Donald Trump, his campaign and his allies invoked religion in a flurry of political grievances this weekend, including by attacking President Biden for acknowledging International Transgender Day of Visibility \u2014 which happened to fall this year on Easter Sunday \u2014 and also making false claims that Biden newly prohibited children from submitting religious egg designs to a White House Easter art contest.<\/p>\n
The attacks come on the heels of Trump announcing that he was selling $60 Bibles, which attracted criticism from Democrats and some religious leaders, and as Trump fired off dozens of social media posts Sunday that targeted his political rivals and railed against his legal troubles.<\/p>\n
The latest salvo began Friday, after the White House issued a proclamation recognizing Sunday as Transgender Day of Visibility and called on Americans to \u201cjoin us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The acknowledgment was not new. Since 2009, International Transgender Day of Visibility has been held annually on March 31, and the Biden administration has marked the day every year since Biden was elected. The date of Easter, meanwhile, changes from year to year, falling on the first Sunday after the full moon that follows the spring equinox.<\/p>\n
Trump and Republicans, however, immediately cast the coincidence as an attack on Easter. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) accused the White House of having \u201cbetrayed the central tenet of Easter \u2014 which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBanning sacred truth and tradition \u2014 while at the same time proclaiming Easter Sunday as \u2018Transgender Day\u2019 \u2014 is outrageous and abhorrent. The American people are taking note,\u201d Johnson wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n
In a statement Saturday, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt claimed that declaring Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday was \u201cblasphemous\u201d and called on Biden \u201cto issue an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America who believe tomorrow is for one celebration only \u2014 the resurrection of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is unclear why the statement distinguished between Catholics and Christians, since the former are Christians as well.<\/p>\n
When asked Sunday, Leavitt did not address the issue but again repeated the false claim that Biden \u201cchose\u201d Easter to recognize Transgender Day of Visibility, even though it has fallen on March 31 since 2009. \u201cThe Biden Administration has spent years appeasing left-wing activists and disrespecting the Christian faith,\u201d Leavitt said in a statement to The Washington Post.<\/p>\n
Biden, a devout Catholic, speaks often about his faith and attends church every weekend. He is the second Catholic to be U.S. president. On Sunday morning, he issued a statement celebrating Easter observances.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we gather with loved ones, we remember Jesus\u2019 sacrifice. We pray for one another and cherish the blessing of the dawn of new possibilities,\u201d Biden said. \u201cAnd with wars and conflict taking a toll on innocent lives around the world, we renew our commitment to work for peace, security, and dignity for all people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leavitt also blasted Biden for supposedly having \u201cprohibited children from submitting religious egg designs for their Easter Art Event,\u201d referring to a long-running Easter tradition in which children of National Guard members submit decorated eggs to be displayed at the White House.<\/p>\n
The American Egg Board, which administers the contest, said rules dictating what is allowed in the Easter egg decorating contest have remained consistent for more than 45 years \u2014 including during the Trump administration. Contest guidelines state that eggs \u201cmust not include any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes, or partisan political statements.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Egg Board and other commodity boards are prohibited from discriminating in all programming and activities on the basis of religion, political beliefs and all other stated categories,\u201d Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
That did not stop Republicans and conservative outlets \u2014 including South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Fox News \u2014 from playing up the restrictions, suggesting that they were new to the Biden administration.<\/p>\n
On CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union\u201d on Sunday, Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.), a senior pastor at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, defended Biden, pointing out that the date for Easter changes every year.<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently the speaker finds trans people \u2018abhorrent,\u2019 and I think he ought to think about that,\u201d Warnock said. \u201cThis is the opposite of the Christian faith. Jesus centered the marginalized, he centered the poor. And in a moment like this, we need voices, particularly voices of faith who would use our faith not as a weapon to beat other people down, but as a bridge to bring all of us together.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement Sunday, White House spokesman Andrew Bates expressed similar sentiments, while knocking Trump for hawking $60 Bibles and for his rhetoric over Easter weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a Christian who celebrates Easter with family, President Biden stands for bringing people together and upholding the dignity and freedoms of every American,\u201d Bates said. \u201cSadly, it\u2019s unsurprising politicians are seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful, and dishonest rhetoric. President Biden will never abuse his faith for political purposes or for profit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump also posted an article to his social media network on Saturday that likened his legal troubles to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
In another all-caps post to his social media network Sunday, Trump invoked the holiday to claim without evidence that those prosecuting him were politically motivated.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Trump shared on social media an image of Biden with his hands and feet tied, the latest example of the Republican candidate\u2019s use of increasingly violent imagery this campaign season.<\/p>\n
Last week, Trump urged his supporters to buy his Bibles that included a handwritten chorus to \u201cGod Bless the USA\u201d by singer and supporter Lee Greenwood. Trump licensed his name, likeness and image to sell the Bibles through CIC Ventures LLC, for which Trump serves as \u201cmanager, president, secretary and treasurer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former president has sold other Trump-branded items since leaving office, including digital trading cards, cologne and $399 \u201cNever Surrender\u201d sneakers. Some of Trump\u2019s pitches are designed to benefit his campaign, but most appear to be designed to enrich him personally at a time when he faces a cash crunch amid his legal woes.<\/p>\n
Hannah Knowles, Azi Paybarah and Philip Bump contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Donald Trump, his campaign and his allies invoked religion in a flurry of political grievances this weekend, including by attacking President Biden for acknowledging International Transgender Day of Visibility \u2014 which happened to fall this year on Easter Sunday \u2014 and also making false claims that Biden newly prohibited children from submitting religious egg designs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}