Bishop calls on Trump to ‘have mercy’ on LGBTQ+, immigrant communities

I've been preaching for a long time, and I've long since given up trying to read people's body language as I'm preaching because I'd be wrong most of the time,

said Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde

The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list,

Collins wrote in a post on the social platform X, alongside a clip of Budde’s comments

Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job!"

Trump said

Their expressions of fury and discomfort suggest she nailed it,

Ivereigh said

Unity is not partisan."

She added

Knowing that a lot of people in our country right now are really scared, I wanted to take the opportunity in the context of that service for unity, to say we need to treat everyone with dignity, and we need to be merciful, I was trying to counter the narrative that is so so divisive and polarizing, and in which people, real people, are being are being harmed.”

She added

We need leadership that will lead us in the ways that this country deserves,

she said

As I was pondering what are the foundations of unity, I wanted to emphasize respecting the honor and dignity of every human being, basic honesty and humility,

she said

We are commanded to love our neighbor: our trans neighbor, our immigrant neighbor, our neighbors in public office,

Frazier said

She named the truth their policies deny,

Ivereigh said

I was trying to counter the narrative that is so divisive and polarising."

Budde told The View

I was speaking to the president because I felt that he has this moment now where he feels charged and empowered to do what he feels called to do, and I wanted to say there is room for mercy,

she continued

I was looking at the president because I was speaking directly to him,

Budde said

It was a very muted response,

Budde said of Trump's reaction in an interview on CNN Tuesday

For this Bishop to do this to President Trump after a weekend of… talking about God more than ever, talking about how he was spared to give an opportunity maybe to change this country back to something that should be — it just absolutely amazes me how far these people go,

he said on On Newsmax’s The Todd Starnes Show

Laura Ingrahamfox News host

But rather than a Christian service about God and country, they were forced to listen to the rantings of a lunatic.”

While Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham, added

The two groups of people that I mentioned are our fellow human beings, and that they have been portrayed all throughout the political campaign, in the harshest of lights.”

She continued

Sean Hannityfox News host

She made the service about her very own deranged political beliefs with a disgraceful prayer full of fear-mongering and division,

longtime Trump ally and Hannity host, Sean Hannity said

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,

she said

Andy Barr (American politician)republican Representative

As a conservative Episcopalian who supports President Trump and his agenda, I am profoundly disappointed that Bishop Mariann Budde politicized today’s inaugural Service of Prayer for the Nation. By disregarding President Trump’s appointment of Scott Bessent, a brilliant, openly gay man to serve as Treasury Secretary and Elon Musk, a genius, first generation legal immigrant to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, Bishop Budde’s gratuitous criticisms ring hollow,

Barr declared