Donald Trump – Bible salesman par excellence

by Vijaya Chandrasoma

“March Madness” is an annual ritual in the USA, the climax of the National College Basketball tournament that keeps Americans glued to their TVs for weeks. Employees in almost all offices and organizations, up to and including the White House, organize “pools” to predict the final four, the semi-finalists of this tournament, usually a monumental task. The madness regarding the events concerning Trump during March was of such confusion that it has become impossible to predict even whether America will remain a democracy after November, 2024.

Judging by the way the political rhetoric of Trump and the Republican Party is evolving, there is only one prediction that can be made with certainty: if Trump loses the election in November, if one of the many criminal trials go against him, or even if national polls show that he would be certain to lose the election, say, by September, there will be political violence, the Trump-predicted “bloodbath”. Trump has already sowed doubts about the electoral process, the cornerstone of democracy. He has also mobilized his white supremacist goons to threaten all those involved in the electoral process, election workers as well as voters, so that there may be a shortage of workers, and many voters may be too intimidated to exercise their fundamental right to vote.District Court of New York Judge Engoron, having already found Trump and his top executives guilty of financial fraud, ordered the defendants to pay a penalty of $464 million, plus interest, pending appeal, before March 31.

Trump, the impecunious billionaire, sprang into action in his customary role of snake-oil salesman, as he certainly did not have that kind of money. His earlier efforts to sell gold-painted sneakers at $400 per pair were a failure. Michael Jordan’s “Air Jordans” sold for $125 in 1990, but Trump claimed his sneakers were more valuable because he had the better jump shot.

Then he embarked on a venture he thought would be a sure-fire winner – hawking Bibles. These were no ordinary Bibles. Based on the King James version, they sold at $60 per copy, and included the text of the US constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance, “making it a convenient collection for those who are tired of having to separate their church from their state”.

An extraordinarily ignorant statement made by a former president, aspiring for a second term, who does not understand, perhaps doesn’t care, for the fundamental concept of the constitution, the very principle largely responsible for its creation – the Separation of Church and State.

Talk-show comedians had a field day, commenting on the irony of a man who has broken just about every commandment in the good book, promoting the sale of Bibles. They facetiously talk of the availability of a de-luxe edition, available at $100 per copy, with the 10 commandments redacted, a photo-shopped video clip of Jesus’ disciples storming the Herodian Temple at Jerusalem, protesting Jesus’ crucifixion, and an aesthetically pleasing, au naturel centerfold of Trump’s favorite porn star, Stormy Daniels.

Trump, in a video advertisement promoting his unique Bible, holding it right side up this time, said:

“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 this God Bless the USA Bible.

“Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country, and I truly believe that we need to bring them back fast. Christians are under siege. I want a lot of people to buy this Bible. You have to have it for your heart and your soul. It is my favorite book. I have a great many copies of the Bible in my home”.

Actually, Trump needs many copies at home, because the moment he holds one, it bursts into flames.

The sales of the Bible were far fewer than expected. But then Trump caught a break. The New York Appellate Court reduced the penalty on the fraud case to $175 million, giving him 10 days more to pay the cash/bond.

John Hankey, CEO of Knight Insurance Group in California and a Republican donor, agreed to underwrite Trump’s bond of $175 million. Hankey is known in California as “The King of Sub-Prime Loans”. His main business is the approval of high-interest loans to car buyers with poor credit, then repossessing the cars when they, as expected, defaulted. His company is alleged to repossess 750 cars a day from defaulters.

Perhaps Hankey is eyeing another lucrative business deal by underwriting Trump’s bond. In the event that Trump’s appeal is dismissed in September and he defaults on his bond, Hankey could foreclose on Trump’s assets, even Mar a Lago. But if Trump does prevail and is elected to the presidency in November, Hankey could well be a prime contender for the cabinet post of Treasury Secretary in the new Trump administration.

Trump’s legal woes do not end there. The trial of the criminal indictment against him on a hush-money payment to porn star, Stormy Daniels, is scheduled to start on April 15. This indictment is part of a broader criminal scheme, with 34 felony counts, used to illegally protect Trump’s 2016 election campaign finances.

As the trial date approaches, the first time in US history a president has faced a criminal trial, Trump has been threatening and insulting, in campaign election rallies and social media posts, court officials, witnesses and anyone vaguely connected with the case. And their families. These threats prompted presiding Judge Merchan to impose a gag order on Trump, stopping him from such threatening speech and posts. Trump immediately followed up with over 70 more threatening posts on social media, even some against Judge Merchan himself and his daughter. A new gag order issued against Trump last Wednesday will have the same result. Ordering Trump to stop using foul and threatening language is the same as ordering him to stop breathing.

