Trump’s branded $60 Bibles are made in China for less than $3 apiece

09 October 2024

The "God Bless the USA" Bibles former President Donald Trump is selling to his supporters aren't American-made, and are sold at a 1,000% markup, according to a new report.

On Wednesday, the Independent reported it reviewed "global trade records" showing Trump's Bibles are made for cheap in Eastern China. Between February and March of this year, the Independent found that a printing company in the Chinese city of Hangzhou shipped 120,000 Bibles to the U.S. across three shipments. The total value of the shipments was $342,000, meaning each Bible was made for less than $3 per unit.

Each Bible has a sticker price of $60. And the ones autographed by the former president carry a hefty price tag of $1,000 apiece. The Independent pegged the potential profit at $7 million, which is a floor figure as additional profits from autographed Bibles were not factored in.

The Independent noted that one major indicator of the Bibles' origin was a shipment of 70,000 Bibles to the Port of Los Angeles on March 28, which came two days after the former president announced he had partnered with singer Lee Greenwood (who wrote the song "God Bless the USA") to sell the Bibles. One version of the Trump Bible notes the date the former president narrowly avoided a would-be assassin's bullet at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania — a day described as "The Day God Intervened."

Trump has singled out China as an adversary in his third bid for the White House, making the fact that his branded Bibles are made there particularly noteworthy. One key plank of the former president's 2024 policy platform is the imposition of significant tariffs on goods imported from China. That plan has been criticized as a sales tax increase on American consumers, as retailers can simply pass on the higher cost of importing Chinese-made products onto buyers in the form of higher prices.

As of August, the Trump-owned company licensing his name and image — CIC Ventures — showed $300,000 in royalties from Bible sales, though the Independent reported it was unclear what time period in which those sales occurred, or what the current number is before the next disclosure deadline. University of Pennsylvania law professor Claire Finkelstein, who founded the watchdog group Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, told the publication that the Bible sales could be viewed as a campaign contribution.

“You have to assume that everything that the individual does is being done as a candidate and so that any money that flows through to him benefits him as a candidate,” Finkelstein said. “Suppose Vladimir Putin were to buy a Trump watch. Is that a campaign finance violation? I would think so.”

As Finkelstein mentioned, Trump is also selling branded watches in addition to other campaign-related merchandise. The New Republic reported that special edition Trump watches are selling for $100,000 per unit, though supporters can also buy a cheaper version for $500.

One potential new buyer of Trump Bibles could be the State of Oklahoma. Republican school superintendent Ryan Walters — who is calling for Bibles in all public school classrooms — recently laid out the specific guidelines for the type of Bible the state wanted. The only version of the Bible that meets Walters' criteria, which includes the Constitution and the Bill of Rights along with the Old and New Testaments, is the "God Bless the USA" Bible. Oklahoma could spend $3.3 million in taxpayer dollars on putting the Trump-branded Bibles in school classrooms.

Click here to read the Independent's report in full.

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