Bishop Marian Edgar Budde called on President Trump to show mercy to transgender children and immigrant families during a prayer service at the National Cathedral ahead of Tuesday's inauguration, which was posted online. In a post that went viral, the president accused her of being “tone-deaf” and “not persuasive or wise.” ”
“Please have mercy on the people of our country who are afraid. We have gay, lesbian, transgender children, Democrats, Republicans, independent families, some of whom fear for their lives,” Budde said. he said.
She also called for President Trump's mercy toward immigrants and their families, saying the vast majority of immigrants are “not criminals” but rather “good neighbors.”
Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance mostly stared straight ahead while Budde spoke, but after the ceremony, Trump told reporters he didn't think it was “good service,” and said Wednesday In the morning, he went after the bishop in a post on Truth Social.
“The so-called bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Meeting on Tuesday morning was a radical left-wing hardliner who hated Trump. She brought her church into politics in a very disrespectful way. She had a bad tone; He wasn’t attractive or smart,” Trump wrote about Budde.
Budde currently serves as spiritual director of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, becoming the first woman to hold this position. She has led the diocese since 2011.
Prior to her election to the diocese, she served as pastor of St. John's Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, where she spent 18 years.
Badr, 65, holds a master's degree in theology and a doctorate in ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary.
According to the Episcopal Diocese of Washington's website, Budde is an “advocate who supports issues of justice, including racial equality, gun violence prevention, immigration reform, full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people, and care for creation.” and the organizer.
This is not the first time the bishop has criticized Trump.
In 2020 she wrote: opinion article The New York Times criticized the use of tear gas against racial justice protesters in Lafayette Square. She said she was “outraged” and “horrified” by President Trump holding a Bible outside St. John's Church in the wake of violence during protests over the killing of Gyorgy Floyd.
She accused President Trump of using “sacred symbols” while “supporting unbiblical positions.”
President Trump denied that tear gas was used against protesters.
“The Bible is clear: Justice, the social expression of love, is of paramount importance to God. Justice is also of paramount importance to those exercising their right to peacefully protest,” Budde said in 2020. I wrote it in an editorial.
“Sometimes standing on your side and taking your stand is what people of faith are called upon to do,” Budde wrote in explaining why she spoke out.
Budde told CNN's Erin Burnett on Tuesday: her plea To remind President Trump and his audience that “afraid” transgender people and immigrants are “our fellow citizens.”
“I wanted to counter them as gently as possible while reminding them of their humanity and their place in our broader community,” she said. “I spoke to the president because he felt responsible and empowered to do what he felt was required of him right now. And I felt that there was no room for mercy. I wanted to say that there is.”
