Bishop Marian Edgar Budde was nearing the end of her sermon for the inaugural prayer service on Tuesday when she took a breath and looked directly at President Trump.
“I ask you to have mercy on the people of our country who are now afraid,” said Bishop Budde, who heads the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. “Democratic, Republican and independent families have gay, lesbian and transgender children, some of whom fear for their lives.”
The direct appeal to Mr. Trump, at the start of his first full day in office, was a remarkable moment. Twenty-four hours after reclaiming the highest office in the land, subpoenaing tech billionaires as witnesses and signing executive orders in a show of force, he suddenly faces an extraordinary act of public resistance. fell Source: Soft-spoken Bishop.
Bishop Budde said the majority of immigrants are not criminals. “I ask you, Mr. President, to have mercy 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 are oppressed in their own land and find compassion and welcome here.”
Mr. Trump, sitting in the first row of pews in the towering Washington National Cathedral, looked down and then away. Vice President JD Vance raised his eyebrows and glanced several times at his wife, Osha Vance, who kept her eyes on Bishop. When Bishop Budde finished, Mr. Trump said something to Mr. Vance, who shook his head in apparent irritation. Members of the Trump family, seated directly behind them, looked visibly upset, looking at each other. Mr. Trump’s middle son, Eric Trump, nodded.
It wasn’t as if Mr Trump was usually spoken to as soon as he returned to the White House. Since winning the election, he has been courted by powerful business leaders and politicians alike, including many who kept their distance during his first term. Just the day before, he celebrated his return to office with an inauguration in the Capitol Rotunda, a rally surrounded by supporters and a series of inaugural balls. Even former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. welcomed Mr. Trump to the White House by saying, “Welcome home.”
Bishop Budde’s comments came a day after Mr Trump issued a wave of executive orders focusing on transgender rights and immigration.
Asked by a reporter what he thought of the service, the president said, “I didn’t think it was good service, no.”
Shortly after midnight, Mr. Trump doubled down on his criticism in a post on TruthSocial, demanding an apology from Bishop Budde and his church and saying he had made an inappropriate statement.
“They brought their church into the world of politics in a very rude way,” Mr. Trump wrote. “She was foul-mouthed, and not compelling or smart.”
In response to Bishop Budde’s comments about immigration, Mr. Trump said, without providing evidence, that a “massive number” of immigrants came to America illegally and killed people.
In an interview, Bishop Budde said he decided to speak directly to the president because “I have seen and experienced in my own people — people I know and love, both the immigrant community and Within the LGBTQ community, and how nervous.”
He said he was concerned about the “level of license to actually be quite cruel” that some people now feel.
“I’m not necessarily calling the president out. I was trying to say, ‘The country has been entrusted to you,'” Bishop Budde said. “And one of the qualities of a leader is mercy, right? Mercy and caring for those who are afraid.”
Bishop Budde is not the only prominent clergy member to call attention to the fears raised by Mr. Trump’s agenda. Pope Francis on Sunday called Mr Trump’s mass deportation plan “disgraceful”.
Mr. Trump began his presidency on Monday with executive actions aimed at turning his campaign rhetoric into concrete policies, including the rescinding of a Biden administration executive order that limited gender identity or sexual orientation. An attempt was made to prevent discrimination on the basis of orientation.
The administration said Mr. Trump’s new order seeks to defend women against “sexist extremism” that allows biological men to undermine their rights and privacy. And the definitions that describe it define “gender” more precisely.
Under the executive order signed by Mr Trump on Monday, the text states that men and women will be defined at the time of “pregnancy”. The order states that anyone who eventually develops “large reproductive cells” will be considered a woman. A male would be defined as someone who eventually “produces a small reproductive cell.”
The order also states that the federal government will no longer recognize “gender identity” and will only recognize “gender” as “an individual’s immutable biological classification as male or female.”
The order also prohibits the use of federal funds to promote “sex ideology” through grants or other government programming, as well as the use of public funds for transfer-related medical procedures in prisons.
The order effectively shuts transgender Americans out of existence.
“At its core, this executive order is a horrendously cruel attempt to alienate transgender people from the law and push them back into the closet,” said Sarah Warbelow, legal director of the Human Rights Campaign.
Mr. Trump also issued a series of executive orders on immigration on Monday, suspending refugee admissions, severely restricting asylum for immigrants and specifying that he deploy troops to the southern border. Intend to do. However, the border has been relatively quiet under the Biden administration following a record number of illegal crossings.
The Trump administration also rescinded a Biden policy that instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents not to make arrests at schools, places of worship and other locations designated as “sensitive locations.”
During his campaign, and throughout his first term, Mr. Trump often portrayed all immigrants who cross the border illegally as criminals. While sporadic crimes by immigrants have gained national attention in recent years, Homeland Security officials themselves acknowledge that most people crossing the border are fleeing poverty or violence and seeking a better life.
“There are times when they talk broadly about immigrants and it feels like the picture is painted that all immigrants coming into the country are dangerous,” Bishop Budde said. “And I know that’s not true. It’s not true.”
Yan Zhuang Cooperation reporting.
