# Trump's religious pandering **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 1, 2020, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885 "2020-06-01T23:55:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/21 "2020-06-02T12:59:04Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > His base will love it Probably, but at this point he’s trying to convince people who aren’t his base to vote for him. His base is already represented in the polls giving him a 6-10 point loss. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/22 "2020-06-02T13:05:30Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > That’d have to be some pretty dramatic lighting. :smack: Perhaps directly from beneath. For that dramatically evil effect. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/23 "2020-06-02T13:20:25Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > That’d have to be some pretty dramatic lighting. Maybe a klieg light will fall on him. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/24 "2020-06-02T13:36:50Z")
That’s comedic lighting. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/25 "2020-06-02T13:57:40Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Now that’s smiting I can get behind! 😛 Go up, you chrome dome. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/26 "2020-06-02T14:08:21Z")
FOX “news” reported that Marco Rubio defended the president bizarre trip to the church and the removal of protesters, and the rubber bullets and tear gas thrown at them I may add, by claiming that the protesters stayed next to the church after the curfew time of 7:00. Time magazine and others report that the bullets and tear gas from the police started falling on the crowd just right after 6:30 and 15 minutes before 7:00. > **[Inside the push to tear-gas protesters ahead of a presidential photo op](https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2020/06/01/inside-the-push-to-tear-gas-protesters-ahead-of-a-presidential-photo-op/)** > > Trump was eager to show that the nation’s capital - and especially his own downtown swath of it - was under control. There was just one problem: the throngs of protesters, ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/27 "2020-06-02T14:19:07Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > FOX “news” reported that Marco Rubio defended the president bizarre trip to the church and the removal of protesters, and the rubber bullets and tear gas thrown at them I may add, by claiming that the protesters stayed next to the church after the curfew time of 7:00. > > Time magazine and others report that the bullets and tear gas from the police started falling on the crowd just right after 6:30 and 15 minutes before 7:00. > > [Inside the push to tear-gas protesters ahead of a presidential photo op - Anchorage Daily News](https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2020/06/01/inside-the-push-to-tear-gas-protesters-ahead-of-a-presidential-photo-op/) Given Pence’s conspicuous absence from Trump’s Via DoloRacist walk, Little Marco must have had the VP positions waved under his nose and taken a long, deep inhale. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/28 "2020-06-02T14:20:17Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > :smack: > > Perhaps directly from beneath. For that dramatically evil effect. Well, he said there are lots of ways to get light into the body to kill COVID. Hope they use a 5 cell Mag Light on him. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/29 "2020-06-02T14:26:10Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Well, he said there are lots of ways to get light into the body to kill COVID. Hope they use a 5 cell Mag Light on him. Some have the light of greatness shone upon them. Others must have it thrust within them. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/30 "2020-06-02T14:31:00Z")
I think that the video of the police assaulting the Australian news crew and other protestors as they were trying to leave is the most disturbing thing I’ve seen in a very long time. We are in a lot of trouble. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/31 "2020-06-02T14:41:21Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > … Via DoloRacist walk… WHOA! :eek: Good one. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/32 "2020-06-02T14:47:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Some do. I’ve encountered them. They argue that the bad stuff is all the media taking him out of context. They spread memes that make him out to be Christian. They repeat the lies by the preachers who are using him as a useful idiot as if they were true. Or they believe in Q-Anon crap that he’s secretly fooling the godless liberals for some greater purpose. > > I mean, there’s a reason that guy made those painting with Jesus and Trump together–while painting him as opposing Obama like an antichrist. > > Just because those in charge understand doesn’t mean they aren’t manipulating people under them. It’s kinda what these types do. A friend of mine not only believes this, but has said on numerous occasions that any sins/trespasses Trump had committed prior to his 2016 campaign don’t matter, because they were before God chose him (Biden’s, of course, matter because he’d always had a career in politics, so he was already in the public eye). ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/33 "2020-06-02T14:54:18Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > WHOA! :eek: > > Good one. Thanks. Just came up with it. 🙂 I release it into the public domain. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/34 "2020-06-02T15:14:17Z")
I wonder if anyone has made up a bible quote of Jesus encouraging violence? I wonder how many would believe it? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/35 "2020-06-02T15:18:39Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I think that the video of the police assaulting the Australian news crew and other protestors as they were trying to leave is the most disturbing thing I’ve seen in a very long time. > > We are in a lot of trouble. We’ve _been_ in trouble since November 2016. It’s just becoming more obvious. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/36 "2020-06-02T15:22:49Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I wonder if anyone has made up a bible quote of Jesus encouraging violence? I wonder how many would believe it? [Matthew 10:34](https://biblehub.com/kjv/matthew/10-34.htm) > [@](#): > > Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. Of course, it would be taken out of context. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/37 "2020-06-02T15:27:27Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Probably, but at this point he’s trying to convince people who aren’t his base to vote for him. His base is already represented in the polls giving him a 6-10 point loss. He’s incapable of reaching anyone but his base. If he can stoke white fear of blacks enough, and suppress voting, that might be enough to get him re-elected. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/38 "2020-06-02T15:34:28Z")
Not news but another good [contemporaneous account by priest at St. John’s](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/priest-kicked-off-church-property-for-trump-photo-they-turned-holy-ground-into-a-battleground): > [@](#): > > Rev. Gini Gerbasi, an Episcopal priest in D.C., said that federal police used tear gas to expel her and other people from St. John’s Episcopal Church property to make way for President Donald Trump’s photo-op staged there on Monday evening. > “They turned holy ground into a battleground,” Gerbasi told Religion News Service. > > The priest, who said she was wearing her clerical clothing at the time, described how the police had breached church grounds and began spraying tear gas, effectively chasing out her seminarian, herself and others on the church patio from the premises. > > “The police in their riot gear with their black shields and the whole bit start pushing on to the patio of St. John’s Lafayette Square,” Gerbasi said. > > The priest told Religion News that she was unaware of the reason for the violent expulsion until after the President began the photo-op, during which he held up a Bible without bothering to enter the church itself. > > “That’s what it was for: to clear that patio so that man could stand in front of that building with a Bible,” she said. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/39 "2020-06-02T15:53:42Z")
\*\*QuickSilver \*\*was faster indeed, I was going to link to that report. A bit more from it: > [@](#): > > The photo opportunity had an eerie quality: Trump said relatively little, positioned stoically in front of the boarded-up church, which had been damaged the day before in a fire during protests sparked by the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis. > > The church appeared to be completely abandoned. > > It was, in fact, abandoned, but not by choice: Less than an hour before Trump’s arrival, armored police used tear gas to clear hundreds of peaceful demonstrators from Lafayette Square park, which is across the street from the church. > > Authorities also expelled at least one Episcopal priest and a seminarian from the church’s patio. Man, everything Trump touches dies… [Trump reportedly demanded his church photo op because he didn’t like being mocked for hiding from protests in a bunker](https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-church-photo-op-in-fury-at-bunker-mockery-reports-2020-6?utm_source=reddit.com) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/40 "2020-06-02T18:47:29Z")
Trump’s attempt at piety reminds me of this scene from Richard III (Act 3, Scene 7). [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Cjtlr9HML5s/hqdefault.jpg "20150929 192446") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjtlr9HML5s) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885.md?page=3)