Trump’s choice of passage for a Bible-reading event is teeming with irony
The reading is a favorite of Christian nationalists, but a cruel joke for everyone else.
A video of President Donald Trump reading a Bible passage in the Oval Office will be aired Tuesday night as part of a marathon Bible reading organized by a coalition of far-right Christian groups. Officially, “America Reads the Bible” is part of the coalition’s events celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July. Unofficially, the timing is propitious, coming days after Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV and sparked backlash by posting a (now deleted) artificial intelligence-generated image of himself depicted as Jesus Christ.
The list of readers includes many high-profile participants, among them Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (who recently adapted a monologue from “Pulp Fiction” in place of a real Bible verse). As the president, though, Trump almost certainly had his pick of the entire book. And his choice of passage reflects the essence of his appeal to Christians: not piety, but power.
Trump will read 2 Chronicles 7:11-22, in which God tells the ancient Israelites:
If My people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
This passage is a favorite of Christian nationalists, who falsely portray the United States as being founded to be God’s new spiritual and political home. They love this passage because it frames national renewal as a matter of spiritual performance. It is a theology of restoration that conveniently asks nothing about who has been excluded from the land, who built it and who still isn’t free in it. Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin even recited the verse while praying over the crowd at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
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As the war in Iran stretched into its second month, officials in the Trump White House have increasingly cited religion to explain or justify the conflict. MS NOW’s JM Rieger digs into the archive to show how religious messaging keeps popping up in administration briefings. #trump #hegseth #iran #news
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The irony of Trump, who has proudly said he has never asked for forgiveness, reading about repentance is a cruel joke on Americans.
Far-right Christians have consistently forgiven Trump’s many sins, from war and deportations in office to adultery out of it. They know Trump isn’t a pious Christian. That’s obvious for all to see. But they know they can use MAGA to maintain political power, because they view him as a bulldozer to their enemies. Born in response to the desegregation of public schools, the modern religious right movement sees wickedness in the past half-century of civil rights advances for people of color, women and LGBTQ people. Trump is their wrecking ball, and his infidelity to God is peripheral to their political and theological project.
Trump can’t read the entire Bible, of course — the whole livestream is running 12 hours a day throughout the week. But if he tunes in at other times, there are many other verses from which he could learn. He could listen to Matthew 25, in which Jesus says the way we treat “the least of these” (the hungry, the stranger, the prisoner) is the way we treat him. He could hear Jesus’ words “blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9) as he fumes at the pope for warning of “woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain.”
The president who posted an image of himself as Jesus could learn from Paul’s letter to Christians in Galatia: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Instead of living for Christ, the president turned himself into Christ.
Trump is ‘surrounded by people who are telling him that he is God’ amid feud with Pope Leo April 18, 2026 / 05:46
No leader of a nation committed to religious freedom for all should promote any one religious text.
Trump can also listen to Isaiah 58, in which the prophet demolishes the idea that public displays of religion substitute for justice. “Is not this the fast that I choose,” God says through Isaiah, “to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free?” The prophet was describing people who looked religious but exploited workers and ignored the poor.
Or he can heed the prophet Micah. Micah 6:8 delivers perhaps the most concise moral instruction in all of scripture: Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God. It also reads as the antithesis of MAGA.
It is good that Trump is opening the Bible and not just using it as a prop like he did after clearing Black Lives Matter protesters from Lafayette Square. Yet it would be better if he didn’t take part in this reading at all. No leader of a nation committed to religious freedom for all should promote any one religious scripture. It alienates Americans who don’t view the Bible as a sacred text and manipulates and devalues the faith of those who do.
‘Blasphemous’: Religious leader on Trump and others using theology to call for war April 18, 2026 / 10:04
But Trump’s participation in this reading and his choice of passage shows us what the president and his Christian nationalists want to emphasize about their version of religion. Christian nationalism doesn’t engage the Bible as a text that makes demands. It mines scripture for verses that seem to endorse existing political agendas about national strength, cultural dominance and the idea that God has chosen this nation and, by extension, its current leadership. The verses that challenge power are ignored. The ones that can be wielded as props get amplified.
The result is what we saw this week: A defense secretary sermonizing with fake scripture while justifying a war. A president posting an image of himself as the Son of God. A White House issuing proclamations about the Bible while attacking the vulnerable in unimaginable ways.
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons is vice president of programs and strategy at Interfaith Alliance and the author of "Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity."
Trump Signs Order Expediting Drugs for Mental Health Treatment
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Saturday that he said “directs the FDA to expedite their review of certain psychedelics already designated as breakthrough therapy drugs.” A primary objective of the order is to speed treatment for veterans.
“The executive order I’m signing, we’re actually signing the executive order today, is really a moment,” Trump said. “These treatments are currently in the advanced stages of clinical trials to ensure that they’re both safe and effective for the American patients.”
The president said the executive order would implement “historic reforms to dramatically accelerate access to new medical research and treatments based on psychedelic drugs.” Citing the elevated veteran suicide rate, the president added: “In many cases, these experimental treatments have shown life-changing potential for those suffering from severe mental illness and depression, including our cherished veterans.”
