NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is now promoting Bibles as he runs to return to the White Home.
Trump, who turned the presumptive Republican nominee earlier this month, launched a video on his Reality Social platform on Tuesday urging his supporters to purchase the “God Bless the USA Bible,” which is impressed by nation singer Lee Greenwood’s patriotic ballad. Trump takes the stage to the track at every of his rallies and has appeared with Greenwood at occasions.
“Comfortable Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Once more. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a replica of the God Bless the USA Bible,” Trump wrote, directing his supporters to an internet site promoting the e-book for $59.99.
The hassle comes as Trump has confronted a critical cash crunch amid mounting authorized payments whereas he fights 4 prison indictments together with a collection of civil costs. Trump was given a reprieve Monday when a New York appeals courtroom agreed to carry off on amassing the greater than $454 million he owes following a civil fraud judgment if he places up $175 million inside 10 days. Trump has already posted a $92 million bond in reference to defamation circumstances introduced by the author E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault.
“All Individuals want a Bible of their residence, and I’ve many. It’s my favourite e-book,” Trump stated within the video posted on Reality Social. “I’m proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. We should make America pray once more.”
Billing itself as “the one Bible endorsed by President Trump!” the brand new enterprise’s web site calls it “Straightforward-to-read” with “giant print” and a “slim design” that “invitations you to discover God’s Phrase wherever, any time.”
Apart from a King James Model translation, it consists of copies of the U.S. Structure, the Invoice of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance, in addition to a handwritten refrain of the well-known Greenwood track.
The Bible is simply the most recent industrial enterprise that Trump has pursued whereas campaigning.
Final month, he debuted a brand new line of Trump-branded sneakers, together with $399 gold “By no means Give up Excessive-Tops,” at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia. The enterprise behind the footwear, 45Footwear, additionally sells different Trump-branded footwear, cologne and fragrance.
Trump has additionally dabbled in NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, and final yr reported incomes between $100,000 and $1 million from a collection of digital buying and selling playing cards that portrayed him in cartoon-like pictures, together with as an astronaut, a cowboy and a superhero.
He has additionally launched books that includes photographs of his time in workplace and letters written to him by way of the years.
The Bible’s web site states the product “shouldn’t be political and has nothing to do with any political marketing campaign.”
“GodBlessTheUSABible.com shouldn’t be owned, managed or managed by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Group, CIC Ventures LLC or any of their respective principals or associates,” it says.
As an alternative, it says, “GodBlessTheUSABible.com makes use of Donald J. Trump’s title, likeness and picture below paid license from CIC Ventures LLC, which license could also be terminated or revoked in keeping with its phrases.”
CIC Ventures LLC, an organization that Trump reported proudly owning in his 2023 monetary disclosure, has an identical association with 45Footwear, which additionally says it makes use of Trump’s “title, likeness and picture below paid license from CIC Ventures LLC, which license could also be terminated or revoked in keeping with its phrases.”
A Trump spokesperson and God Bless the USA Bible didn’t instantly reply to questions on how a lot Trump was paid for the licensing deal or stands to make from every e-book sale.
Trump stays deeply standard with white evangelical Christians, who’re amongst his most ardent supporters, despite the fact that the thrice-married former actuality TV star has an extended historical past of habits that usually appeared at odds with teachings espoused by Christ within the Gospels.
When he was working in 2016, Trump raised eyebrows when he cited “Two Corinthians” at Liberty College, as a substitute of the usual “Second Corinthians.”
When requested to share his favourite Bible verse in an interview with Bloomberg Politics in 2015, he demurred.
“I wouldn’t need to get into it. As a result of to me, that’s very private,” he stated. “The Bible means lots to me, however I don’t need to get into specifics.”
When he was president, regulation enforcement officers aggressively eliminated racial justice protesters from a park close to the White Home, permitting Trump to stroll to close by St. John’s Church, the place he stood alone and raised a Bible. The scene was condemned on the time by the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.
Earlier than he ran for workplace, Trump famously hawked every thing from frozen steaks to vodka to a enterprise named Trump College, which was later sued for fraud.