Senator Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat and Baptist pastor, told CNN’s Dana Bash on Easter Sunday that “the Bible doesn’t need Donald Trump’s endorsement.”
The former president announced on social media on Tuesday that he is selling the “God Bless the USA Bible” published by singer-songwriter Lee Greenwood for $60.
Warnock compared Trump selling Bibles to the cleansing of the Temple narrative in the Bible.
“Jesus, in the very last week of his life, chased the money changers out of the Temple—those who would take sacred things and use them as cheap relics to be sold in the marketplace,” Warnock said. “The sad thing is that none of us are surprised by this. This is what we expect from the former president.”
The Georgia senator claimed that Trump is trying to sell a bill of goods, which are misleading or deceptive claims.
“At the end of the day, I think he’s trying to sell the people a bill of goods,” Warnock said. “That worked in 2016, although he did not win the popular vote even in 2016. It did not work in 2020. And I don’t think it’s gonna work in 2024.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s spokesman via email for comment.
While Trump’s Bible pitch was well received among his supporters with people showing off their recently purchased Bibles and sharing images depicting Trump in a holy setting, he did receive backlash on social media and was mocked on Saturday Night Live.
Tara Setmayer, a senior adviser for The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump political action committee, called it “more blasphemous grift” on X, formerly Twitter, adding, “There’s NOTHING ‘holy’ about selling Bibles ‘endorsed by Trump.'”
The latest episode of Saturday Night Live began with comedian James Austin Johnson as Trump saying that it’s Easter, the “time of year when I compare myself to Jesus Christ.”
He added: “That’s just a thing I do now and people seem to be OK with it. I’m gonna keep doing it. And if you think that this is a bad look, imagine how weird it would be if I started selling Bibles. Well, I’m selling Bibles.”
Greenwood defended the “God Bless the USA Bible” on Newsmax on Sunday, saying, “The reason we have this Bible is to make sure more people have it accessible. If you have this Bible today, you’ll be able to actually find out how our country got started.”
The Bible includes the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance.
November will likely be a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden, the Democratic incumbent.
Trump seems to be vying for the Christian vote. In the Iowa Republican caucuses, which Trump won with 51 percent of the vote, the former president improved by 35 percentage points in the most evangelical counties. In 2016, Trump got 23 percent of the vote among the highest share of evangelicals, meanwhile, in 2024, he got 58 percent.
It’s still unclear how Christians and Catholics will vote in the general election since Biden is a Catholic himself. However, Trump’s legal woes could taint his image.
Trump has been accused of trying to steal the 2020 election on the federal and state level, obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve mishandled classified documents, and accused of falsifying business records relating to hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign to keep her quiet about an affair she claimed to have with Trump in the early 2000s. The former president has denied he had an affair with Daniels.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and claimed that the cases are politically motivated against him. He has also continued to claim that the 2020 election was actually stolen from him despite there being no evidence of this.
Saturday Night Live pulled a classic bait-and-switch with its latest cold open Saturday. After setting the scene for a comedic retelling of the resurrection of Jesus, Donald Trump (played by James Austin Johnson) came crashing out of the tomb like the Kool-Aid Man.
“That’s right, it’s Easter,” the former president announced. “That time of year when I compare myself to Jesus Christ. That’s just a thing I do now and people seem to be OK with it.”
The sketch then proceeded to take a series of shots at Trump’s latest money-making scheme: selling Bibles for a whopping $60.
“Look at this beautiful Bible, made from 100 percent Bible,” Johnson’s Trump marveled. “As you know, I love Bible. It’s my favorite book. I’ve definitely read it. My favorite part is probably the ending. It all wraps up. But this is a very special Bible. And it can be yours for the high, high price of $60.”
But Trump swears his new Bible salesman gig isn’t about making money.
“I’m doing this for the glory of God,” he said. “And for pandering and mostly for money.”
But it wouldn’t be a true Trump sales pitch without the hard sell, and that came when he mentioned all the additional accessories that come with his “new, and I would definitely say better Bible… It comes with everything you like from Bible, like the story of Easter, which primarily concerns Jesus, not so much the bunny. I kept waiting for the bunny to show up—you never know.”
Like his popular digital trading cards, the Trump Bible also has some remarkable artwork, including illustrations of Moses floating down a river in a basket… followed by Trump floating down a river in Moses’ basket.
Another photo features a jacked Trump (which he swears is his actual body) in the Garden of Eden, which led the presumptive GOP presidential nominee to conclude that he’d “be very good at saying no to the snake, from the standpoint of not liking fruit.”
Trump closed out his pitch by proving his love of the Good Book by reciting the Lord’s Prayer: “Our father who are in heaven, hallowed beep beep, bing bing, bing bing bong. Bing bong bing bing bing, trespass daily bread. And please lead us into temptation… In the name of the father, the son and the Easter Bunny.”
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) slammed Donald Trump for hawking $60 “God Bless the USA” Bibles — though he said he’s not surprised by the former president’s latest merchandising efforts.
“The Bible does not need Donald Trump’s endorsement, and Jesus in the very last week of his life chased the money changers out of the temple, those who would take sacred things and use them as cheap relics to be sold in the marketplace,” the Georgia Democrat and working pastor said Sunday during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“The sad thing is that none of us are surprised by this. This is what we expect from the former president,” Warnock added, noting other items Trump has branded and sold: steaks, sneakers and a real estate training school.
Money from the sale of the Bibles is not being funneled to Trump’s campaign, according to the Bible’s website, but Trump did license the agreement — which means he’s likely benefiting from it.
“GodBlessTheUSABible.com uses Donald J. Trump’s name, likeness and image under paid license from CIC Ventures LLC, which license may be terminated or revoked according to its terms,” the site says.
Trump began promoting the Bibles on social media last week, a day after a panel of state appeals judges in New York lowered the amount of the bond he must post to stop enforcement of a $454 million civil judgment for corporate fraud to just $175 million.
That ruling came after Trump obtained a $91.6 million bond earlier this month to stave off enforcement of an $83.3 million verdict against him for defaming author and advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Trump has denied the claim, but a federal civil-court jury found him liable for sexual assault.
