Trump's Latest Grift Is Comical, But Not Funny

Mock the two-bit huckster, but don't miss what's sinister about it.

It would be giving Donald Trump too much credit to believe that he deploys his buffoonery strategically, carefully clothing dangerous appeals in comical clothing so as to distract the country from the true nature of his project. Nevertheless, when he is at his most absurd, he is often at his most dangerous. 

Which is why his newest two-bit grift deserves not just mockery but a close reading. I speak of Trump’s latest QVC-worthy licensing deal, an exciting collaboration with Red America’s favorite one-hit wonder, Lee Greenwood. For an undisclosed fee, Trump is now hawking, for a mere $59.99, the God Bless the USA Bible. Now rather than going to trouble of loading up your God ‘n Flag playlist so you can hum “I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m freeeee” as you skip past the Sermon on the Mount to get back to the smiting, you can have it all in one pleather-bound package: 

This Bible — in which the King James version of the scripture is printed along with the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and other American texts including the lyrics to Greenwood’s immortal ditty — has been around for a few years, generating criticism from some who take their faith seriously enough to believe that godliness is not the sole possession of America in general or Lee Greenwood in particular. Thankfully, Trump is not among those naysayers, especially when there are a few bucks to be made. 

But this is more than a marketing opportunity; it’s also a way to send a message to Christian nationalists — who, depending on how you define the term, make up a majority of Trump’s supporters — that electing him will be a way for them to seize control of government for their god. 

That may sound like an exaggeration, but I assure you it is not. Let’s begin with some of what Trump says in that video:

• “Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country, and I truly believe that we have to bring them back and we have to bring them back fast…our country is going haywire, we’ve lost religion in our country.” 

• “This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back America to make America great again is our religion. Religion is so important, it’s so missing, but it’s going to come back, it’s going to come back strong just like our country is going to come back strong.”

• “Christians are under siege. We must protect content that is pro-God. We love God, and we have to protect anything that is pro-God.”

• “We have to bring Christianity back into our lives and back into what will be again a great nation.”

• “I’m proud to endorse and to encourage you to get this Bible. We must make America pray again.” 

• “I think you all should get a copy of God Bless the USA Bible now and help spread our Christian values with others.”

The not-so-subtle message is as follows:

1. America has fallen from its former glory as an explicitly Christian nation

2. Religious diversity and a godless culture are threats to what Christians believe and what God wants

3. Christians themselves are oppressed and encircled

4. True Christians must take power and make the government serve their religion once again

Christianity in America is both dominant and declining

Now the truth is that America is by far the most religious of all wealthy countries; when it comes to religious belief and observance, we look more like Turkey or Bangladesh than Canada or the U.K.:

Nevertheless, there has been a change in recent years as the country has grown more diverse and more young people are turning away from religion: 

While this increasing diversity of observance and belief has obviously taken hold more in some places than others, it’s obvious to everyone no matter where you live. And when your spiritual and political leaders keep telling you that other people’s religious beliefs or lack thereof are a threat to you, a candidate who promises to restore your particular faith to a place of power is very enticing.

That’s one of the things that was easy to miss — and again, to mock — about Trump’s laughably insincere expressions of piety. We had been led to believe that what evangelicals wanted was a candidate who was like them, who knew the hymns, could quote scripture, and held Jesus in his heart. But that turned out not to be true. What they wanted — and they may not have known it themselves until Trump came along —was someone who would validate their hatreds and promise them power. As Sarah Posner, author of Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump told me not long ago, Trump has effectively sidelined religious right leaders because he’s the leader of the religious right now, and the fact that he knows nothing about the Bible or evangelical culture is irrelevant. 

They see him as their ally in a battle against demonic forces; Trump is essentially their weapon in a holy war. He’s well aware of this, and does everything he can to reinforce it. When there are protests against police mistreatment of Black Americans, Trump walks across a street cleared of protesters so he can hold a Bible aloft for the cameras. He doesn’t read from that Bible any more than he will read from the God Bless the USA Bible; the point is to say Those are our enemies; I am here as God’s instrument in this holy war. Rather than disqualifying him, Trump’s crassness, his cruelty, his immorality, his authoritarianism are only more reasons to follow him, because they show that he’ll do anything to win.  

It’s about the Christian nationalism

“Christian nationalism” is a term that has gotten more attention lately as the warnings are growing about what many on the right are seeking, and it may be easy to dismiss it as an exaggeration. But it isn’t. 

The Public Religion Research Institute developed a Christian nationalism scale consisting of five statements that respondents were asked whether they agreed with:

• The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation.

• U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.

• If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.

• Being Christian is an important part of being truly American.

• God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.

Those who agreed with all five statements are classified as Adherents of Christian nationalism; those who agree with most of the statements are classified as Sympathizers. Overall, 10 percent of the respondents scored as Adherents and another 20 percent as Sympathizers.

But among Republicans, the figures were 21 percent Adherents and 34 percent Sympathizers, for a total of 55 percent. So most of the people who will vote for Donald Trump believe in some form of Christian nationalism. Many of them seek the moral status afforded to the oppressed victim — as Trump says, “Christians are under siege” — while simultaneously seeking power for themselves and their religion. 

It’s already happening at the state level; legislators in red states are putting “chaplains” in public schools in place of counselors and seeking to require the posting of “In God We Trust” and the Ten Commandments on classroom walls. As one Texas legislator said, Trump’s Supreme Court appointments are making “it possible for us to go win some of these fights and put God back in government.” 

Meanwhile, many of the people in Trumpworld preparing for his next administration are planning to bring an unapologetically Christian nationalist mode of governing to Washington. The left, Trump recently told a group of religious broadcasters, “want to tear down crosses where they can, and cover them up with social justice flags….But no one will be touching the cross of Christ under the Trump administration, I swear to you.”

Other presidents have accepted and reinforced the idea that America is a nation that values religious diversity, and everyone of any faith or no faith has an equal claim to representation and power. Trump and millions of his most fervent loyalists emphatically reject these ideas. They want government to be an instrument of explicitly Christian power, and a right-wing variant of Christianity at that. Which is why Trump’s Bible-hawking may be comical, but its implications aren’t funny at all.