A stony-faced Donald Trump has been lectured by a bishop was today asked him to be ‘merciful’ as he takes office – leaving the new US leader looking confused.
Bishop Mariann Budde delivered an astonishing speech in Washington when she appeared to make a pro-migrant, pro gay rights speech directed straight at the shocked president as he looked on. She said the world order “as we know it is now over” – and that people “face a world of hard competition”.
It comes after Trump signed a blitz of executive orders, including one which condemned “gender ideology” and declared, “it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.” Seemingly speaking directly to the president, she said: “Millions have put their trust in you.
“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 who are scared now,” Budde said in her sermon. “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in both Democratic, Republican and independent families who fear for their lives.”
Bishop Budde said some LGBTQ+ Americans currently fear for their lives, leaving President Trump and vice president JD Vance looking stone-faced.
Turning to immigration, she says: “They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation – but the vast majority… are not criminals”. She added: “They pay taxes and are good neighbours, they are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues 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 warzones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here,” she said.
And she pointed out how “God teaches us to be merciful to the stranger” before asking: “May God grant us the strength and courage to honour the dignity of every human being”.
The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington’s most public connections to Trump occurred in 2020 during the first administration when she criticised him for staging a visit to the historic St. John’s Church across from the White House, where he held up a Bible after authorities had cleared the area of peaceful protesters.
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