this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2024
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but the bible isn't copyrighted? right? Is there any other aspect than just the economic abuse of religions trump fans?
You can copyright a translation of a bible, and they usually are unless they're an old translation.
The KJV is not copyrighted in America. Trump bibles are kjv.
Any preface or art work or anything else attached? Those parts can be copyrighted. Even the cover design could be.
Indeed. So Trump made something cheap he can sell for $60. Like a plastic bottle of tap water or a thin slice of chuck steak with ink on it.
Let's be honest Trump has nothing to do with the making of this thing, someone somewhere figured they could make a quick buck off the evangelical right and got Trump to sign on for, probably, a revenue share.
Yes. See OP.
I think the question here is how is this money laundering? I could sell Sherlock Holmes for $60, and that wouldn't be Arthur Conan Doyle giving me money under the table. How is this any different?
It's laundering because when someone is expressly forbidden to give you money and you start to sell them snow in the winter that's what is called giving you money. And the cheaper you get stuff to sell the less you pay to clean up the funds
Is there any evidence of churches buying these stupid bibles? If there is that's a pretty serious accusation. If it's just weirdo Trump cultists then that's not actually money laundering.
Hey I'm sure Trump will release the sales records right?
Right after he tells us who's buying up all the shares of Trump Media & Technology Group that just went public but just BEFORE he releases his taxes.
I'm all for giving the benefit of the doubt inititally but those days are long long past. He's definitely using this to funnel money into his campaign.
You're right, if anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt it's Donald Trump and Evangelical Christians.
Holy crap, you're making accusations that the guy who's out of money is illegally recieving tons of money and I'm the unreasonable one? From everything I'm seeing and hearing outside of Lemmy churches are actually pissed off at how tacky this is, but sure, baseless accusations make you the reasonable one.
Serious accusation? Please. Trump does six financial crimes worse than this one every morning before his breakfast burger. All we're saying is we can see the grift.
Just because he does worse things all the time doesn't mean this isn't serious. Don't let him move the goalpost like that. But also maybe have some actual evidence instead of just paranoid conspiracy theories. That's their thing. We need to be better than them.
Again I guess I haven't explained properly.
I am not accusing him of a specific crime.
I am saying: look, he's selling bibles, which will allow terrible churches to support his cause without falling foul of campaign finance law.
There's no evidence because technically there's no crime. He's just found a new way to rip the system off.
Also: I don't have access to Trump's Bible sale records. Never will. Nor will you Does that mean we shouldn't say anything about the fact that he's cheating the electoral system? That right-wing churches can advance their power grabs without fear of prosecution? Even if it's not illegal it's unjust and dangerous.
Look, campaign finance in the United States is absolute bullshit. Chances are that anyone dumb enough to buy an overpriced Trump branded bible could already legally just give him the money though.
Yes. He is a con-man and a grifter. We all know that here. Trying to pretend this is money laundering when the money doesn't even need to be laundered just makes you seem like a crazy person though. I would like for us to all stay in touch with reality. Election finance reform would be great. Wild criminal accusations based on nothing but vibes won't help that happen though.
Ugghhhh. "It's a form of money laundering" does not mean "We can accuse Trump of formal criminal money laundering as defined by the law." We're saying the cunt is making it easy for bad churches to funnel him money. That is still bad, criminal or not.
Do you read my replies? Again, we are not making criminal accusations. And it's not "vibes": We can see the man hawking bibles to free up his own money for campaign funds. It's so obvious what he's doing, that he's put out a phoney disclaimer not-quite saying he isn't.
So your argument is that he's money laundering because money laundering doesn't mean money laundering.
Okay. This conversation was a mistake.
Yes. Words have different meanings in different contexts.
We got there eventually. Here I'll do you a favour: Blocked.
Cool. Guess you won't be able to reply when I tell you that I'm sorry I mistakenly believed you might be reasoned with. The idea that somehow "money laundering" actually means openly selling things to suckers totally legally is just an obvious lie because you don't want to admit you were wrong. You'll never get to hear that though.
This is like buying merch from a YouTuber. It's not about buying a product for what it's worth, it's about donating to a "cause" with something to show off that you did. (Not hating on supporting YouTubers, just a comparison)