Fact Check: Did Trump hold the Bible upside down during press conference?

Origin

President of the United States Donald Trump went up to St. John's Episcopal Church on June 1. Surrounded by a dozen security personnel, he walked out of the church with a Bible in his hand. He stood in front of the cameras and posed with the Bible in his hand. After this demonstration by Donald Trump, many people came forward to point out that Trump was holding the Bible upside down. 

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Here is a video of Donald Trump standing with the Bible

The video shows Donald Trump first standing alone in front of the church as he poses with the Bible in his hand. The Holy Book was held high by Trump as he lets the camera click pictures. The video also shows how a reporter asks Trump whether it was his own Bible, and he responds that it is 'a Bible'. Looking carefully at Trump's hands, one can see that Donald Trump does not hold up the Bible upside down. He also turns the Bible to show the embossing of the Bible on its spine and binder. 

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Donald Trump does not hold the Bible upside down 

Donald Trump walked out of the White House across Lafayette Square to St. John's Episcopal Church. He was accompanied by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, and Ivanka Trump, his eldest daughter, and senior adviser. This whole act by Donald Trump is now termed as a Trump photo op. i.e. Trump's photo opportunity. There is a separate Wikipedia page made on the same. 

Donald Trump received a lot of backlash about the act as many considered it to be a 'perversion of decency and the basic tenants of American liberty unequaled in our long history', as said by Steve Schmidt, an American strategist, on his Twitter. On the other hand, Stephen Hendrickson, founder of Christianbook and member of Mother Jones’ board noted that the version of the Bible that Trump had was the wrong one. It was a Revised Standard Version. He claimed that not only is RSV outdated, but it also is not a Bible that evangelical Christians consider authoritative. 

The death of George Floyd has brought a huge mass of Americans on the streets to protest against police brutality and rampant racism in the country. These protests had led to some destruction of public property after some sections of the protest turned violent. St. John's Episcopal Church was also damaged in the fire on Sunday, May 31. 

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Google Trends Analysis

Google Trends Analysis shows that there were a lot of searches about whether Donald Trump was holding the Bible upside down. The searches saw its peak on June 4 at around 8.30 AM. There were many related searches about the same on Google:

(Source: Google Trends)

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