Q: Why is Donald Trump suddenly selling $60 bibles?
A: It enables churches to funnel money to him without violating the (US law) ban on political campaigning by churches—it's a form of money laundering, in other words.
@cstross I'm of the opinion that pretty much any question related to Donald Trump can be answered with “It's a form of money laundering, in other words.”
Golf courses? Truth Social? Money-losing casinos? $60 Bibles? PACs? You'll be amazed to learn what all these things have in common …
Funding domestic terrorism via churches has a long history. The money laundering via the FLDS is legendary.
The convoy protestors that blockaded the Ambassador Bridge & cost the Canadian economy billions in losses were funded by "suddenly rich" fundamentalist churches in Alberta, Canada's Texas.
@Npars01 Shockingly, the "thirty days for life" anti-abortion protestors clogging up the footpaths outside NHS hospitals are apparently funded by US evangelicals. (It's not a home-grown campaign: there's a roughly 80% consensus in favour of abortion rights and less than 10% opposition …)
American evangelicals fund anti-LGBTQ legislation in Uganda.
And evangelicals fund these initiatives for the same reasons they fund such erosive laws in the West, to undermine any democracy based on universal inclusion. Divide & conquer.
Of course there needs to be a $600 "limited edition" with gilt edges, bound in leather from a red heifer (dog whistle!) and signed by the author. Er, the Donald.
@cstross selling through churches is a main method for “conservative” or “christian” authors/figures to attempt to scam their way onto bestseller lists and/or launder cash.
@cstross
We must remove all tax-exempt status from every religious BS "church" and Christofascist GQP "think tank" immediately. I see signs that there is movement in this area. The corruption is so bad at this point, it is destroying our democracy. It these Mega Churches can afford tanks for their violent displays, they can pay taxes. Actually, shut them down.
@PJ_Evans@cstross
It doesn't matter. All religions have abused their tax exempt status to get rich. They own land they pay no taxes on it and now are blatantly political attempting to force others to live their perverse views. This should not ever have been allowed. But I also think that "think tanks" which are basically just money laundering organizations should also be removed. Only charities should have this status.
@cstross at least there will be a test that we can use in the future to determine if a household or church is dispictable. If there is a single one of these bibles it would indicate a red flag. Chances in 30 years people will try to distance themselves from MAGA and Trump but will forget to discard the bible.
@cstross I hope he didn't reference the ESV as copyright holders. They don't tend to lawyer up, but it'd be fun to see. This also assumes the bibles aren't just the shouty bits with some awful apocrapha sellotaped to the back.
@cstross and now I'm picturing a gold-plated paperback with "Trump Edition" in those huge slab-serif letters he likes so much, and in every one of them, Matthew 19:16–24 is furiously scribbled over in red crayon
Add comment