Editor’s note: We are striving to publish letters more frequently. If you have something to say and are local, send your thoughts – up to 250 words – to feedback@charlestoncitypaper.com. We reserved the right to edit for clarity and length. Make sure to include your name, hometown and phone number, which will only be used for verification purposes.
Trump Bible-selling is scam with real danger
To the editor,
There is a story that the media has covered all week but I’m concerned that everybody is missing the most dangerous part of the story. [Former President] Donald J. Trump selling Bibles for $60 is a story that almost writes itself. The irony of a guy who is on trial for paying off a porn star selling Bibles is red meat for the Democratic and progressive base. But the real story is hidden under the obvious parody.
The real story is the product he is selling. A Bible with the U.S. Constitution and other political documents is the story that is truly scary. I, like most of your readers, was raised in the evangelical South. I was raised in the Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) movement. Every morning, I pledged allegiance to the American flag, followed by the Christian flag and the King James Bible – not as separate pledges, but literally like three stanzas to the same pledge.
Coincidentally, the Trump Bible has the King James Version in it. With all the many versions out there, that are much more [that are] widely used, so why choose the most antiquated version that most churches outside of the White Christian Nationalist movement do not use? Because it was designed for the people who want a theocratic nation.
Nobody is talking about how terrifying it is to see the Christian Bible under the same cheap leather cover as the guiding document of our nation’s legal system and endorsed by a former president, the chief executive of that government. Take Trump out of this and it would be a five- alarm alert!! The very people who hate the Taliban and decry Sharia law will eat this Bible up. I grew up hearing that the First Amendment was designed to keep the government out of the church, not the church out of the government.
The people who support Project 2025 will buy this Bible by the cases. THAT is the true danger of this latest Trump scam. And I wish the media would get beyond the Trump part of this story and get to the real danger.
– Julio Caceres, Summerville
Scott’s rhetoric on immigrants is dangerous
To the editor:
Recently, the terrible news came out that a young student at the University of Georgia, Laken Riley, was murdered. The top suspect in the case is a Venezuelan man who is seeking asylum. Conservative media and politicians immediately decided to politicize this horrific tragedy and said the man was an illegal immigrant, which is not technically true since but serves to stir people’s fears. Many of our state politicians decided that they would play into this fearful rhetoric to ratchet up the pressure on the border policies of President Biden. It was a central theme in the Republic response to the State of the Union Address.
Perhaps the one South Carolina politician who has been the most direct in these attacks is U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who stated that this murder would never have occurred if it was not for Biden’s broken policies. It is such a cheap and shallow argument in an attempt to make a political point and in the process stereotype a group of people. Of course, Scott does not want to actually tell the full truth that immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, tend to have lower crime rates than U.S. citizens. He does not want to mention that these types of incidents where a U.S. citizen is attacked by an immigrant are so rare that this is one of the first incidents we have even discussed. The hyper-focus on the story shows just how rare it is.
Scott should be above this. However, for political advantage and perhaps to please former President Donald Trump, he decided to engage in this sad strategy. Unfortunately, this is what all xenophobic and dictatorial movements have done in the past. You take one isolated incident to create fear and hatred in the hearts of people.
These recent comments are part of Scott’s broader rhetoric of an “invasion” at our border. Perhaps people like Scott should remember where this dangerous and fearful language can lead to. The language of “invasion” was used as the justification in 2019 for a young man to walk into a Walmart in El Paso and kill 23 Latinos. There are already right-wing militia groups going to the border due to the hyperbolic and dangerous rhetoric that our politicians are using. We should be particularly aware of this type of hateful ideology here in Charleston after the massacre at Emanuel AME Church. In the end, this type of anti-immigrant rhetoric is beyond the pale.
— Will McCorkle, Summerville, S.C.
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