During his recent interview with Hugh Hewitt, Donald Trump chose to target the incumbent Democratic president rather than his actual rival in 2024.

President Joe Biden, the Republican said, “is compromised by China.” He has had a lot – he gets a lot of money from China, or he got a lot of money from China, enormous amounts of money. And he’s completely compromised.”

Part of the problem is the fact that there is literally no evidence that Biden is getting “a lot of money from China.” Another part of the problem is that there is ample evidence that Trump’s private sector company, not his Democratic successor, actually received millions of dollars from China.

But as relevant as such details are, a related question looms over us: Does Trump really want to talk about ties to China right now? An Associated Press report published this week suggests he should probably avoid the topic.

The AP report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, goes on to say that the Trump Bible’s China connection “represents a deep divide between the former president’s harsh anti-China rhetoric and his eagerness to… Making campaign money is revealed.”

Well, it actually does.

The Trump-branded Bible – one of them many The merchandising opportunities the Republican has pursued in recent months, unrelated to his 2024 candidacy, have already been controversial. The former president’s sales pitch, first made in March, asked customers to pony up $59.99 (excluding shipping and applicable taxes) for a copy of a book he described as the “God Bless the USA Bible.”

It contains a copy of a King James translation of the Holy Scriptures (which, by the way, is available for free from various sources) as well as the texts of the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance – all of which are also free from various sources available.

What do the founding documents of the United States have to do with the Christian Bible? Actually nothing. Why should people pay $59.99 for free text messages? Your guess is as good as mine. Is this all blasphemous? I can’t say that, although some critics have certainly made this point.

But if the Associated Press report is accurate, the story now looks even worse: The Chinese company that makes the product produces the Bibles for about $3 per book. Trump and his business partners then charge twenty times as much while campaigning to complain about companies that produce their products in China instead of the United States

The next time the Republican candidate talks about how great it would be if he imposed tariffs on Chinese imports, it’s worth considering whether Trump intends to grant an exemption for his own products made in China.