Animate funnel cake Donald Trump is using all of his considerable charms to woo evangelical voters. Lately, he’s achieving that by whipping out what he says is a Bible his mother gave him and just sort of showing it to people. He has one. He definitely has a Bible and he certainly reads it. You bet.
The Hill points out that Trump did just that in Council Bluffs, Iowa on Tuesday night, displaying his Bible in a very convincing show of faith. It’s his favorite book. Even better than his own book, the highest possible bar for print literature:
“I even brought my Bible — the evangelicals, ok?” Trump said as the rally opened. “We love the evangelicals and we’re polling so well. This Bible was given to me by my mother, going to Sunday school. … So, we love the Bible. It’s the best. We love ‘The Art of the Deal,’ but the Bible is far, far superior, yes.”
Our own Joanna Rothkopf witnessed the same profession of real-deal, heavy-artillery Christianity from Trump back in September, although he has slightly refined his sales pitch since then:
Donald Trump brought a Bible his mother gave him on stage and then didn’t refer to it for the rest of the speech. He spent a solid ten minutes talking about his polling numbers, and then at one point he said “Uch, I’m gonna do so good.” And there’s Trump’s entire campaign.
And Trump did the same thing earlier this month at the Iowa Faith and Family Coalition, thoroughly charming conservative outlet Breitbart, which noted that he held up the Bible, “a gift from his mother where she made special written notes to him,” and promised to protect Christians, who are being persecuted.
This very sincere strategy does seem to be working on at least a few faith-based voters.
Trump also managed to throw in a few bon mots about other candidates during the Council Bluffs rally: Bernie Sanders is “not even a socialist, he’s a Communist.” Hillary Clinton would be bad at being president, only partially because she’s a woman:
“Listen, listen, Madam President — can you imagine?” Trump said. “Believe me, women. If it’s got to be a woman, which I’m all in favor of some day, it shouldn’t be Hillary. It shouldn’t be. It really shouldn’t be.”
All in a day’s work for committed Christian and big-time Bible fan Donald Trump. Watch the full rally below, for a look into how one man really lives his faith. The Bible stuff is at 2:06.
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Trump in Council Bluffs, Tuesday, December 29, 2015, with his Bible. Screengrab via YouTube/Right Side Broadcasting