Washington National Cathedral Bishop Calls Out Trump to His Face

President Donald Trump celebrated the first full day of his second presidency in party by attending a church service at Washington National Cathedral. The progressive institution has long resisted Trump’s values, as Rolling Stone recently reported, and on Tuesday, Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde used her sermon to deliver a pointed message to the new president.

Here’s what she said:

“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 built his political persona largely on virulent xenophobia, and on Monday, he signed a suite of executive orders cracking down on immigration and targeting transgender Americans. His actions have long been at odds with Washington National Cathedral’s mission. Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, in 2020 described Trump using St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo-op, after federal law enforcement used tear gas to break up a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in the area, as “antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and to the God of justice.”

Trump was asked by a reporter what he thought of the service after he left the cathedral on Tuesday. “Not too exciting,” he said. “They could do much better.”