Democratic senator slams Trump hawking Bibles: ‘The Bible does not need his endorsement’

Democratic Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock slammed former President Donald Trump for selling Bibles saying it “doesn’t need his endorsement”.

In a video shared on Truth Social, Mr Trump urged his followers to buy the $60 Bible.

“All Americans need a Bible in their home and I have many. It’s my favourite book,” he claimed. “It's a lot of people's favourite book, I'm proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible, we must make America pray again.”

The group selling the Bibles has said it paid to license Mr Trump’s name and image, allowing Mr Trump to make money off the sales. The former president has a long history of selling his name and image for various branded products.

“The Bible does not need Donald Trump's endorsement and 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,” Reverend Warnock said on CNN on Sunday.

“The sad thing is that none of us are surprised by this. This is what we expect from the former president. If he's not selling us steaks. He's selling us a school whose degree is not worth the paper that is written on if he's not selling us a school, he's selling us sneakers and now he's trying to sell the scriptures.”

“At the end of the day. I think he's trying to sell the American people a bill of goods,” he added. “And 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 going to work in 2024.”

Rev Warnock cited Trump University, which is now defunct, and Mr Trump’s steak-selling venture, which have both faced legal problems.

On CNN, Rev Warnock said, “Donald Trump is doing what he’s always done, and this time it’s a risky bet because the folks who buy those Bibles might actually open them up, where it says things like, ‘Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not bear false witness,’ where it warns about wolves dressed up in sheep’s clothing”.

“I think you ought to be careful. This is risky business for somebody like Donald Trump,” he added.

In a lengthy Easter Sunday message, Mr Trump went after those he sees as his political and legal enemies.

“Happy Easter to all, including crooked and corrupt prosecutors and judges that are doing everything possible to interfere with the presidential election of 2024, and put me in prison, including those many people that I completely and totally despise because they want to destroy America,” he wrote in an all-caps message.

Promoting his Bibles in the video message shared on Truth Social, Mr Trump claimed that “religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country, and I truly believe that we need to bring them back”.