Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde (left) arrives as President Trump looks on during the National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde has joined NPR All things considered Wednesday to discuss her hope that President Trump’s new administration will show compassion to vulnerable communities following a sermon she delivered Tuesday.
“I decided to ask him as nicely as possible for mercy,” Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, said of his appeal to Trump, saying All things considered“How dangerous it is to talk about people in these broad categories, and especially immigrants, as all being criminals or that transgender children are dangerous in any way.”
“To be united as a country with so much diversity, we need mercy. We need compassion. We need empathy. And rather than listing this as a broad category, as you heard it, I decided to appeal to the president.”
His appearance on All things considered comes after a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, during which the bishop spoke directly to President Trump, who was seated in the front row alongside Vice President JD Vance.
“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President,” Budde said in his 15-minute sermon.
“Millions of people have trusted 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 of our country who are afraid now,” Budde said, turning his gaze to the president.
Trump and his allies quickly criticized the bishop’s remarks, with one Republican congressman saying the U.S.-born Budde should be “added to the deportation list.”
Despite the backlash, Budde told NPR that her remarks were sincere and that she had no regrets in bringing them to the president’s attention.
“I don’t hate the president and I pray for him,” Budde said. “I don’t think it’s necessary to apologize for a request for mercy.”
“I regret that it was something that caused the kind of reaction that it had, in the sense that it actually confirmed what I was talking about earlier, which was our tendency to be outraged and not talk to each other with respect,” she continued. “But no, I won’t, I won’t apologize for what I said.”
Budde’s plea came just a day after Trump issued a series of executive orders to fulfill some of his most controversial campaign promises, including one that amounted to rejecting transgender identity, calling it a “false claim.” another that would seek to remove the birthright of citizenship, which has already faced legal challenges.
Budde said these orders and Trump’s rhetoric have stoked fear among society’s most vulnerable.
“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some of whom fear for their lives,” Budde said.
“The people who harvest our crops and clean our office buildings; who work in poultry farms and meatpacking plants; who wash dishes after eating in restaurants and who work night shifts in hospitals, they – they may not be citizens or have the right documents. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals, they pay taxes and are good neighbors.
Trump criticized Budde’s remarks, writing after midnight Wednesday morning on his Truth Social platform: “The so-called bishop who spoke at the national prayer service Tuesday morning was a radical left hard-line hater against Trump.”
“She brought her church into the political world in a very unsightly way. She had a nasty tone, and was neither convincing nor intelligent.”
