# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/61 "2020-06-03T03:05:54Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > You’re not in any position to “correct” me. You stated something which was likely inaccurate. I’m not sure what professional certifications are required in order to be _ **allowed** _ to correct you. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/62 "2020-06-03T03:38:05Z")
Did you correct the poster that falsely claimed that tear gas was used? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/63 "2020-06-03T04:00:15Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Did you correct the poster that falsely claimed that tear gas was used? You mean the witness quoted in post #38? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/64 "2020-06-03T04:05:09Z")
What about the USPP statement? > **[Dozens of USPP officers hurt in violent demonstrations](https://www.cbs19news.com/story/42203554/dozens-of-uspp-officers-hurt-in-violent-demonstrations)** > > Demonstrations occurred in Lafayette Park and across the National Mall over the weekend. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/65 "2020-06-03T04:05:22Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > You’re not in any position to “correct” me. > > That being said, RT seems to think that a cease and desist order could be possible. It’s not. Reportedly, the police cleared not only the street outside the church but also part of the church property itself. Presumably the church has some interest it can assert to obtain relief from or an inunction against action like that which does affect the church’s property. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/66 "2020-06-03T04:07:35Z")
Not about using a picture of the building on a public street, though. ---
**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 3, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/67 "2020-06-03T13:18:55Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Did you correct the poster that falsely claimed that tear gas was used? > [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Not about using a picture of the building on a public street, though. Don’t change the subject. Do you concede that St. John’s is private property, in direct contrast to your earlier claim? ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/68 "2020-06-03T13:57:03Z")
He was holding the Bible upside down and backwards. Most Bibles say “Holy Bible” or something similar on the front and that Bible he held was blank. Also you can see the red bookmarks hanging down. They come out the top of a Bible. If I were a religious person I would think he really is the Antichrist. ---
**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 3, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/69 "2020-06-03T14:11:00Z")
> [@mistymage](#): > > He was holding the Bible upside down and backwards. Most Bibles say “Holy Bible” or something similar on the front and that Bible he held was blank. Also you can see the red bookmarks hanging down. They come out the top of a Bible. > > If I were a religious person I would think he really is the Antichrist. I thought the same thing. But just before he holds it up, you can see the printing on the spine and it’s clearly being held rightside up and the front is facing the camera. Shocking, I know. The bookmarks are likely oriented that way to match his tie. ---
**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 3, 2020, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/70 "2020-06-03T14:17:44Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Did you correct the poster that falsely claimed that tear gas was used? You need to consider that your sources of information are not telling you the whole history for a reason. > **['They're Afraid': GOP Ripped for Enabling Trump as McConnell Blocks...](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/03/theyre-afraid-gop-ripped-enabling-trump-mcconnell-blocks-resolution-condemning)** > > "They're afraid of Donald Trump. And that leads to Donald Trump getting worse and worse and worse. It's appalling." > [@](#): > > Soldiers from the D.C. National Guard and the U.S. Park Police moved on the peaceful protesters, beating them with batons and firing tear gas into crowds, as Trump delivered an incendiary and militaristic speech in the Rose Garden of the White House—remarks that Democratic lawmakers condemned as a fascistic “declaration of war” against the public. > > The U.S. Park Police subsequently claimed that despite numerous witness accounts, tear gas was not used against the demonstrators—a denial that has been touted by the Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign. But as Vox’s Alex Ward reported Tuesday, the narrative does not stand up to scrutiny. > > “Nathan Baca, a reporter for WUSA9 in Washington, D.C., picked up a canister used during the Monday assault. It’s not a smoke canister, but it does launch ‘OC’ gas which ‘Causes same tears, tight breath and comes out green,’” Ward wrote. “Other journalists who covered the protests in person that evening say without a doubt that law enforcement used tear gas, a chemical irritant that can cause those exposed to it to want to vomit.” > **[No law enforcement agency admits to using tear gas Monday, but tear gas...](https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/tear-gas-washington-dc-protests-st-johns-church/65-7e9a67c7-e40b-47a2-8060-3f7d908139dd)** > > WUSA9's Nathan Baca experienced first hand what was used when U.S. Park Police cleared Lafayette Square amid protests over George Floyd's death. So, it causes the same tears, same symptoms, but it is green and it has a different name, therefore it is OK… :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/71 "2020-06-03T14:44:49Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Not about using a picture of the building on a public street, though. Yes, a picture taken of a building from a public street or sidewalk is perfectly legal. I can wander my neighborhood taking pix as much as I like. However, as **running coach** pointed out, _publishing_ the photo has the implication that the church endorses Trump’s action. IANAL but I’m thinking it could be blocked on that ground. Otherwise he could get a photo-op in front of some state capitol giving that smirky thumb-up he loves to do and run it in a campaign ad, “Look! The governor and legislature of [state] love me! You should, too.” ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/72 "2020-06-03T16:49:25Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Yes, a picture taken of a building from a public street or sidewalk is perfectly legal. I can wander my neighborhood taking pix as much as I like. However, as **running coach** pointed out, _publishing_ the photo has the implication that the church endorses Trump’s action. IANAL but I’m thinking it could be blocked on that ground. > > Otherwise he could get a photo-op in front of some state capitol giving that smirky thumb-up he loves to do and run it in a campaign ad, “Look! The governor and legislature of [state] love me! You should, too.” Or I could stand on the street in front of a Trump hotel, holding up my 50-count bed linens, and proclaiming, “Luxury-hotel-quality sheets!” ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/73 "2020-06-04T01:29:26Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Not too long after that, I went to an online Episcopal compline service. The priest was visibly upset, dispersing protestors in that manner just for a publicity opportunity. my in laws are also Episcopalian, and I was chatting with my mom in law this morning and she had just gotten done with a zoom meeting of the whatever she called it [non whatevered civilian church members that are like a board of directors?] and everybody is ripping pissed about it. She figures he has pretty much alienated a rather high percent of the religious population over that shit. She put it more delicately, me? I am more the grammar of a pissed off drunken marine type =) ---
**Author:** ![drivekiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@drivekiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drivekiller)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/74 "2020-06-04T01:41:40Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > … It’s difficult to believe that anyone really believes Trump is a Christian… Nobody, except possibly the most simple-minded, has ever believed that Trump is a Christian. But evangelicals do say that he is advancing their interests. It’s like that time a realtor bought up half a block of houses in my neighborhood and boarded them up while waiting for the historical preservation review. Nobody thought the crackheads who burnt them down had any connection to the developer, but he was plenty happy with the damage. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/75 "2020-06-04T02:20:06Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > The fact that Melania brought the Bible from the White House in [a designer handbag](https://twitter.com/rebeccaballhaus/status/1267899055025381380) is a bit on the nose. I just want to point out that it was the OTHER Ms. Trump that transported the Bible in her purse. > **[Perspective | Trump’s photo with his loyalists was a vulgar mess. And Ivanka...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/trumps-photo-with-his-loyalists-was-a-vulgar-mess-and-ivanka-brought-a-handbag/2020/06/02/af44d0ee-a4e8-11ea-b619-3f9133bbb482_story.html)** > > The president’s photo op at St. John’s Episcopal Church was a whole new level of strange costuming. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/76 "2020-06-04T04:36:59Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > So, it causes the same tears, same symptoms, but it is green and it has a different name, therefore it is OK… I never said it was OK. Don’t put words in my mouth. Since it’s not teargas, why are some news outlets, and not a few people on this board, saying it was? ---
**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 4, 2020, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/77 "2020-06-04T04:44:03Z")
I think “teargas” is being used as a generic term in this instance. Kinda like how some people would say that someone was carrying mace instead of pepper spray or o/c. It’s functionally the same. It causes the same reaction. For all intents and purposes, it’s the same thing with a different name. Why quibble about the nomenclature instead of the actual usage? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/78 "2020-06-04T04:52:32Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I think “teargas” is being used as a generic term in this instance. Kinda like how some people would say that someone was carrying mace instead of pepper spray or o/c. > > It’s functionally the same. It causes the same reaction. For all intents and purposes, it’s the same thing with a different name. > > Why quibble about the nomenclature instead of the actual usage? Should the news be reporting the actual facts? ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/79 "2020-06-04T05:03:57Z")
The usual bootlickers are eating this up. [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/03/donald-trump-church-photo-op-evangelicals](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/03/donald-trump-church-photo-op-evangelicals) > [@](#): > > Horbowy already supported Trump politically – he heads the local chapter of a pro- Trump motorcycle club and is campaigning for a seat in Florida’s state senate – but when Trump lifted the Bible, Horbowy and his family felt overcome spiritually. > > “My mother started crying. She comes from Pentecostal background, and she started speaking in tongues. I haven’t heard her speak in tongues in years,” he said. “I thought, look at my president! He’s establishing the Lord’s kingdom in the world.” > > Did he feel that conflicted with the Gospel of John, where Jesus said “my kingdom is not of this world”? > > “Well,” Horbowy said, “that’s a philosophical question.” > > After watching Trump’s gesture, Horbowy changed his Facebook profile photo to one of Trump outside St John’s, with added rays of light emanating from the Bible. “It was the coolest thing he could do. What more could he do, wear blue jeans and ride in on a horse?” he said. > > The catalyst for the protests was the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Asked about that, Horbowy said, “There’s a Bible verse that says we shouldn’t talk about evil things. We can just say, ‘There’s evil’ and move on.” > > He couldn’t remember the exact verse, he 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 4, 2020, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885/80 "2020-06-04T05:06:13Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > I never said it was OK. Don’t put words in my mouth. > > Since it’s not teargas, why are some news outlets, and not a few people on this board, saying it was? Sorry, but here you are indeed declaring that it was then ok to use, otherwise you would had accepted what other experts reported and condemned the ones that misled you. This point is crucial because I did not refer to you but to the asinine talking point the White House and right wing media used to misled many of their readers or viewers. > **[Trump Campaign Says ‘Tear Gas’ Wasn’t Used To Clear Protesters. CDC...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/06/02/trump-campaign-says-tear-gas-wasnt-used-to-clear-protesters-cdc-guidelines-say-otherwise/#130b9f981b69)** > > U.S. Parks Police admitted to using smoke canisters and pepper balls, which contain pepper spray, on a group of protesters. > [@](#): > > The spokesman pointed to a statement from the U.S. Parks Police, which said officers did not use tear gas and instead deployed “smoke canisters and pepper balls” on a group of “combative” protesters after they “continued to throw projectiles, and attempted to grab officers’ weapons.” > > According to a fact sheet from the CDC, “tear gas” can be used as an umbrella term for various non-lethal riot control agents, including pepper spray. > > According to multiple reports, the protests were largely peaceful until police officers used flash grenades and irritants to clear the group. > > The conservative website The Federalist published a story Tuesday declaring the media “falsely claimed” tear gas was used against protesters—which Trump then retweeted—but no major media outlet has issued a retraction. This BTW is in the end a distraction, the key thing to not miss is that to get that idiotic photo op, Trump and henchmen decided to remove the first amendment rights of protesters and even remove church members from the premises for propaganda purposes. To see people still supporting this administration is the real scandal. And it is really silly to deny why it is used even if one grants the dumb talking point of not being tear gas, it is used not to get people to cry tears of joy or to gasp for air in admiration of the ones that remove the rights of the people and even the religious ones. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-religious-pandering/854885.md?page=5)