Washington: On his first full day in office, President Donald Trump attended a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral. However, the sermon he received on Tuesday may not have been what he anticipated—an impassioned plea for compassion toward immigrants and respect for LGBT youth.
A day after declaring in his inaugural speech that there were “only two genders in America” and signing executive orders to crack down on immigration, Trump was addressed by Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde. Speaking from the pulpit, Budde urged the president to show mercy to those fearful of his administration’s policies.
“There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives,” Budde stated.
Trump’s administration had already initiated a sweeping crackdown on immigration. Measures announced on Monday included deploying the U.S. military for border security, imposing a broad asylum ban, and taking steps to restrict citizenship for children born on U.S. soil.
Budde appealed for empathy and understanding toward immigrants, highlighting their contributions to society. “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,” she said.
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She continued, “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.”
Trump appeared visibly discontent during Budde’s remarks and later dismissed the sermon when asked for his thoughts, saying, “Not too exciting.”
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Billionaire Elon Musk, a vocal supporter of Trump, also criticized Budde’s sermon on his social media platform, X. “She got the woke mind virus real bad,” Musk wrote.
Musk, however, has faced public scrutiny regarding his relationship with his transgender daughter. In 2022, she filed a court petition to change her name, stating: “I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape, or form.”
