It always amazes me how art imitates life. There’s a great story by Flannery O’Connor, “Good Country People.” The story is about an atheist, Joy, who has a phd in philosophy, falls for a bible salesman, Manly Pointer. Manly seduces Joy, and while he’s making moves on her in a loft of a barn, he asks to see her artificial leg. Joy shows the leg and he ends up stealing it, leaving the one-legged woman to wonder what just happened? It’s one of O’Connor’s greatest literary pieces and illustrates the dangers of gullibility in a cruel world.
A New York judge has ordered former President Donald Trump to pay $450 million for tax fraud in the state of New York. That’s $350 million dollars Trump made as a result of investments and another $154 million for interest. The president who claims to be a billionaire and has the money refuses to pay. He has stepped up efforts to raise funds through his campaign website, seeking donations for legal fees, and the Republican party has obliged in helping him anyway it can. I find it more than ironic that Donald Trump has resorted to selling bibles. Trump’s legal bills have inspired more than its share of creativity in figuring out how to pay them. This is a new one, though.
The last time Trump picked up a bible in public was after George Floyd’s death. Protesters were out in full force in Lafayette Square. Trump ordered the area cleared and his staff obliged by dispersing the crowd by throwing cannisters of tear gas into the crowd. When he arrived outside of St. John’s Episcopal church the smell of pepper spray was still fresh. The president stood next to a sign that read “All Are Welcome.” He raised a bible that was handed to him by his daughter Ivanka and answered only one question from the media. “Is that your bible?” a reporter asked.
“It is a bible.”
It was a perfect visual for the president. Show the public that he is a Christian man who cares deeply about race relations and unity in our country. In the meantime, all would be forgotten about what happened in Charlotteville, Virginia a year or so before, when white nationalists carried tiki torches to protest and “unite the right” as they protested the removal of confederate monuments. One person was killed as a white nationalist ran through a crowd of protesters with his car. In the aftermath of the event, the president claimed “there were good people on both sides.”
…
Trump’s seduction of the Republican party is ironic. There are those never Trumpers who have reconciled with him and smile as they endorse him. These are the same people whose lives were threatened on January 6thand had to go into hiding for fear of their lives. Now they are in fear of losing their political lives if they do not endorse him.
The “party of law enforcement” has a short memory. Trump recently paid his respects to a fallen officer in New York. He has called the people who were arrested on January 6th “political prisoners”; the same people who used Trump flagpoles to stab capitol police officers defending the Capitol and desecrated the halls of the Capitol as they sought out VP Mike Pence who was there to certify the election. Officers died in the aftermath of January 6th. It’s the first time in history that a president tried to force another branch of government to bend to his will.
Trump, now a bible salesman, is stealing the leg of Democracy and Republicans are watching him do it. The religious hypocrites are out in full force these days. They’ve managed to justify supporting and some are calling him the Messiah appointed by God to do so. I guess they missed the part in Scripture that talks about idol worship and worshipping false Gods.
There’s a meme out on social media that says: “The guy who cheats on his wife, mocks the disabled, laughs at veterans and steals from charities is selling a bible during holy week.”
The former president has three other cases pending throughout the country. One is for election fraud in Georgia. Another is for his stealing of classified documents and housing them at his resort in Mar Lago, Florida and the last one is regarding the attempt to disrupt the certification of ballots on January 6th.
Trump’s selling the “patriotic bibles” for $59.95. The last bible I purchased at a religious education convention cost me $5.95. That’s a markup of $54. There are organizations who will give you one for free if you’re so inclined and willing to open its pages. There are some good passages to read there.
Christians supporting Trump may want to take a look at Matthew 25 “The Judgement of Nations.” There’s a line in there that says, “Whatsoever you do to the least of these, you do unto me.” You can take that as literal or figurative, but the message is clear. Jesus is calling us to act justly. If you read the rest of the passage, he gives us clear instructions on how to treat the most vulnerable. “Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked. Visit the sick and those in prison. Welcome the stranger.”
For $59.95, you, too can own a piece of God’s great advice. I only wonder if some of us are willing to take it. If you buy Trump’s “patriotic bible,” I got some swamp land in Florida to sell you or possibly some good real estate in New York.
spirit beat 