Donald Trump Calls D.C. Bishop 'Nasty' and Not Smart for Asking Him to Show 'Mercy' During National Prayer Service

Mar. 15, 2025

President Donald Trump and Bishop Mariann Budde.Photo:GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty; Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty

GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty; Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty

PresidentDonald Trumptook a jab at Bishop Mariann Budde for her sermon at the National Prayer Service afterInauguration Day, when she called on him toshow “mercy” to immigrantsand those in the LGBTQ+ community.

A day after the sermon, Trump, 78, shared a lengthy post onTruth Socialin which he wrote off the Episcopal bishop of Washington — who has previously been critical of him — as a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater.”

Bishop Mariann Budde delivers a sermon at the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 21, 2025.Chip Somodevilla/Getty

Chip Somodevilla/Getty

“She brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way,” Trump wrote on Wednesday, Jan. 22. “She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”

“She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people,” he continued, repeating a common claim that he made during his 2024 presidential campaign. “Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA.”

He concluded: “She and her church owe the public an apology!”

Bishop Mariann Budde arrives at the National Prayer Service on Jan. 21, 2025.Chip Somodevilla/Getty

“I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” she said. “There are gay, lesbian and transgender people in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives … and the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.”

Trump and the first lady maintained a straight face as Budde spoke, while Vice PresidentJ.D. Vancelooked over at his wife appearing frustrated.

The reverend also asked the nation’s new leaders “to pray for unity as a people and a nation — not for agreement, political or otherwise — but for the kind of unity that fosters community across diversity and division.”

The Trumps and Vances attend a National Prayer Service in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2025.Chip Somodevilla/Getty

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Budde previously condemned Trump for his role in thedeadly Capitol riotson Jan. 6, 2021, sharing on Facebook, per AP: “Let us be perfectly clear — to those who see this as a Christian endeavor, or something to be blessed in the name of Jesus, there is nothing Christian about what we are witnessing today. Nothing.”

She also criticized Trump for taking part in aperformative photo op at St. John’s Episcopal Churchduring the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, and for his “racialized rhetoric” after hetold four congresswomen of color to “go back"to where they came from, per an AP report.

source: people.com