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A bishop has asked Donald Trump directly to show mercy to LGBTQ people and immigrants, leaving the newly-inaugurated President looking visibly stunned and vocally defensive.
For context, Mariann Edgar Budde delivered a sermon during an inauguration service at Washington National Cathedral, which was attended by Trump seated in the first pew. Budde, the Reverend of the progressive parish that has long resisted Trump’s values, used her homily to speak directly to the President, particularly calling for mercy for two of the communities his presidency looks poised to attack.
“I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” Budde said in a direct address to Trump. “There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children… who fear for their lives.” The comment came after Trump’s dystopian inaugural address, in which he explicitly stated that the US government would recognize “only two genders,” after which he began rolling back the protections for transgender people instituted by Joe Biden.
On his first day as President, Trump signed an executive order instructing agencies to “cease pretending that men can be women and women can be men when enforcing laws that protect against sex discrimination.” That, however, wasn’t the Trump policy that caught the ire of Budde. As Trump appeared angered in the pew, Budde also pleaded with him to consider his immigration policies, saying “the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.”
“I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear their parents will be taken away,” Budde said, before urging Trump to “help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.” The reverend’s plea follows Trump’s inaugural declaration that he would initiate the largest deportation operation in US history, a promise he made good on with a suite of immigration-related executive orders signed on his first day in office.
The plea from Budde was predictably lost on Trump, who not only appeared uncomfortable during the sermon, but spoke negatively of the service to the press. “I didn’t think it was a good service, no,” Trump told reporters outside of the cathedral, adding that the event “wasn’t too exciting” and that “they could do much better.” While Trump taking unkindly to criticism is no surprise, he perhaps should’ve expected such commentary from Budde, who has been opposed to the president in the past.
In 2020, Budde — who serves as the Episcopal bishop of Washington — reacted after Trump used the cathedral for a Bible-holding photo-op in the wake of violent protests in the area during the Black Lives Matter movement. She said the move by Trump was “antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and to the God of justice.” Before that, Budde was one of multiple high-ranking members of the cathedral to release a searing statement that compared Trump to Joseph McCarthy and asked “when will Americans have enough” of the President.
Earlier this month, the Washington National Cathedral was the site of former president Jimmy Carter’s funeral, following his death at 100 years old. The service was attended by Trump and his former presidential opponents Kamala Harris and Hilary Clinton, as well as fellow former presidents Barack Obama and George Bush, among others.