Trump press secretary compares bizarre church photo op to Churchill touring Blitz bomb damage

President’s near-silent Bible photo opportunity was reportedly motivated by his fury at reports he was rushed to a bunker for his own safety

Two days after Donald Trump walked from the White House across Lafayette Square to silently hold up a Bible in front of St John’s Church, his press secretary has compared the event to demonstrations of strength and solidarity by leaders in war – including Winston Churchill.

Asked at a news briefing why the president thought it was important to walk over to the church for the cameras, Kayleigh McEnany explained that Mr Trump “wanted to send a very powerful message that we will not be overcome by looting, by rioting, by burning.

“This is not what defines America. And going and standing by St John’s church was a very important moment.

“And I would note that through all of time, we’ve seen presidents and leaders across the world who’ve had leadership moments, and very powerful symbols that were important for a nation to see at any given time to show a message of resilience and determination.

“Like Churchill, we saw him inspecting the bombing damage, it sent a powerful message of leadership to the British people.

“And George W Bush throwing out the ceremonial first pitch after 9/11, and Jimmy Carter putting on a sweater to encourage energy savings, and George H W Bush signing the Americans with Disabilities Act flanked by two disabled Americans.”

Mr Trump, who returned a bust of Churchill to the Oval Office when he assumed the presidency in 2017, has for the last week been calling for an end to violence sparked by the death of George Floyd – a black man who was killed in Minneapolis by a white police officer who knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

While he has called Mr Floyd’s killing a “grave tragedy”, Mr Trump has focused on calling for the protests to be stopped or “dominated” by force, including via the deployment of active military troops if necessary.

He has tweeted out calls for “LAW & ORDER!” and “STRENGTH!”, and thousands of national guard troops have been summoned to Washington to enforce a curfew.

However, Mr Trump’s visit to the church was reportedly motivated in part by his fury at news stories saying he had been ushered into a bunker for his own safety during protests near the White House last Friday.

He has since claimed he went to the bunker for the purposes of an “inspection”.

Ms McEnany, however, described the photo op as a demonstration of values and leadership, while also pointing out praise from leading Evangelicals – an electoral bloc that forms a key part of Mr Trump’s coalition.

“For this president, it was powerful and important to send a message that the rioters, the looters, the anarchists, they will not prevail, that burning churches are not what America’s about.

“And that moment, holding the Bible up, is something that has been widely hailed by Franklin Graham and others, and it was a very important symbol for the American people to see that we will get through this through unity and through faith.”