By Hanifat Mustapha
American President Donald Trump has berated Washington Bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde, who pleaded for mercy for LGBT people, and illegal migrants.
In his response to the appeal made by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde on Tuesday, Trump via his verified social media account urged the Bishop to work on herself, and how to make the country a better place.
“The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way,”
Trump wrote on his verified Social media platform after attending a service at the Washington National Cathedral given by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.
“She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people. Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions.
“It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!” wrote Trump.
This statement came as Trump issued measures on Monday, after being sworn in as president for the second time, to suspend the arrival of asylum seekers and expel migrants in the country illegally.
He also decreed that only two sexes — male and female, but not transgender — will be recognized.
“I ask you to have mercy, President,” the bishop said softly, evoking the “fear” that she said is felt across the country.
“There are gay and lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families,” she said.
“The people who pick our farms 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,” she said. “But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.”
“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives,” the Right Rev Mariann Budde said from the pulpit at an inaugural prayer service sermon at the Washington National Cathedral, as Trump sat stone-faced in the front row, alongside Melania Trump and JD Vance.
“You have felt the providential hand of a loving God,” she said, an apparent reference to Trump’s inaugural address, in which he declared that God had saved him from an assassin’s bullet to “make America great again”.
She continued: “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy on the people in our country who are scared now.”