According to the state’s specifications, the Bible must be in the King James version — and must also contain the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It “must also be bound in leather or leather-like material for durability.”
As Oklahoma Watch points out, many — if not most — Bibles in the marketplace don’t fit those criteria. But one that does tick all the state’s boxes is a $60 Trump-endorsed “God Bless the USA” Bible, which began selling in March and from which Trump has made $300,000 in royalties, according to his latest financial disclosure from August. (A version with Trump’s signature sells for $1,000.)
Another Bible that meets the criteria is a $90 “We The People” Bible, which Donald Trump Jr. promoted in late 2022.
Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters, the Republican who imposed the school Bible mandate, is a staunch Trump supporter. He endorsed Trump for president last year, saying that he was “excited to see him dismantle the Department of Education.”
The bid also specifies that the entire shipment to all of the school districts must be delivered within two weeks of the contract award. So any bid pretty much has to already be manufactured and sitting around in a warehouse ready to ship…
From that Oklahoma Watch link:
A salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education searched, and though they carry 2,900 Bibles, none fit the parameters.
Most specific of all: must contain “the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights”. Sounds legit, right? But what that’s saying is the original document plus only the first 10 amendments. That’s it. And ONLY the Trump Bible fits that requirement.
Schools generally want to have the entire Constitution, including all of the amendments. But not in Oklahoma. OK then.
Although, that’s just the minimum… it can have additional documents. So Trump’s bible including a “handwritten chorus to ‘God Bless the USA’ by Lee Greenwood” is all right.
There are interesting ways that someone with deep pockets and a will to interfere could have fun with this, too bad the RFP only provides a 2-week window for the proposal and then the 2-week delivery time.
All of these materials are public domain, so if a print on demand shop could do the leather binding, it’d be possible to produce them within 2 weeks. But I think they already picked out a vendor.
Oh, definitely. But it’d be fun to make them twist by coming up with a less expensive alternative, maybe with some other added historical US documents that would be difficult for them to be offended at but inconvenient for their aims.
“I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me. They don’t care about me,” Putin told Trump, according to the book. Trump responded, “I don’t care. Fine,” according to Woodward.
The Trump campaign has dismissed the book as “made up stories” written by a “deranged man,” according to a statement by its communications director, Steven Cheung. “President Trump gave him absolutely no access for this trash book that either belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore or used as toilet tissue,” the statement read.
