A bishop in Washington urged President Donald Trump, during a nationally televised church service, to “have mercy upon” communities that may be impacted by his new administration’s immigration and LGBTQ+ policies. During the traditional post-inauguration interfaith prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday, Jan. 21, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde, appealed directly to the president as he sat in the front row with Vice President JD Vance.
“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” Budde said. “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 meatpacking 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.”
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Trump responded on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
“The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater,” Trump wrote. “She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”
He also claimed many “illegal migrants” in the U.S. were “deposited from jails and mental institutions.”
Trump then went on to critique the bishop, saying she’s “not good at her job” and called her sermon “boring” and “uninspiring,” before ending with a request for an apology from her and the church.
