Donald Trump Demands Apology From Bishop Who Hurt His Feelings
Right Rev. Mariann Budde had appealed to Trump to have mercy and compassion during an interfaith service.
President Donald Trump was quick to resume his most cherished White House pastime: late-night grievance-posting on social media.
His first target after the glitz and excitement of Inauguration Day: the “so-called Bishop” who asked him to have mercy on immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community.
During a Tuesday interfaith service at Washington National Cathedral, the Episcopal bishop Right Rev. Mariann Budde directly addressed Trump—who was sitting among the congregation with Vice President JD Vance and their families—and asked him to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”
After the service, Trump told reporters he didn’t think the service was good and that, “They could do much better.” Later, at about 1 a.m., he took to his social media platform Truth Social to call Budde a “Radical left hard line Trump hater.”
“She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” the president complained.
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde: "The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors...may I ask you to have mercy Mr. President on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away." pic.twitter.com/iXaHJrPsof
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 21, 2025
Budde—who speaks with the type of calm, steadying voice typically found on meditation apps—failed to mention the “large number of illegal immigrations that came into our Country and killed people” or the “giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA,” Trump added.
In fact, violent crime has plummeted over the past three years, according to ABC News, and research shows undocumented immigrants commit far fewer crimes than people born in the U.S.
Nevertheless, Trump complained about Budde bringing her church into politics “in a very ungracious way,” and declared the service “very boring and uninspiring.”
“She and her church owe the public an apology!” he wrote.
Trump was confirmed at a Presbyterian church in his childhood but has described himself as a non-denominational Christian in recent years.
Budde is “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,” according to a biography on the Episcopal Diocese of Washington website.
Appearing on CNN after the service, Budde said she had decided to appeal directly to Trump because the president “feels charged and empowered to do what he feels called to do,” and she wanted to remind him there’s “room for a broader compassion.”
Apparently, though, the message failed to land.
The president did show restraint in at least one respect, though. In a departure from his typical rants about “nasty” women, his latest Truth Social post didn’t contain a single instance of all-caps.
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