
President Donald Trump is raging at Episcopalian Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde who publicly urged him to have “mercy” on LGBTQ+ people and immigrants at a prayer service for his inauguration. In a Truth Social post published on Wednesday, Trump called her a “radical far left hard line Trump hater” and “nasty,” an insult Trump has often used against women. Then he demanded an apology.
Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) has also called for Budde to be deported even though she is a U.S. citizen born in New Jersey.
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Bishop begs Donald Trump to his face to have “mercy” on LGBTQ+ people
She bravely tried to speak to Trump’s conscience as he starts his second term.
Speaking at the National Cathedral’s prayer service on Tuesday morning, Budde asked Trump to “find compassion,” stating, “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives.”
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She also brought up immigrants, saying that they’re not rapists but instead hard workers who do much of the labor that Americans depend on.
“I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our community whose children fear that their parents will be taken away and that you help those that are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands, to find compassion and welcome here.”
During her speech, Trump looked visibly uncomfortable.
Wow. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde fearlessly calls out Trump and Vance to their faces. This is heroic. pic.twitter.com/igyKzC8dRo
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) January 21, 2025
“The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater,” Trump wrote in a Wednesday morning social media post. “She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”
Trump wrote that Budde failed to mention “the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people” and who “were deposited from jails and mental institutions” and are now taking part in a ” giant crime wave” in the United States.
The Department of Justice has said that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at rates lower than U.S.-born citizens. Trump’s plan to deport 11 million undocumented people — despite his use of immigrant labor at his properties — would break up law-abiding immigrant families who have been living, working, and paying about $100 billion a year in U.S. taxes, according to Mother Jones.
“Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one,” Trump added. “She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!”
Trump wasn’t the only Republican to criticize Budde. In a Tuesday afternoon post, Rep. Collins wrote of Budde, “The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.”
The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list. pic.twitter.com/d7a2z1CM6s
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) January 21, 2025
Budde, age 65, is the first woman to serve as the spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C.
In a phone interview, Bishop Budde said that she “wasn’t necessarily calling the president out” but made her plea “because of the fear” she had seen in Washington’s immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities. She wanted Mr. Trump to “be mindful of the people who are scared,” she told The New York Times.
“I was trying to say: The country has been entrusted to you,” she added. “And one of the qualities of a leader is mercy.”
Budde also angrily criticized Trump in a 2020 New York Times op-ed, writing that she was “outraged” and “horrified” by Trump’s use of a Bible for a photo in front of St. John’s Church after officers used tear gas to disperse racial justice protesters in nearby Lafayette Square. She wrote that Trump had “used sacred symbols” to “cloak himself in spiritual authority” while “espousing positions antithetical to the Bible.”
In 2015, Trump implied that he doesn’t ask God for forgiveness because he doesn’t make mistakes that require forgiveness. An estimated 56% of Christians voted for Trump in the 2024 elections.
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