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Former President Donald Trump is endorsing but not selling a $59.99 Bible edition that weds America’s founding documents to the Scriptures.
“I’m proud to be partnering with my very good friend Lee Greenwood — who doesn’t love his song ‘God Bless the USA’? — in connection with promoting the ‘God Bless the USA Bible,’” Mr. Trump says in a roughly three-minute video posted on his Truth Social website.
“All Americans need a Bible in their home and I have many,” he says. “It’s my favorite book. It’s a lot of people’s favorite book; this Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back America and to make America great again is our religion.”
“I think you all should get a copy of [the] ‘God Bless the USA Bible’ now and help spread our Christian values with others,” he says in the post.
The video was accompanied by text, saying: “Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless The USA Bible.”
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Mr. Trump “is now selling Bibles as he runs to return to the White House,” but the website selling the Bible states that neither Mr. Trump nor his campaign will receive a portion of the sales.
However, the Bible’s publishers said they are using “Donald J. Trump‘s name, likeness and image under paid license from CIC Ventures LLC.”
A publicist for Mr. Greenwood did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Bible marries the King James Version text with copies of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and a reproduction of the handwritten lyrics to “God Bless the USA.” The Bible was first published in 2021.
Initial reports indicated the New International Version Bible translation would be used, but publisher Zondervan said that text was never licensed for the project.
In Tuesday’s video, Mr. Trump seeks to broaden the product’s reach.
“I want to have a lot of people [to] have it,” Mr. Trump says. “You have to have it for your heart, for your soul.”
Of those founding documents, he says: “Many of you have never read them and don’t know the liberties and rights you have as Americans and how you are being threatened to lose those rights. It’s happening all the time.”
Mr. Trump has used the 40-year-old Greenwood song as his “walk up” song at campaign rallies in 2016 and 2020. That connection led critics such as John Morehead, an evangelical Christian, to say the 2021 publication was a “Trump Bible” long before any endorsement by the 45th president.
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