President Trump called remarks by the bishop of the National Cathedral “nasty in tone” hours after she delivered a sermon that included a plea to “have mercy” on immigrant and refugee families and LGBTQ Americans.
In her sermon during the national prayer service on Tuesday morning, the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington urged him to “have mercy upon the people in our country.”
“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God,” Budde said. “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country.”
Budde went on to say many people are “scared now,” and “there are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives — and the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals.”
“I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here,” Budde said.
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In a social media post several hours later, after the sermon went viral online, Mr. Trump called the bishop a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater.”
“She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way,” he wrote on Truth Social. “She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people. Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!”
The president attended the post-Inauguration Day interfaith ceremony at Washington National Cathedral along with first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance.
When asked by reporters about the service immediately afterward, Mr. Trump said “they could have done better.”
“What did you think?” Mr. Trump asked reporters. “Did you like it? You find it exciting? Not too exciting, was it? I didn’t think it was a good service.”
Republicans in Congress have also reacted angrily to the service, with Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia posting on social media “the person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list,” although Budde was born in New Jersey. GOP conference chair Lisa McClain said Wednesday that Budde is “extreme in her views, extremely out of line and out of touch, and what she did was uncalled for.”
McClain added “perhaps we should pray for her.”
The prayer service took place hours after Mr. Trump signed hundreds of executive actions on his first day in office, including numerous measures on immigration and others affecting LGBTQ Americans. On immigration, the executive actions included asking the military to aid with border enforcement, moving to designate cartels and gangs as terrorist groups, shutting down asylum and refugee admissions, and attempting to terminate birthright citizenship. He also issued an executive order on Monday designating that the federal government recognizes only “two sexes, male and female.”
