DC Bishop on Trump's photo-op: This was a charade
The Inconceivable Strangeness of Trump’s Bible Photo-Op
Ruth Graham of Slate wrote:
But still photography does not do justice to the utter strangeness and cynicism captured by video of the same event.
Upon arriving at the side entrance of the church building, the president paused and held the black Bible aloft in his right hand for several seconds.
He briefly answered a few questions shouted by reporters, affirming that “we have a great country” and “it’s coming back strong.”
He then walked several paces to his left to pose in front of the building’s stairway, holding the Bible with its spine out and then with its cover out, briefly glancing at the book as if in admiration.
After several seconds of further posing, he gestured to several White House officials to join him, including Bill Barr, Mark Meadows, and Kayleigh McEnany.
. . . .
Trump’s slow walk to the church was not an event that began with a photo-op.
It consisted of nothing but the photo-op itself.
The president did not give a speech at the church.
No clergy joined him.
He did not read a passage from the Bible he held.
When a reporter on the scene asked Trump if it was his own Bible, he replied, “It’s a Bible.”
The president’s personal copy of the Bible, which he used to take the oath of office, is now located at the Museum of the Bible.
It is not clear if he personally owns another copy.
Trump’s evangelical defenders generally do not claim he has a deep personal faith or even a competent grasp of Christian language and ideas.
They support him because they believe he’s on their side, not because he is one of them.
So perhaps it doesn’t matter that holding up a Bible in this manner for a photograph is not a Christian custom.
Trump’s stilted poses are just the latest example of the president’s total inability to even pretend to be a practicing Christian.
He has referred to the book of “Second Corinthians” as “Two Corinthians,” called Communion “my little wine and my little cracker,” and failed to name a favorite Bible verse.
In 2015 he told an interviewer that he had never asked for forgiveness from God.
They tear gassed a priest in the process and drove off the clergy of that very church, too.
Neither he nor anyone else had contacted any church authorities or requested permission for this, or warned anyone to clear the area.
Neither city nor church authorities were advised of anything in advance.
So, the police attacked and drove off the people, then Trump walked across Lafayette Park from the White House and stood for a moment in front of the church.
He had gathered up a bunch of minions not previously alerted, and made them walk along with him.
They did not have speaking roles.
They were all mere props, themselves.
He did not go inside the church and he did not pray and he did not make a speech.
He held up a Bible and answered a few stray questions from the press as they made videos and took stills.
Then he walked back across the park to the White House, trailing his minions.
There was no occasion to mark, no special reason for him to go stand there, with or without a Bible, with or without an entourage.
If anything, this was a less opportune moment for such a meaningless event than an ordinarily quiet Monday, given the major events of the day.
That is actually what happened.
The White House video is just video of a walk with a musical background.
Nobody says a word on the sound track.
Today, Bozo did it again at a Catholic shrine.
Washington archbishop denounces Trump visit to Catholic shrine as 'baffling' and 'reprehensible'
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