Did Donald Trump Discover Religion in 2011?

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Here is Donald Trump on religion in a 2011 interview:

“I believe in God. I am Christian. I think The Bible is certainly, it is THE book,’ Trump told CBN’s David Brody.

….When asked by Brody about whether he keeps a lot of Bibles, Trump said, “Well I get sent Bibles by a lot of people… we keep them at a certain place. A very nice place. But people send me Bibles. And you know, it’s very interesting. I get so much mail, and because I’m in this incredible location in Manhattan, you can’t keep most of the mail you get.

I put this up for two reasons. First, Trump’s claim that he puts all the Bibles he receives in “a very nice place” is pretty amusing. I’d like to see this Taj Mahal of Bible storage! Second, it’s the earliest reference I can find to Trump talking about religion.

I don’t have access to a good news database, so I can’t really say for sure that Trump never displayed any religious tendencies before this. I can say that even though he’s a Presbyterian, he got married in 2005 in an Episcopalian church. And when his daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism, he apparently had no problem with it. That’s not much, but it’s all I’ve got.

So what’s the deal with Trump and religion? He seems to have discovered it pretty conveniently during his slow-but-steady conversion process into a viable Republican presidential candidate, but maybe not. Maybe he’s been a regular churchgoer all along. Does anyone know?

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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