Donald Trump's Controversial Easter Sunday | Vanity Fair

By Eric Lutz

Donald Trump, who kicked off the holy week byhawking Biblesfor sixty bucks a pop, spent Easter Sunday mired in sacrilege—attacking his prosecutors and political foes and casting himself as a martyr in his own right. “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,” Trumpwroteon Sunday, a few hours after promoting a derangedWashington Timesopinion piece, condemning the “crucifixion of Donald Trump.”

America, Trump added, is a “FAILING NATION.” His impious Easter blessing came days after he posted a video promoting the “God Bless the USA Bible,” an edition of the religious text that includes America’s founding documents and the chorus of country singerLee Greenwood’s“God Bless the USA.” “Religion is so important. It’s so missing. But it’s gonna come back, and it’s gonna come back strong, just like our country’s gonna come back strong,” Trump said in the video, with a cynicism that would put evenFlannery O’Connor’s Bible salesmanto shame. “Let’s make America pray again.”

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It's an absurd pitch from arguably one of the least holy men in America. “This is a guy who has violated 11 of the Ten Commandments,”David Axelrod quippedtoMaureen Dowdover the weekend. But this is more than just another Trumpian grift; it’s an acknowledgment of the Christian nationalism that has long made its home in his movement and which has cast him as a kind of savior figure. “He’s definitely been chosen by God,” a supportertoldtheTimesrecently. “They’ve crucified him worse than Jesus,” said another. There’s always been a quasi-religious aspect to the Trump movement; asJeff Sharlethasreportedfor this magazine, MAGA true believers have tended to regard him as a “vessel for God.” But Trump has been perhaps even more explicit in his savior complex of late: “I’m being indicted for you,” he hastoldrally crowds recently.

Trump and his allies used the Easter holiday as an occasion to attackJoe Biden, a devout Catholic, claiming the president owes“millions of Catholics and Christians across America”an apology for recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility (even though the day has fallen on March 31 since 2009). Meanwhile, Biden, the second Catholic to be president, issued a statement honoring Easter observances: “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.” As the Rev.Benjamin Cremerput it, the presumptive GOP nominee’s “bankrupt” version of religion has less to do with the book he claims is his “favorite” and more to do with personal gain, advancing a political agenda, and justifying bad faith, dehumanizing attacks on transgender people and other targets of the right. That’s “the opposite of the Christian faith,” Democratic SenatorRaphael Warnocksaid on CNN Sunday. But Trump is “doing what he’s always done,” the Georgia pastorsaid. “This time, it’s a risky bet,” he added, “because the folks who buy those Bibles might actually open them up.”