewise, when you see an ad for Coach bags featuring Jennifer Lopez, or for Rihanna with Louis Vuitton, you don’t think they’re secretly packing in Samsonite. We know those celebrities are paid for their product endorsements, but there’s credibility in the message of their pitches.

What part of the Bible, though, do you imagine Donald Trump has absorbed?

It couldn’t be Isaiah 58, which calls readers “to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter,” or he wouldn’t be so hostile to helping down-and-out people, including immigrants. He must have missed Leviticus 19, where we are exhorted, “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another,” since his claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent is a boldfaced lie. That’s also where we read the exhortation, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people,” which would apply, clearly, to Trump’s repeated pledge to take revenge on those who defeated him fairly at the polls.

And, of course, you have to imagine that Trump would be disappointed if he were to read the Gospel of Mark’s quotation of Jesus on the topic of greed: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” — a notion further explained by the apostle Paul, the original salesman of the Christian faith, as suggesting that “the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith.”

Trump has obviously missed all of that in his perusing of the Bible that he now markets. When he was first running for president, a naïve reporter asked Trump to name his favorite Bible verse. He declined, saying that was “very personal,” while still insisting, “the Bible means a lot to me.” Well, then, did he prefer the Old Testament or the New? “Probably equal. I think it’s just incredible,” he replied. Indeed, but then he bungled a biblical reference during a 2016 campaign speech at Liberty University, drawing giggles from students, and later suggested that his ghost-written memoir is very nearly as valuable as scripture: “ ‘The Art of the Deal’ is second to the Bible,” he said. As for other books, “The Bible blows them away. There’s nothing like it, the Bible.” Great sales pitch, sir.³

So of course he would want to sell it. Nothing like it! Better, amazingly, than the Word of Trump! And you’d better pay attention to it, because, as he told a crowd in New Hampshire last fall, “If you don’t like our religion… we don’t want you! Get out of here! You’re fired!” There was no doubt what “our” religion is in the mind of someone who so values loyalty: In both 2016 and 2020, about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christians voted for Trump. So it’s time to get rid of those who don’t follow the dictates of that key constituency — they have to go, along with those problematic parts of the Constitution that interfere with the goals of Trumpism, which is, clearly now, the glorification of Trump, forever and ever, amen.⁴

To those outside the Trump voting bloc, the religious right’s adoration of Trump is perplexing. After all, they surely can’t see him as a character model as defined by the Bible — not with his egocentrism, his well-documented record of lewd words and behavior, his conviction for sexual abuse of a magazine writer and criminal charges of hush-money payments to a pornographic movie actress. Nor could his business record — hundreds of lawsuits alleging that he cheated his way to billions of dollars of profit, and a court ruling that he lied to inflate his worth by billions more — square with the teachings of the world’s religions.

But in any political deal, there’s an expectation of benefit to each party to the agreement. The white evangelicals who support Trump seem clear about what he will deliver to them in exchange for their votes: Detention and expulsion of immigrants who aren’t Christian, and perhaps even those who aren’t evangelical. Reduced support for the poor, who don’t buy into the so-called “prosperity gospel” that was advocated by the spiritual advisers of his term in office. Taxpayer support for Christian schools. Crackdowns on people who stray from right-wing religion’s views on gender identity, sexual orientation and abortion rights. Also, attacks on Democrats and journalists who don’t toe the Trump line, because in their questioning of Trump, they are surely agents of the Devil.⁵

To the most loyal of the Trump believers, then, the deal they’re making promises a government that is loyal to the particular teachings of the evangelical Christianity that is the religious home of about one-quarter of the population. In their view, based on their selective reading of the Bible, Donald Trump is chosen by God — he has received “the anointing,” in the words of TV preacher Hank Kunneman — and his return to the White House is all but inevitable unless there’s a temporary triumph by the Devil, incarnate in Joe Biden (who, incidentally, is a devout Christian seemingly familiar with the teachings of the Bible).

What the Trumpists advocate, clearly, is the promise of Christian nationalism, which is also advanced by House Speaker Mike Johnson. And with that sensibility in mind, there’s no brand conflict, actually, in the image of Trump selling fancy Bibles. He may not represent all that’s in the religious and civic documents published between the covers of The God Bless the USA Bible – not only the scripture, but also the First Amendment, the tenets of which he betrays, and the oath of office set forth in the Constitution that he ignored, twice drawing impeachment. But Trump promises to deliver a particular vision of America that appeals to a shrinking but still powerful religious minority — one that is eager to accept just half the equation of the First Amendment’s religious freedom clause.

That is, they want the government’s protection, but they are unwilling to extend the other half of that promise, namely, a guarantee of freedom from religious manipulation. They lack the respect for both the scripture and the Constitution that I’d say both Joe Bottum and Ralph Smith cherished.

The Bible that Donald Trump is selling, then, turns out to be perfectly marketed, after all: In the reading by Trump adherents, it’s not like other Bibles, because it excludes those outside the Trumpist circle and casts aside teachings that are inconvenient to the Trump brand. At 60 bucks, some would consider it a steal — which is precisely what the huckster pushing the volume would do with the precious promises and teachings he hasn’t noticed between the book’s covers.

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/27/trump-selling-bibles-sneakers/

2. https://apnews.com/article/social-media-donald-trump-8e6e2f0a092135428c82c0cfa6598444

3. https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/27/politics/donald-trump-favorite-bible-verses/

4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/24/trump-religion-immigration/

5. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/god-gave-us-trump-christian-media-evangelicals-preach-messianic-message-2024-03-22/

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