Joe Rogan on Trump’s “Ill-Conceived” Bible Photo-Op

Did you see Trump stand in front of the church holding that Bible like he was a dirty diaper? He was like, look, I got the Bible in my hand. Take it! They thought that all went really well. They thought that was great. That is hilarious. First of all, they tear gas all the fucking protesters to get them off the street. You clear the street out and then Trump walks across the street like there's never been a president so bold to walk. He's walking. So he walks across the streets, he's boarded down church. It's hilarious. They probably had snipers all over the room. They did. It's a dirty diaper. He's holding that thing like, look, I've got my Bible. Motherfucker, read me one passage. They asked if it was his Bible. He's like, it's a Bible. It's a Bible. It's a Bible. It's a Bible. Thank you, sir. I got it at a hotel I was staying in. Yeah, I mean, what is that? Why is he holding a Bible? That is the most ill-conceived PR stunt that I've ever seen. I mean, maybe, yeah, I actually thought about this too because look, I mean, the main reason like Trump has such a solid hold on the right, like on the Republican base, so to speak, is because actually of the judges thing, of the Supreme Court thing, which you were talking about, of selecting Mike Pence, who has a lot of credibility in the evangelical community. So I think that, I mean, a lot of people were outraged. I saw this. This was a very like right thing when that, you know, the St. John's Church, that church that you were seeing, that was set on fire. And so like it was set on fire and there was a lot of people, like first of all, there was, I think it was Brian Stelter over at CNN was like, actually, no, it's not on fire. They deleted all this tweets. Yeah, he was saying it on Twitter. Yeah, it was Bush. That guy's adorable. He's adorable little shill. He's something else. But so like there was all that and there, look, there wasn't a lot of outrage around the fact that the church got set on fire. So I get what he was signaling to do. Look, I agree. I told Crystal this morning on the show, tear gassing the protesters and then going out there for the Photoshop on like that. I don't think it was the best move. Can you imagine being so insecure that you're the president of the United States, like you have nuclear arsenal and milletful American military at your disposal and you're so insecure that you have to show your strength in that moment by walking across the park. And reportedly he was upset because it had come out that they had like had to go down into the bunker on Friday or Saturday night or whatever when there were protesters. And so this was his way to reassert his manhood. But I think that's why I say I don't think that he has like a real I think he has instincts. I don't think he has a real ideology. I don't think he has like a goal or a mission or a project he's trying to accomplish. I think he's just all it. I think it's all just about like how do I reclaim this news cycle? How do I win the day? I actually interviewed him back before he was an official candidate at the White House Correspondents Dinner. I was like on the rope line doing like the celebrity interviews like sticking a mic in people's face or whatever. It was ridiculous. But so he comes in and this is at the time when everyone's like, oh, this is just a publicity sign. He's not going to run, right? And he comes in with Melania. It wasn't the one. It was maybe the one after when Barack Obama made fun of him like that. And so he comes up to me and this is when I was at MSNBC and I wasn't like particularly prominent there. I was one of four on a panel show and he locks eyes with me and he's like, Crystal, oh my God, it is so great to meet you. Like even then this, it was like Ari and Abby and Torret, you guys are so great together on the cycle. Like he knew the show. He knew clearly he was already obsessed with cable news and all the ins and outs of cable news. And he was generally like, oh my God, I can't believe I get to meet Crystal. But I'm like, how do you know who I am? It's just bizarre. But it was such a little insight into his whole wiring. And so he knows more than anyone like what is going to be provocative to these stupid talking heads on cable. What is going to capture their attention? What is going to be outrageous? What's going to win the day? And I don't think that there's much beyond that thinking of like, how do I win this news cycle? How do I change the topic on this news cycle?