Thousands of copies of Donald Trump’s “God Bless the USA” Bible were printed in a country that the former president has repeatedly accused of stealing American jobs and engaging in unfair trade practices: China.
Global trade records reviewed by The Associated Press show a
printing company in China’s eastern city of Hangzhou shipped close to 120,000
of the Bibles to the United States earlier this year.
The estimated value of the three separate shipments was
$342,000, or less than $3 per Bible, according to databases that track exports
and imports. The minimum price for the Trump-backed Bible is $59.99, putting
the potential sales revenue at about $7 million.
The Trump Bible’s connection to China reveals a deep divide
between the former president’s harsh anti-China rhetoric and his efforts to
raise cash while campaigning.
The Trump campaign did not respond to emails and calls
seeking comment.
In a March 26 video posted on his Truth Social platform,
Trump announced a partnership with country singer Lee Greenwood to hawk the
Bibles, inspired by Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” hit song.
In the video, Trump blended religion with his campaign
message as he urged viewers to buy the Bible, which includes copies of the U.S.
Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Pledge of
Allegiance.
“This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to
bring back in America, and to make America great again, is our religion,” Trump
said.
Trump didn’t say where the “God Bless the USA” Bibles are
printed, what they cost or how much he earns per sale. A version of the $59.99
Bible memorializes the July 13 assassination attempt on the former president in
Pennsylvania. Trump’s name is stamped on the cover above the phrase, “The Day
God Intervened.”
The Bibles are sold exclusively through a website that
states it is not affiliated with any political campaign nor is it owned or
controlled by Trump.
The website states that Trump’s name and image are used
under a paid license from CIC Ventures, a company Trump reported owning in a
financial disclosure released in August. CIC Ventures earned $300,000 in Bible
sales royalties, according to the disclosure. It’s unclear if Trump has
received additional payments.
AP received no response to questions sent to the Bible
website and to a publicist for Greenwood.
For years, Trump has castigated Beijing as an obstacle to
America’s economic success, slapping hefty tariffs on Chinese imports while
president and threatening even more stringent measures if he’s elected again.
He blamed China for the COVID-19 outbreak and recently suggested, without
evidence, that Chinese immigrants are flooding the U.S. to build an “army” and
attack America.
But Trump also has an eye on his personal finances. Pitching
Bibles is one of a dizzying number of for-profit ventures he’s launched or
promoted, including diamond-encrusted watches, sneakers, photo books,
cryptocurrency and digital trading cards.
The web of enterprises has stoked conflict of interest
concerns. Selling products at prices that exceed their value may be considered
a campaign contribution, said Claire Finkelstein, founder of the nonpartisan
Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law and a law professor at the University of
Pennsylvania.
“You have to assume that everything that the individual does
is being done as a candidate and so that any money that flows through to him
benefits him as a candidate,” Finkelstein said. “Suppose Vladimir Putin were to
buy a Trump watch. Is that a campaign finance violation? I would think so.”
There’s a potentially lucrative opportunity for Trump to
sell 55,000 of the Bibles to Oklahoma after the state’s education department
ordered public schools to incorporate Scripture into lessons. Oklahoma plans to
buy Bibles that initially matched Trump’s edition: a King James Version that
contains the U.S. founding documents. The request was revised Monday to allow
the U.S. historical documents to be bound with the Bible or provided
separately.
The first delivery of Trump Bibles was labeled “God Bless
USA,” according to the information from the Panjiva and Import Genius
databases. The other two were described as “Bibles.” All the books were shipped
by New Ade Cultural Media, a printing company in Hangzhou, to Freedom Park
Design, a company in Alabama that databases identified as the importer of the
Bibles.
Tammy Tang, a sales representative for New Ade, told AP all
three shipments were “God Bless the USA” Bibles. She said New Ade received the
orders from Freedom Park Design via the WhatsApp messaging service. The books
were printed on presses near the company’s office, she said.
Freedom Park Design was incorporated in Florida on March 1.
An aspiring country singer named Jared Ashley is the company’s president. He
also co-founded 16 Creative, a marketing firm that uses the same Gulf Shores
address and processes online orders for branded merchandise.
Ashley hung up on a reporter who called to ask about the
Bibles. Greenwood is a client of 16 Creative, according to the firm’s website.
He launched the American-flag emblazoned Bible in 2021.
Religious scholars have denounced the merger of Scripture
and government documents as a “toxic mix” that would fuel Christian
nationalism, a movement that fuses American and Christian values, symbols and
identity and seeks to privilege Christianity in public life. Other critics have
called the Trump Bible blasphemous.
Tim Wildsmith, a Baptist minister who reviews Bibles on his
YouTube channel, said he quickly noticed the signs of a cheaply made book when
his “God Bless the USA” Bible arrived in the mail.
It had a faux leather cover, and words were jammed together
on the pages, making it hard to read. He also found sticky pages that ripped
when pulled apart, and there was no copyright page or information about who
printed the Bible, or where.
“I was shocked by how poor the quality of it was,” Wildsmith
said. “It says to me that it’s more about the love of money than it is the love
of our country.”
Source: Richard Lardner and Dake Kang, authors with
Associated Press. Available online PBS News October 9, 2024.
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