After a bishop at the National Cathedral prayer service for the inauguration on Tuesday implored Donald Trump to “have mercy upon” immigrants and LGBTQ+ people, many have spoken out about the remarks – including Trump himself.
In a lengthy social media post early on Wednesday, Trump called the Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” adding that “she brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way” and criticized her tone as “nasty”.
Later on in the statement, Trump described the service as “boring” and “uninspiring” and said that Budde and her church “owe the public an apology!”
Budde, 65, who is the first woman to serve as the spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, used her inaugural prayer service sermon at the Washington National Cathedral to appeal to Trump directly.
She urged him to show mercy to scared individuals, including “gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families” some, who she said “fear for their lives”.