President Donald Trump is waiting his choice to position with a Bible outside St. John’s Church in Washington on Monday– a stunt that drew swift and severe rebukes from two of the city’s top prelates.
” The majority of religious leaders liked it,” Trump insisted in a Fox News radio interview about a picture shoot that occurred after law enforcement officers powerfully dispersed a serene demonstration against the authorities killing of George Floyd.
” I think it was very symbolic. I did hold up a Bible. I think that’s an advantage, not a bad thing, and many religious leaders loved it,” Trump informed the show’s host, Fox anchor Brian Kilmeade, on Wednesday.
” Why wouldn’t they like it? I’m standing in front of a church that went through trauma– to put it slightly,” Trump stated.
Trump pointed specifically to the assistance he’s received from evangelist Franklin Graham and Robert Jeffress, a Dallas pastor, for presenting in front of the historic Episcopal church, which was damaged throughout Sunday protests versus cops cruelty toward Black Americans.
Trump also tried to distance himself from the aggressive maneuvers used by authorities to clear protesters from Lafayette Square, a park near St. John’s Church, to enable Trump passage to the media event. The president firmly insisted that officers didn’t utilize tear gas on the protesters, although they did, at least according to the Centers for Disease Control and Avoidance’s definition of tear gas and other riot control agents.
” They didn’t utilize tear gas. They didn’t use– they moved them out,” Trump stated. “Now when I went, I didn’t state move them out. I didn’t know who existed.”
In a Facebook post that avoided any mention of the force used on protesters, Graham stated that he was “not at all” upset by Trump’s actions. Graham stated Trump demonstrated that the “burning, robbery, and vandalism of the nation’s capital– including this historic holy place– mattered, which the lawlessness had to end.”
Graham added that he discovered it “astounding” that members of the clergy have actually been a few of the president’s harshest critics. They “ought to be thanking him rather tha