Trump endorses line of Bibles -- after selling shoes, NFTs and more
Ahead of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, former President Donald Trump is promoting the "God Bless the USA Bible," his latest venture in the long list of branded merchandise that the real estate mogul and former reality TV star has profited from throughout his political career -- and before.
"Inspired by" country musician Lee Greenwood's song "God Bless the USA," the Bible is being sold for $59.99 and is described on its website as "the only Bible endorsed by President Trump."
In addition to the King James version of the Bible, the book features a "handwritten chorus to 'God Bless the USA,'" the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance, its website states.
According to its site, this Bible is "not owned, managed or controlled" by Trump, the Trump Organization or his affiliated entities.
Instead, it uses Trump's "name, likeness and image under paid license" through his licensing company, meaning Trump gets a cut of the Bible's profits -- a familiar arrangement for the former president.
The new product, however, is "not political" and "has nothing to do with any political campaign," according to the website, and its proceeds don't go to the 2024 Trump campaign.
The Biden campaign responded to Trump's latest brand deal by labeling him "a fraud."
"The choice for voters this November is clear: Joe Biden who cares about delivering for the American people, or Donald Trump who cares only about delivering for himself," Biden spokesman Ammar Moussa contended to ABC News.
Trump, for his part, has argued that his business success is part of what makes him a good politician.
It's not yet known how much money Trump has made or will make from this branded Bible, and it's not yet clear who actually owns or manages the sales, other than that the website is copyrighted to an entity named "2024 God Bless the USA Bible."
Promoting the Bible in a video posted on his social media platform, Trump said, "All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many."
"It's my favorite book; it's a lot of people's favorite book," he continued. "This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back America, to make America great again, is our religion."
Trump has attested to his affinity for the Bible before, including in 2015. In an interview then, however, he demurred about his favorite verse because "the Bible means a lot to me, but I don't want to get into specifics."
In a speech in 2016, he called one of the books of the Bible "Two Corinthians" -- when it is more commonly known as Second Corinthians. He blamed that slip on bad notes he was given.
The former president, who spent most of his adult life as a headline-making businessman and then TV star, has often seized opportunities to make profits out of branded partnerships -- regardless of how unexpected or how successful, like a previous line of briefly sold "Trump Steaks."
Such ventures are drawing new attention as he faces large financial pressures, having to post a $175 million bond to cover a civil fraud judgment in New York that he denies while separately dealing with a significant financial campaign cash disadvantage against rival Joe Biden.
Some Christians criticized Trump for commodifying the Bible, stressing the possibility of his profit from the venture going to help pay his legal bills amid his snowballing legal battles could offend some of his religious supporters.
Anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project on Wednesday resurfaced an ad it ran back in 2022 that accused of Trump raising money from his supporters and using the money for his personal businesses, saying the Bible is "his latest grift to fund his hundreds of millions in legal costs - as if Trump has ever read a page of the bible in his life."
The new Bible he is promoting is not the only unusual merchandise he is making time to spotlight on the campaign trail.
Just last month, Trump unveiled a similarly licensed merchandise at SneakerCon in Philadelphia -- a golden "Never Surrender High-Top" featuring a "T" badge, wrapped with an American flag on the collar.
That appearance was the latest example of Trump's campaign mixing with his business ventures, where he autographed a few of the high-top sneakers and took the stage to tout them as he delivered campaign remarks.
The gold "Never Surrender High-Top" sneakers were sold online for $399.99, along with other Trump-branded shoes and fragrances.
Similarly to the God Bless the USA Bible, the Trump shoes and fragrances were licensed to use his name and trademarks but not designed, manufactured, distributed or sold by Trump and the Trump Organization, according to the "Trump Sneakers" website.
Both the God Bless the USA Bible and the Trump sneakers were licensed to use Trump's branding through a company named CIC Ventures LLC, which, according to Trump's financial disclosure report, is owned 100% by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust.
CIC Ventures LLC, which reportedly stands for "Commander In Chief Ventures," is the same entity through which Trump appears to have received millions of dollars in royalties for the book "Our Journey Together," a compilation of photos by Trump's official White House photographer, published by Gold Standard Publishing LLC and sold by Donald Trump Jr. co-founded publishing company Winning Team Publishing.
In the former president's financial disclosures, the royalties are disclosed under the name "A MAGA Journey," which was the book's original title.
Donald Trump also collects millions of dollars in speaking engagement fees through CIC Ventures LLC every year, his disclosure reports show.
According to its entity registration filing in Florida, CIC Ventures was once managed by former Trump White House aide Nick Luna and is currently represented by Trump attorney John B. Marion.
Trump and his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, together have also raked in at least $700,000 from Trump-branded digital trading cards -- which are a version of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. Some of the Trumps' digital trading cards resemble him as cartoon characters, such as a superhero, whereas Melania Trump's cards feature watercolor paintings of her as well as flowers.
Last year, amid Donald Trump's mounting criminal charges -- all of which he denies -- he capitalized on his indictment in Georgia by promoting digital trading cards featuring his booking photo from the Fulton County Jail for $99 each.
The website on which the cards were sold also offered an option for some customers to potentially win a physical trading card featuring a piece of the suit he wore for the booking photo as well as an opportunity to have dinner with him at his Mar-a-Lago club.
The trading card website said the cards were not affiliated with the campaign. But the mug shot from Fulton County is something the Trump campaign has capitalized on, too -- raising more than $9 million within days of the release of the photo by selling various merchandise like coffee mugs, T-shirts and posters.
Over the years, Donald Trump has raked in profits from licensing his trademark in multiple other businesses, including projects in foreign countries like China, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
