The bishop who urged Donald Trump to “have mercy” on LGBTQ+ people and migrants has responded to the president’s “five-word” review of her service.
The 79-year-old officially took the oath of office as the 47th President of the United States on Monday (January 20).
Within his first 24 hours back in the Oval Office, Trump approved a series of controversial executive orders, including a policy titled, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
According to the White House website, the order declares that there are only “two genders” deemed immutable and grounded in reality.
“Each agency and all Federal employees shall enforce laws governing sex-based rights, protections, opportunities, and accommodations to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes,” the order continues. “Agencies shall remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other messages.
“Agency forms that require an individual’s sex shall list male or female, and shall not request gender identity. Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology,” the policy concluded.
The two-time leader also signed off on a procedure that targeted immigration, including tightening border security, limiting birthright citizenship, and redefining what it means to be an American citizen.
The measures are aimed to “protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement,” with Trump adding: “My Administration will marshal all available resources and authorities to stop this unprecedented flood of illegal aliens into the United States.”
Just hours after Trump approved the orders, Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of Washington, addressed the new president during an inaugural prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral.
She issued a heartfelt plea, asking him to show “mercy” to LGBTQ+ individuals and migrants. “Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God,” she began.
“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” she continued, adding that there are “gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families – some who fear for their lives”.
“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.”
Watch the moment below:
Budde also spoke passionately about the plight of immigrants, saying: “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,” she concluded.
Trump, who was sat in the front pew next to First Lady Melania Trump and Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance, responded to Budde’s statement with a stone-faced expression.
He shared his brutally honest opinion after the service, dismissing the event as “not too exciting” and adding: “They could do much better,” AP News reported.
The bishop has since responded to Trump’s remarks in an interview with CNN.
“[I was] reminding us all that the people that are frightened in our country, the two groups 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 said.
“I wanted to counter, as gently as I could, with a reminder of their humanity and their place in our wider community,” she added.
Budde explained that she spoke to Trump because “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. There is room for a broader compassion.
“We don’t need to portray with a broad cloth in the harshest of terms some of the most vulnerable people in our society, who are in fact our neighbors and our friends,” she concluded.
