Trump-endorsed Bible is little more than a shameless money grab
Bible’s website also promotes survival and military-like gear
I’m not sure which is more offensive, Donald Trump using the Bible as a prop in a shameless money grab, or Donald Trump using the Bible as a prop to promote a warped theo-political philosophy based on fear. And all that during Holy Week.
That sales of the God Bless the USA Bible, which Trump endorsed this week, is at its heart little more than a money grab is obvious. The publisher — an unknown entity known only as God Bless the USA Bible, an entity that on its website lists no address nor phone number — is selling the Bible for $59.99.
The only thing that makes it different from other King James Version Bibles — a translation in the U.S. public domain that requires no payment of royalties — is that it includes a copy of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. Oh, yeah, and a page with handwritten lyrics to the chorus of “God Bless the USA,” that jingoistic political anthem that is often played at Trump rallies.
The $59.99 price tag is outrageous. You won’t get the political documents with them, but you can buy KJV Bibles at Amazon.com beginning at $0.99. Costs for a KJV Bible with an imitation leather cover start at $6.29. Quality Bibles that people will actually use for years — for example, a modern-language New King James Version with a sturdy imitation-leather binding published by Thomas Nelson — can be had for $19 to $22, depending on the color of the cover.
Unless you’re looking for something special, such as a Bible with extensive study notes, extra-large print for the vision-impaired, or one with a genuine leather cover, you’ll have a hard time spending more than $30 for a Bible at Amazon.
And from what we can tell about this Bible, there’s nothing special about it except that it’s endorsed by Trump and by Lee Greenwood, singer of that treacly patriotic song.1
Buyers willing to pay two or three times the going rate for a Bible should be aware that they know nothing about physical quality of this book. Throughout its website, God Bless the USA Bible says nothing about the physical nature of the book, except that it is slim and printed in double columns with large type. Does it have a cardboard cover, fake leather or real leather? We don’t know. Is it made to last a long time? God Bless the USA Bible doesn’t claim even that much. It does acknowledge in an FAQ, however, that readers may have problems with the gold-gilded pages sticking together.
We do know that God Bless the USA Bible says that all sales are final. It will replace the Bible if it is damaged in shipping, but otherwise it explicitly is not guaranteeing satisfaction with the physical quality of the Bible itself.
In a word, the $59.99 book is a ripoff. If you want a Bible, and it’s a book well worth reading, go to your local bookstore and save yourself more than a few bucks.
Trump pitch, website promote the politics of fear
The way Trump is promoting the Bible is just as concerning. Most people who read the Bible do so as a way of learning about their faith, of enhancing their connection with God, or of finding peace or comfort in troubled times. The fact that the promotional videos on the God Bless the USA Bible website are preceded by ads for survival gear and military-like items, such as a flashlight so powerful it can set items on fire, indicates that the publisher doesn’t really have spiritual comfort in mind.
And neither does Trump. Oh, his endorsement does call on God to bless America. But the reason America needs God’s blessings is because of the country’s Judeo-Christian heritage “is under attack perhaps as never before.”
Indeed, his endorsement is based on fear. Among other things, Trump says:
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 must defend God in the public square and not allow the media or the left-wing groups to silence, censor or discriminate against us. We have to bring Christianity back into our lives and back into what will be again a great nation.
Of course, Trump also urges his listeners to “stand with me” in defending God and making America great again.
Trump’s promotion of himself as a savior of sorts sounds a lot like the idolatry that the Bible condemns. But what else is to be expected from a Bible that seems to raise political documents to the same level as writings that have been revered by believers for centuries?
There is some good news that can be found on the website, however. As of yesterday, God Bless the USA Bible was telling buyers that they would need to wait four to six weeks because of high demand. But now the Bibles are available for immediate shipping. Does this mean the Bibles aren’t selling as well as Trump and Greenwood had hoped? Let’s hope so.
Greenwood is possibly an investor in the Bible company; what is known with certainty is that he has been working to get a patriotic Bible published for at least three years. Trump is not an investor; presumably was paid for his endorsement, although it is not publicly known how much or if his payment is tied to sales. Greenwood tried a few years ago to get a major Christian publisher, the HarperCollins imprint Zondervan, to publish a patriotic Bible that he would promote, but Zondervan turned him down after legitimate authors who had written for Zondervan protested the idea of a Bible with Christian nationalist overtones.