If Donald Trump has the best words, then Ivanka Trump has the best ideas. And it turns out that one of her dad’s most memorable photo ops—the one where he tear-gassed a group of peaceful protestors so that he could walk across the street from the White House and stand in front of the historic St. John’s Church holding up a Bible—was all Ivanka’s doing, too. At least that’s what Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, asserts in his new book.
According to Vanity Fair’s Bess Levin, whenever the former president made some of his biggest missteps, Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner—who was reportedly nicknamed the “Slim Reaper” for his ability to turn almost anything he touched into a total clusterf**k—were often right there orchestrating the catastrophe. And this includes that blasphemous church selfie, in which the president simply stood outside the church but never even peeked inside (possibly out of fear that he might explode into a ball of hellfire). As Levin writes:
According to the Religious News Service, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’s book offers a “detailed account” of the 45th president’s “infamous Bible photo op at St. John’s Church in June 2020,” which, it turns out, was reportedly Ivanka’s idea. For those who need a refresher, in June 2020, at the height of racial-justice protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, Trump, concerned about media coverage of his retreat to a White House bunker, had peaceful protesters tear-gassed so he could make his way to the nearby St. John’s church. There, he held up a Bible and posed for photos while telling reporters, “we have a great country” and vowing he would “make it even greater, and it won’t take long.”
If either Trump—the blonde one or the orange one—thought this would instill a sense of peace, they couldn’t have been further off. Even Mariann Budde, the diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, was appalled at the sacrilege, tweeting: “The Bible teaches us to love God and our neighbor; that all people are beloved children of God; that we are to do justice and love kindness. The President used our sacred text as a symbol of division.”
The Bible teaches us to love God and our neighbor; that all people are beloved children of God; that we are to do justice and love kindness. The President used our sacred text as a symbol of division.
— Mariann Budde (@Mebudde) June 2, 2020
An anonymous senior White House official who witnessed the tear-gassing of peaceful protestors so that Trump and his cronies could make their way to the church, told Axios: “I’ve never been more ashamed. I’m really honestly disgusted. I’m sick to my stomach. And they’re all celebrating it. They’re very, very proud of themselves.”
Ivanka has not yet commented on what part she played in the photo gaffe seen ‘round the world. But considering that this is a person who refused to let the Secret Service assigned to protect her and her family use any one of their SIX bathrooms—and instead made them rent a toilet at the cost of $3,000 per month (a bill we taxpayers footed, of course)—it’s hard to imagine she’d see anything wrong with it. Even with the benefit of hindsight.
(Via Vanity Fair)