It’s as if Trump is challenging the judicial authorities to jail him for contempt of court, so that he could, yet again, reinforce his claims of being the eternal victim, and incite his white trash base to violence, a ‘bloodbath”.

I have not touched on the possible threats which the proposed independent candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jnr, may bring to the table. Kennedy has publicly declared that he is running as a “spoiler”, but it is too early to predict what impact, if any, he will have on the final result. A comparison of the Easter messages of the future presidents of the USA reveals the direction the nation will be headed after 2025. The first from the incumbent president, the other from the challenger.

President Biden:

“Jill and I send our warmest wishes to Christians around the world celebrating Easter Sunday. Easter reminds us of the power of hope and the promise of Christ’s resurrection. As we gather with loved ones, we remember Jesus’ sacrifice. We pray for one another and cherish the blessing of the dawn of new possibilities.

“And with wars and conflicts taking a toll of innocent lives around the world, we renew our commitment to work for peace, security and dignity for all people.

“From our family to yours, Happy Easter, and may God bless you”.

Donald J, Trump:

“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, A NOW FAILING NATION, LIKE DERANGED JACK SMITH, WHO IS EVIL AND SICK, MRS. FANI “FAUNI” WADE …. AND LAZY ON VIOLENT CRIME ALVIN BRAGG WHO, WITH CROOKED JOE’S DOJ THUGS ILLEGALLY INDICTED ME….

“HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE”.

As a non-Christian, I will never forget the atmosphere of peace, joy and love I felt when I accompanied my Catholic ex-wife to church, especially on Easter Sunday, the most sacred of all days in Christianity. A day that not only commemorates the resurrection of Jesus, but celebrates the defeat of death and the hope of eternal salvation. But I feel deep sadness when a contemptible deviant like Trump tries to defile such a sacred day with his perverted brand of hatred and depravity.

According to current national polls Trump leads Biden within the margin of error to win the presidency in November. Trump’s lead is mainly based on two factors: one, public perception that he will handle the problem of immigration and the chaos at the southern border better than President Biden; and two, that Biden’s handling of the economy has left Americans worse off than they were four years ago.

An acute case of selective amnesia. Trump’s inhumane immigration policies four years ago included rounding up legal asylum seekers in Nazi style concentration camps, with children separated from their parents. Many of these children, victims of sex-trafficking, have disappeared from the face of the earth. He still talks about immigrants as “vermin”, who are poisoning the blood of the country.

Trump inherited a thriving economy of 72 months of continuous growth from President Obama, which he lied that he alone created. He favored enormous tax cuts to the wealthy and the corporations and deregulation of environmental protections. His incompetent, criminal mismanagement of the Covid pandemic cost nearly a million avoidable American deaths, and brought the economy to its knees.

White supremacist tribalism may have won Trump the undying support of hard-core Republicans who have transformed the Party of Lincoln into a Trumpian, phony Christian, white nationalist cult. However, the vast majority of the American electorate, moderate Republicans, Independents and Democrats do not subscribe to the authoritarian ambitions of this cult, which have cost Republicans every national election since 2016.

If Trump is elected, he himself has vowed to be a dictator (for a day!), surround himself with loyalists and treat the White House as a family business. It is obvious that Trump is desperate to win the presidency, not to serve the nation, but to keep himself out of prison and enrich himself.

Also, the Great American Experiment of Democracy will be suspended, perhaps permanently, changing beyond recognition the geopolitical landscape of the world. Future elections, if any, will be conducted according to the Russian model.

The alternative is a second presidential term of a most distinguished and decent man. President Biden, with an outstanding legislative performance in the first three years of his presidency, has resuscitated the economy and clawed America back to its rightful position in the world. Even more importantly, he has finally removed the overpowering stench of vulgarity, ignorance and treason that polluted the White House for four long years.

President Biden is 81 years-old, he will be 86 if he completes his second term. People age differently, and he has displayed his mental acuity time and again, most recently in his stirring State of the Union speech in Congress last month. In any event, the Democrats have a most competent and politically experienced Vice-President in Kamala Harris, eminently capable of taking over the presidential reins, if and when necessary.

There is no doubt in my mind that Trump will lose complete faith even in the minds of moderate Republicans as the disgraceful details of the numerous criminal trials against him gain momentum, his financial woes spin out of control and his violent rhetoric becomes even more desperately incendiary. The real danger America will face in the future would be the political violence caused by the death throes of white supremacy, and the refusal by the corporate and billionaire class to accept the inexorable path to societal and racial progress and economic justice.