Over the weekend, Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee defended Donald Trump the way so many conservatives do: by quoting Jesus.

She was responding to the whistleblower’s attorney, who had tweeted after a recent legal victory:

A 3-year, coordinated effort has been underway to remove @realDonaldTrump from office. Jesus warned us — watch out for the lawyers. https://t.co/GqBBPOL9iw — Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) November 10, 2019

Right… as Jesus said, “watch out for the lawyers.”

Except Jesus never said that. Shakespeare did. And he didn’t even mean it in the way Blackburn intended.

To top it off, the Shakespeare quote — from “Henry VI, Part 2” — is widely interpreted as a message about how lawyers are capable of protecting the rule of law from a corrupt leader out to grab power. As one Twitter wag asked Blackburn: “Sound like anyone you know?” In the Shakespeare play, character Dick the Butcher listens to a cohort dreaming of becoming an all-powerful king. Dick pipes up: “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”

Per usual, Twitter wasted no time in roasting Blackburn for her mistake:

And, the reason why lawyers have wanted to remove this president from office since the moment he took the oath, is that he has been violating the Constitution since then. Perhaps after you “brush up your Shakespeare”, you might read the emoluments clauses. 3/3 — Jennifer Taub (@jentaub) November 11, 2019

That was Shakespeare. I think it was Jesus who warned us about the Republicans. — Lisa Glass (@LMplusG) November 11, 2019

Maybe if Blackburn ever read a Bible, instead of just trying to quote from it, she would know more about what Jesus said.

(Featured image via Shutterstock)

