Donald Trump Holding Bible

Submission 8,606

Part of a series on 2020 George Floyd Protests. [View Related Entries]

About

Donald Trump Holding Bible refers to a series of image and video edits of U.S. President Donald Trump raising a bible in his right hand for a photograph. Many online have replaced elements of the image with various cultural icons. Some compared it to a manipulated photograph of Adolf Hitler causing a brief controversy. The image went viral during the 2020 George Floyd Protests in June 2020 because President Trump posed for the photograph before a speech and demonstrations denouncing protesters.

Origin

On June 1st, 2020, amid the George Floyd Protests, President Trump and his aides "posed for cameras" before the St. John's Church on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. Just before taking pictures, police violently removed protesters from the area. That day, one Twitter, Yahoo News^[1] published a photograph of Trump holding the bible. They wrote, "Before Trump spoke, what appeared to be gas was used to disperse protesters in Lafayette Park near St. John's Church. Trump and aides then walked across Pennsylvania Avenue to pose before cameras at the church, holding a Bible." The tweet received more than 330 likes and 175 retweets in less than two days (shown below).

Spread

That day, some began posting edits of the image, replacing the book that Trump was holding. For example, Twitter^[2] user @SlicedWrestling tweeted a version in which he is hold "Twitter for Dummies" (shown below, left). Throughout the day, others posted similar variation (example below, center).^[3]

Others began comparing the image to a manipulated picture of Adolf Hitler, mistaking it for an authentic image. For example, Will & Grace star Debra Messing tweeted^[4] the image and received more than 26,000 likes and 9,700 retweets in les than 24 hours (shown below, right). Twitter admins tagged the image "Manipulated media," and other users tweeted that the photo was fake.

Memer Dolan Dark tweeted a video of Trump holding a copy Ninja's book Get Good: My Ultimate Guide to Gaming. The tweet received more than 42,000 likes and 3,600 retweets in less than two days (shown below).

On June 3rd, Redditor ^[5] posted the picture that featured the Death Note character Ryuk. The post received more than 43,000 points (94% upvoted) and 400 comments in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Several media outlets covered the meme, including The Daily Mail,^[6] eBaum's World, ^[7] HITC^[8] and more.