Trump tears into lefty DC bishop who asked him to ‘have mercy’ during National Prayer Service sermon
President Trump on Wednesday tore into the “nasty” Democratic bishop who lectured him at the National Prayer Service — as the church leader confirmed she was sending him a political message.
Trump’s takedown came after having to sit through Tuesday’s service in which the Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde — the Episcopal bishop of DC — turned it into a rant about illegal migrants, refugees and the LGBT community.
“The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater,” the president wrote on his Truth Social account just after midnight.
“She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way,” he said — saying she did so in a “nasty” tone that was “not compelling or smart.”
He singled out the way that the bishop called on him to “have mercy” on immigrant families “whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.”
“She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people,” Trump wrote.
“Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA.”
As well as “her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one,” complained Trump, who had sat looking stone-faced during Tuesday’s service.
“She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!” he wrote.
Budde — who also preached about “gay, lesbian and transgender children” who “fear for their lives” — happily confirmed late Tuesday that she meant the service as a “one-on-one conversation with the president.”
“I was looking at the president because I was speaking to him,” Budde told CNN.
“I was speaking to the president because I felt 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,” she said.
Specifically, she said, she “wanted to counter, as gently as I could, with a reminder of (the illegal migrants) humanity and their place in our wider community,” she said, insisting she sought to “have these conversations in a respectful way.”
Republicans were outraged by Budde’s lecture of the president and vice president during the prayer service Tuesday.
“The bishop was extreme in her views — extremely out of line and out of touch, and what she did was uncalled for,” House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich) fired back. “Perhaps we should pray for her.”
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) posted to X that Budde “should be added to the deportation list.”
Conservative religious leaders across the country also panned Budde’s remarks.
“I can’t argue with how Trump responded, I was there and I agree,” Sean Feucht, of Let Us Worship, told The Post.
