Donald Trump ♥s the Bible

On Bloomberg, Mark Halperin (who favors white men almost as much as Donald Trump does) was interviewing Donald Trump when he asked him to name his favorite Bible verse—which I frankly find an odious question for a number of reasons, but it's typically a standard softball for Republican candidates.

Halperin: You mention the Bible—you've been talking about how it's your favorite book, and you said, I think last night in Iowa, that some people are surprised that you say that. I'm wondering what one or two of your most favorite Bible, uh, verses are and why.

Trump: I—I wouldn't wanna get into it, because to me that's very personal. You know, when I talk about the Bible, it's very personal, so I don't wanna get into verses; I don't wanna get into—

Halperin: There's no verse that means a lot to you that you think about or cite?

Trump: No, I— I just— [makes this face] The Bible means a lot to me, but I don't wanna get into specifics.

Halperin: Even to cite a verse that you like?

Trump: No. I don't want to do that—

John Heilemann (Halperin's co-host): You an Old Testament guy or a New Testament guy?

Trump: Uh, probablyyyyyy...equal. I think it's just an incredible— The whole Bible is an incredible— I joke, uh, very much so, they always hold up [my book] The Art of the Deal; I say: "My second favorite book of all time."

The Bible is super classy and incredible and I am a massive fan! Make America great again! Good night! *runs offstage*

Honestly, I don't think religion has any place in politics, and I don't think that any politician should be obliged to talk about their religion. But the fact is, Donald Trump goes around talking about how much he loves the Bible, because that's what Republican candidates do, so he can't then claim that questions about which parts of the Bible he likes are off-limits.

Especially when he says things that seem to indicate he has a unique, ahem, interpretation of the Bible and the central tenet of Christianity, like: "I'm not sure I have [ever asked god for forgiveness]. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so. If I do something wrong, I think I just try and make it right. I don't bring god into that picture."

It seems pretty clear that Trump isn't actually desirous of privacy around his favorite Bible verses, but is using that pretense as a deflection because he doesn't actually know the first damn thing about the Bible. He loves all of those incredible verses equally—just like Sarah Palin reads all the magazines!

This fucking guy.