Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde bravely called out a stone-faced Trump and Vance to their face during the national prayer service this Tuesday:
“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 who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families — some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking 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, gurdwara, and temples.
I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear 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 — the good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.”
Trump couldn’t even bring himself to look at her for most of it. And, of course, it didn’t sit well with him:
An unsmiling Trump, who sat in the first pew, looked back at Budde and sometimes away. His family and Vice President JD Vance seemed similarly surprised and displeased at the intervention.
Asked later by a reporter for his reaction, Trump said: “I didn’t think it was a good service.”
“They could do much better.”
Among scores of executive orders signed late Monday were measures to suspend the arrival of asylum seekers and expel migrants in the country illegally.
Trump also decreed that only two sexes — male and female, but not transgender — will be recognized.
