Former President Donald Trump is on the receiving end of backlash after he announced his campaign is selling "God Bless the USA Bibles" for $59.99, but this columnist wants to take a hard look his readers.
Columnist Amanda Marcotte, in an op-ed published by Salon Thursday, said she believes the announcement was a "not-at-all subtle message" that Trump "doesn't believe any of this faith-in-God crap, but he definitely believes in using Christian identity as a weapon to make money and dominate his foes."
Marcotte argues that Trump supporters who identify as Christian will not find the Trump brand Bible offensive, since it signals that they can have the "Christian" identity without the parts they don't like.
"No boring church services or Bible study. No tedious talk about 'compassion' and 'grace,' which only gets in the way of the gay-bashing and racism," Marcotte wrote. "And definitely no need to worry about that Jesus guy, with all his notions about 'loving thy neighbor' and 'welcoming the stranger.'"
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According to Marcotte, Trump-supporting Christians have replaced God with Trump himself — which she says is a lot more fun since Trump's message is "kick thy neighbor" and "build the wall."
Marcotte has such little faith in the Christian bonafides of Trump supporters that she argued the pages of the Trump Bible could be blank and they wouldn't even know it.
"In the right-wing publishing industry, books are not made to be read. They are to be displayed on your shelves, unopened, so you can glance at them and feel that somewhere, a liberal is 'owned.'" she writes.
"The point of a Trump-branded Bible is to use it like their Dear Leader does: As a photo prop, not something to turn to for guidance or wisdom."
