Trump claims Biden is ‘against God’ and will ‘hurt the Bible’

President Trump on Thursday claimed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, is “against God” as he levied a stream of attacks on his likely opponent in the November election.

Trump painted a grim picture of a Biden presidency during a rally-style speech to supporters on the tarmac of the Cleveland airport, claiming the former vice president would follow a radical agenda.

“Take away your guns, take away your Second Amendment. No religion, no anything,” Trump said, standing behind a podium with the presidential seal. “Hurt the Bible. Hurt God. He’s against God. He’s against guns. He’s against energy.”

President Trump slams Joe Biden: “He’s against God.” pic.twitter.com/bm1XEHo2XA

— The Hill (@thehill) August 6, 2020

Biden has spoken of his faith a number of times, crediting it with helping him through personal tragedies, such as the deaths of his wife and children, most recently his son Beau Biden. His campaign website outlines a plan for “Safeguarding America’s faith-based communities,” which includes promises to crack down on hate crimes and increase grants for religious communities.

But Trump has for months attempted to tie the former vice president to the far-left wing of the Democratic Party, attacking him as radical and out of touch with the evangelical voters who were critical to the president’s victory in 2016.

Last week in Texas, Trump baselessly claimed the “radical left” aimed to “wipe away every trace of religion from national life.”

Biden was among those who chastised Trump for clearing out peaceful protesters near the White House in early June before the president walked across the street to pose for a photo outside the damaged St. John’s Episcopal Church. Trump did not speak outside the church, instead holding a Bible in the air while surrounded by administration officials.

“Joe Biden’s faith is at the core of who he is; he’s lived it with dignity his entire life, and it’s been a source of strength and comfort in times of extreme hardship,” Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the Biden campaign, said in a statement.

“Donald Trump is the only president in our history to have tear-gassed peaceful Americans and thrown a priest out of her church just so he could profane it – and a Bible – for his own cynical optics as he sought to tear our nation apart at a moment of crisis and pain,” Bates added. “And this comes just one day after Trump’s campaign abused a photo of Joe Biden praying in church to demean him, in one of the starkest expressions of weakness throughout this whole campaign.”