‘He holds that Bible like it’s burning him’: AOC, Twitter mock Trump’s obscene church photo-op

Trump holding a bible standing in front of a church

Screenshot / YouTube

After threatening to deploy the military against Americans protesting across the nation, President Trump visited St. John’s church nearby — not to pray or to offer healing words to the country, but for a photo-op.

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, to which the church belongs, is “outraged” and made her sentiments known.

She told The New York Times:

“The president used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese, without even asking us, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our church stands for.

It is appalling. The Bible is not an instrument of white supremacy or American nationalism. It is a universal text for all human beings.

The president did not come to pray at St. Johns. He did not come to acknowledge the agony that our country is experiencing right now. He never mentioned the sacred worth of people of color in our nation who rightfully demand an end to hundreds of years of systemic racism and white supremacy.”

The Bishop goes to Twitter

Bishop Budde followed up her statement with a thread on Twitter, condemning how peaceful protesters were tear-gassed to clear the way so that Trump could use the church as a backdrop for a photo.

She emphasized that Trump didn’t come to the house of worship that American presidents have used for over a century, to pray, speak healing words, or to calm an enraged nation.

She even pointed out that the holy text teaches love, but that Trump used it as a “symbol of division” instead.

Budde asserted that the church in no way stands by the president’s rabble-rousing response (or lack thereof).

Twitter was equally outraged…

‘Antithetical to the teachings of Jesus’: DC bishop slams Trump using military force to stage photo-op at church

Screenshot / CNN

After peaceful protestors were violently tear-gassed, many Twitter users essentially called Trump a dictator.

#BunkerBaby

One of them even had a theory about why Trump decided to venture out. In short, his bruised ego.

Irony is dead

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Flickr / Hayley Gagnon, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Others pointed out the irony: Trump wants to build a wall to keep immigrants out and has announced a ban on Muslims immigrating to the U.S., yet his photo at the church shows him standing next to an “All are welcome” marquee.

The power of Christ compels you

Twitter also joked about how Trump held the Bible.

He held the Bible upside down and backward.

Anderson Cooper goes off

‘Antithetical to the teachings of Jesus’: DC bishop slams Trump using military force to stage photo-op at church 1

Wikimedia

Anderson Cooper had plenty to say about the President’s stunt.

The Press tweeted additional info

One reporter noted even the clergy didn’t escape the tear gas.

A prominent Jesuit priest told another correspondent:

“The Bible is not a prop. A church is not a photo op. Religion is not a political tool. And God is not a plaything.”

In all this, if you’re wondering if Trump is in fact, a Christian, a senior White House reporter for Bloomberg decided to put it to test:

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