President Donald Trump told Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde that she owes the “public an apology” following the sermon she gave during the customary interfaith service of prayer at the Washington National Cathedral that was held the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 21.
The prayer service has taken place since Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933 and has been held after nearly every presidential inauguration since.
Budde, who is the first woman ever to be elected and serve as the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, gave a 14-minute message, most of which dealt with the importance of unity. Budde used the final minutes of her message to direct a plea towards Trump to have “mercy upon the people in our country.”
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In the 2024 presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump beat Democratic candidate Kamala Harris by 312 electoral votes to 226. Trump also won the popular vote, with 77,301,997 versus 75,017,626.
Mariann Edgar Budde Pleads With Donald Trump ‘To Have Mercy Upon the People in our Country’
With Trump, his wife Melania, Vice President J.D. Vance, Vance’s wife Usha, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, members of Congress and members of Trump’s future cabinet in attendance, Budde looked at Trump and said:
Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country. We’re scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people, 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 may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, wadara and temples. 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. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people in this nation and the world.”
Cameras captured both Trump and Vance’s reactions while Budde was giving her plea, showing them both visibly displeased.