President Trump has said on multiple occasions, “I’m big on loyalty.” On his very first day in office an embarrassing blunder was already handed to him by those who are supposed to look out for him.
One has to wonder about those on his team who scheduled him and his family to attend an inaugural prayer service titled “National Prayer Service” at the Washington National Cathedral. The problem came with the lefty liberal clergy activist who presided over the service, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde.
President Donald Trump seemingly sat stunned as he and his family listened to this woke bishop deliver a stunningly political sermon calling for him to show mercy on illegal immigrants and transgender children.
On Trump’s first full day of his second presidency Bishop Budde, 65, a left-wing Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C. , unleashed an unhinged tirade claiming trans kids were “fearing for their lives” due to him being in the Oval Office.
Trump sat emotionless in the front row, next to First Lady Melania Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife as the bishop lectured how illegal immigrants were not criminals and we shouldn’t deport those with children.
She told Trump, “I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country that are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives.”
She said, “The people who pick our crops, and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals, they might not be citizens or have the proper documentation.
The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. I ask you to have mercy Mr. President on those in communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.”
Trump maintained his calm but looked tired after a full day and night of Inauguration festivities that involved 3 speeches and 3 balls where he was up to the early hours of this morning.
“Donald Trump SLAMS sermon, after Bishop pleads for immigrants, transgender rights” – LiveNow from Fox
Asked about the service by White House reporters after, Trump said: “What did you think, did you like it? Did you find it exciting? Not too exciting, was it? I think it was a great service though. Thank you. Thank you very much. They could do much better.”
Republicans and MAGA supporters eviscerated the bishop on social media platforms.
“The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list,” wrote Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) on social media.
Budde champions leftist causes through her ministry. On her diocesan website, she boasts of serving as “an advocate and organizer in support of justice concerns, including racial equity, gun violence prevention, immigration reform, the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, and the care of creation.”
Budde had a history of criticizing President Trump during his first term which included a historical moment after he stood next to the historic (1815) St. John’s Episcopal Church holding a Bible. He demanded the clearing of protesters out of Lafayette Square near the White House during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests after the church had been set on fire. That church is nicknamed “The Church of the Presidents” as so many presidents have attended worship there and it has deep meaning to Trump.
At the time, she said that Trump’s actions were “antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that we as a church stand for”. Those who really know the Bible know “the Church is the wife of Christ” so Jesus would thank Trump for putting his wife’s fire out so that she might continue to stand, period.
She once condemned President Trump in a video of ABC News while attending a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020 wearing a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her condemnation constituted her bearing false witness against President Trump as not part of the George Floyd riots was the fault of President Trump.
“Bishop blasts message of Trump’s church photo-op as ‘antithetical to the teachings of Jesus’…”
“I’ve given up speaking to President Trump. We need to replace President Trump.” – Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington on ABC News June 3, 2020
CONCLUSION:
A pious Bishop Budde made me laugh out loud when she asked President Trump at her service to protect gay lesbian transgender children and illegal immigrants and then referenced illegal immigrants as “people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings”!
In the first place, who does Budde want Trump to protect LGBTQ children from, Islam maybe? In the second place, her comment about picking crops and cleaning buildings came off as stereotypically racist. She seems unfit for the clergy.
To be clear, this was a “gotcha” moment with an activist church leader with whom Trump has a past and Trump’s Team apparently missed it, or they were setup not knowing she was going to preside over this service. Either way, they need to do better.
Bishop Budde offers us more proof liberals are liars. Hey Budde, news flash, you and your ilk did replace Trump with Biden and things got extraordinarily worse. We switched him back and you are still talking to him… unwanted, but still flapping your yap.
If you can’t keep God’s word, at least try to keep your own!
President Donald Trump is a better man than I am. Had I been put in that situation, I would have collected my family and walked out mid-service to distance myself from sin and sinner, Bishop Budde! I would have then warned that church in writing to better monitor their speech from the pulpit as their tax exempt status could be challenged.
© 2025 by Mark S. Schwendau
