Senator Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat and Baptist pastor, told CNN's Dana Bash on Easter Sunday that "the Bible doesn't need Donald Trump's endorsement."

The former president announced on social media on Tuesday that he is selling the "God Bless the USA Bible" published by singer-songwriter Lee Greenwood for $60.
The Context:

During his successful 2016 presidential campaign, Trump garnered 60 percent of the White Catholic vote and 58 percent of the Protestant or other Christian vote, according to the Pew Research Center.

Trump, who is the presumed 2024 Republican presidential nominee, posted a video on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday to advertise his latest business venture.

"All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many—it's my favorite book," he said in the video. "I'm proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible, we must make America pray again."

What We Know:

Warnock compared Trump selling Bibles to the cleansing of the Temple narrative in the Bible.

"Jesus, in the very last week of his life, chased the money changers out of the Temple—those who would take sacred things and use them as cheap relics to be sold in the marketplace," Warnock said. "The sad thing is that none of us are surprised by this. This is what we expect from the former president."

The Georgia senator claimed that Trump is trying to sell a bill of goods, which are misleading or deceptive claims.

"At the end of the day, I think he's trying to sell the people a bill of goods," Warnock said. "That worked in 2016, although he did not win the popular vote even in 2016. It did not work in 2020. And I don't think it's gonna work in 2024."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's spokesman via email for comment.

Views:

While Trump's Bible pitch was well received among his supporters with people showing off their recently purchased Bibles and sharing images depicting Trump in a holy setting, he did receive backlash on social media and was mocked on Saturday Night Live.

Tara Setmayer, a senior adviser for The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump political action committee, called it "more blasphemous grift" on X, formerly Twitter, adding, "There's NOTHING 'holy' about selling Bibles 'endorsed by Trump.'"

The latest episode of Saturday Night Live began with comedian James Austin Johnson as Trump saying that it's Easter, the "time of year when I compare myself to Jesus Christ."

He added: "That's just a thing I do now and people seem to be OK with it. I'm gonna keep doing it. And if you think that this is a bad look, imagine how weird it would be if I started selling Bibles. Well, I'm selling Bibles."

Greenwood defended the "God Bless the USA Bible" on Newsmax on Sunday, saying, "The reason we have this Bible is to make sure more people have it accessible. If you have this Bible today, you'll be able to actually find out how our country got started."

The Bible includes the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance.

What's Next?

November will likely be a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden, the Democratic incumbent.

Trump seems to be vying for the Christian vote. In the Iowa Republican caucuses, which Trump won with 51 percent of the vote, the former president improved by 35 percentage points in the most evangelical counties. In 2016, Trump got 23 percent of the vote among the highest share of evangelicals, meanwhile, in 2024, he got 58 percent.

It's still unclear how Christians and Catholics will vote in the general election since Biden is a Catholic himself. However, Trump's legal woes could taint his image.

Trump has been accused of trying to steal the 2020 election on the federal and state level, obstructing the government's efforts to retrieve mishandled classified documents, and accused of falsifying business records relating to hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign to keep her quiet about an affair she claimed to have with Trump in the early 2000s. The former president has denied he had an affair with Daniels.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and claimed that the cases are politically motivated against him. He has also continued to claim that the 2020 election was actually stolen from him despite there being no evidence of this.