Following a traditional inaugural prayer service at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday, during which an Episcopal bishop called on President Donald Trump to show “mercy” toward LGBTQ people and immigrants, he told reporters the sermon “wasn’t too exciting” and added he “didn’t think it was a good service.”
The National Prayer Service was one of several events presidents attend around being sworn in.
“What did you think? Did you like it? Did you find it exciting? Not too exciting, was it? I didn’t think it was a good service, no,” Trump said to reporters following the service.
Then, in a Truth Social post early Wednesday morning, Trump called the bishop of Washington, the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, “a Radical Left hard line Trump hater.”
“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 said.
“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!” Trump added.
Budde defended her sermon against Trump’s criticism, telling ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday that she sought to create “unity” and to “counter the narrative that is so divisive and polarizing.”
“I wanted to emphasize respecting the honor and dignity of every human being, basic honesty and humility and then I also realized that unity requires a certain degree of mercy — mercy and compassion and understanding,” she said.
“I was trying to speak a truth that I felt needed to be said, but to do it as respectful and kind a way as I could,” she added. “And also to bring other voices into the conversation … voices that had not been heard in the public space for some time.”
When asked if she had an opportunity to share her thoughts one-on-one with the president, Budde said she had not been invited but would welcome the opportunity and would be “as respectful as I would with any person.” She added that the invitation would have to come from him.
In her sermon, Budde addressed Trump directly from the pulpit.
“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,” Budde said.
“They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” she continued. “They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara and temples. 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.”
Throughout the sermon, Trump, in the front pew, had a stoic expression, flipping through his program and scanning the room.
He looked up only during the hymns, sometimes moving his head to the music. Melania Trump was seen stifling a yawn and shifting around to stay alert.
A majority of Trump family members were seated behind the Trumps.
Bishop Budde has previously spoken out against Trump.
In 2020, following Trump’s ordering of the National Guard to disperse protestors with tear gas to stage a photo-op with an upside-down Bible, she criticized the president for using the Church and a Bible to justify his actions.
Speaking to ABC’s Good Morning America, Budde said the president’s photo-op was “as if it were spiritual validation and justification for a message that is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and to the God of justice.”
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