“And the nice part is we’re actually doing this early, but it has been going on. Research has been going on for quite some time. But, you know, usually with things like this, nothing ever happens, no matter how the research ends up, but we’re changing that. This order will clear away unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, improve data sharing among the FDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and facilitate fast rescheduling of any psychedelic drugs that become FDA approved,” Trump continued.
The president said “in 2024, a study from Stanford University, 30 special operation veterans with traumatic brain injuries underwent — it’s called ibogaine treatment — ibogaine, remember the name,” noting that they “experienced an 80 to 90% reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety within one month.”
“In Texas, Republican leaders have already committed $50 million to the ibogaine research. And today, the federal government is making a $50 million research investment in its own. And so that was just approved just last night,” Trump announced.
“We’re also opening a pathway for ibogaine to be administered to desperately ill patients under the right to try law,” Trump said.
“Today’s order will ensure that people suffering from debilitating symptoms might finally have a chance to reclaim their lives and lead a happier life, just lead a happier life,” he added.
Two weeks ago, Trump signed a sweeping executive order aimed at tightening federal oversight of election integrity, directing multiple agencies to expand voter eligibility verification and impose new controls on mail-in ballots.
The order, titled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” outlines a series of measures that would increase coordination between federal agencies and state election officials, while also establishing new procedures for how ballots are distributed and tracked through the mail system.
At the core of the directive is a requirement that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), working with the Social Security Administration (SSA), compile and transmit lists of individuals confirmed to be U.S. citizens to state election authorities. These “State Citizenship Lists” would be generated using federal databases, including immigration and Social Security records, and updated regularly ahead of federal elections.
According to the order, the lists are intended to help states verify voter eligibility, though inclusion on the list would not automatically register an individual to vote. State laws and procedures would still govern registration requirements.
The order also calls for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prioritize investigations and potential prosecutions related to election law violations. This includes cases involving the distribution of ballots to individuals deemed ineligible to vote, as well as any actors—public or private—who may be involved in producing or sending such ballots.
In a significant expansion of federal involvement in mail voting procedures, the directive instructs the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to develop new rules governing the handling of mail-in and absentee ballots. Within 60 days, the Postmaster General is required to initiate a rulemaking process that would standardize ballot tracking and verification measures nationwide.
Under the proposed framework, all mail-in ballots would be required to use specially marked envelopes designated as official election mail. These envelopes must include unique tracking barcodes and meet specific design standards set by USPS to ensure compatibility with automated processing systems.
Trump Says He’s in No Hurry to Make Deal With Iran
The president gave an update on negotiations between Washington and Tehran in a weekend interview.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on March 26, 2026 in Washington. This is Trump's second Cabinet meeting of 2026 and the first since the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on Feb. 28, 2026. Chip Somodevilla/Getty U.S. President Donald Trump, in an interview published on May 30, said that he is in no hurry to make a deal with Iran to end the war, saying that neither Washington nor Tehran has signed an agreement yet.
“I’d like to say I’m in a hurry because gasoline prices are going to come tumbling down, but if you’re going to be in a hurry, you’re not going to make a good deal,” Trump told Fox News. “And slowly but surely we’re getting, I think, what we want, and if we don’t get what we want, we’re going to end it a different way.”
For weeks, the United States and Iran have been working to come to an agreement that would end the war, which started in February, as the conflict remains in a ceasefire. On May 29, Trump released the terms of a deal with Tehran and said he would be making a final decision soon.
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Along with demanding that Iran not obtain a nuclear weapon, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the Strait of Hormuz must be opened “in both directions” and that Tehran must “complete the immediate removal and/or detonation of any mines that are left.”
Since the start of the conflict, the strait has effectively remained shut down, sending oil and gas prices surging, as the strait allows for the transit of about a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas. As of May 31, gas prices in the United States averaged $4.34 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association.
A White House official told The Epoch Times on May 29 that a White House meeting in the Situation Room on Iran lasted approximately two hours. No details were provided.
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Iran on May 31 claimed that the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) shot down a U.S. military drone that entered its airspace, in comments carried by state-run Tasnim News. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has not publicly commented on the incident.
A top Iranian official, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, also said on May 31 that Tehran’s military force is “pushing back the enemy in a great and history-making war,” referring to the United States, according to state-run media. He also claimed that the United States has retreated from the conflict while pushing a narrative of unity in the Iranian regime.
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In his May 29 post on Truth Social, Trump also wrote that mines would be removed from the strait and that ships trapped there may start to go home.
“Say HELLO to your wives, husbands, parents, and families from me, your favorite President!” he said.
On May 30, War Department Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States would restart attacks against Iran if no deal can be reached and that the military’s ammunition stockpiles are being replenished.
“Our ability to recommence if necessary ... we are more than capable,” Hegseth told reporters in Singapore. “Our stockpiles are more than suited for that, both there and around the globe, so we’re in a very good place.”
The Pentagon head said that Trump was “patient” and that the president wants to make a “great deal” that ensures that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.
Reuters contributed to this report.
