New Delhi: After a bishop directly appealed to Donald Trump to “have mercy” on members of the LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities during a prayer service at Washington National Cathedral Tuesday, the US President posted a vitriolic response on his social media platform Truth Social.
He wrote: “The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. 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.”
He added: “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!”
Shortly after his inauguration Monday, Trump signed executive orders recognising only two genders in the United States—male and female. He also promised to end illegal immigration into the country, saying millions of “criminal aliens” would be deported.
At a prayer service Tuesday, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde asked the newly sworn-in president from the pulpit to show mercy on people who were “scared” of what was to come.
As Bishop Budde began her service, she said, “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 on the people in our country who are scared now.”
She added that there are gay, lesbian and transgender children in democratic, republican and independent families, “some who fear for their lives… And the people, the people who pick our crops, clean our office buildings, who labour 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 that the vast majority of immigrants were not criminals. “I ask you to have mercy, Mr President, on those in our communities whose children feel their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and prosecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.”
However, Trump and his family sat stone-faced throughout the sermon.
Later, when he was asked by a reporter about what he thought of the sermon, Trump responded, “What did you think?”
The reporter then asked, “Did you like it, did you find it exciting?”
To this, the US President said, “Not too exciting. I didn’t think it was a great service… They could do much better.”
Staunch Trump ally and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, picked to lead the Department of Government Efficiency under the new administration, also slammed Budde’s remarks in a post on his social media platform X, saying: “She got the woke mind virus real bad.”
Musk is father to a trans daughter, who filed a court petition to change her name in 2022, and said: “I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.” She changed her name from Xavier Alexander Musk to Vivian Jenna Wilson.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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