Yes a great deal has been said about the response to Bishop Mariann Budde, but it is perhaps important to spotlight because what it reveals tells us a great deal about Trump and his sycophants.
Least you missed it, then here is what happened.
An inaugural prayer service was held at the Washington National Cathedral. During this service the Right Rev. Mariann Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, gently advised the incoming Trump administration to be kind to deeply frightened people who are in need.
Here is the part that triggered Trump. It is split screen so that you can not only see her speaking, but also his reaction as she speaks…
“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President,” Bishop Mariann Budde said in her 15-minute sermon. “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,” said Budde, as she appeared to look towards the president.
“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 meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they – 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,” said Budde.
…
Towards the end of her sermon Budde said, “I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that 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.”
Dear leader was deeply offended by the very idea of being kind, so after stewing on it all he responded later that night via Truth Social with his usual fictitious bullshit …
Guilty of … bringing the church into the world of politics … says the guy who makes $$ selling bibles bundled with notable political documents, and who claimed he had been saved by a god to make America great again … again!
Being kind to strangers and those in need is now deemed a … “Radical Left Hard Line” … which is beautifully summed up by political cartoonist Nick Anderson …
He also demands an apology!
He can basically take that suggestion, roll it up very carefully and then proceed to stick it into a place where the sun does not shine.
The only apology needed is the one that this neolithic over-privileged bully is utterly incapable of delivering.
Act II – The Sycophants proceed to lick his arse
With the bat signal delivered his minions leap into action.
We had Republican U.S. Representative Mike Collins from Georgia posting a video clip on X of Budde’s sermon along with the text, “The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.” because any criticism of Dear Leader, even the suggestion that he is not being kind, is not to be tolerated …
So where exactly would she be deported to?
NJ perhaps because that is where she was born, then again perhaps that’s why they want Greenland.
We also had Rep. Josh Brecheen going as far as introducing a resolution … “to fully condemn the distorted message that was preached at President Trump during the National Prayer Service“ … and I’m not kidding …
That’s a cue for the First Amendment to enter stage left, cough very loudly and then proceed to remind people that …
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
… no wait, that was a daft suggestion. Now that Dear Leader is in charge they just ignore all that dull constitutional stuff.
Pastor Jim Garlow posted on Facebook that the sermon (which more or less directly quoted Jesus) was … “anti-biblical as it relates to human sexuality” and he also equated her as being on par with a child abuser.
Matt Walsh used her sermon to roll out a claim that “why women should not be pastors, priests, or bishops.”
The new White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Budde “spewed lies” and needed to apologize to Trump.
Can the baying mob carrying pitchforks and torches get any weirder as they demand that the witch should be burned?
This is today’s MAGA and GOP, of course they can, they have turned being weird into a performance art …
In essence, the people who claim there is a war on Christians have now declared war on all Christians who dare to preach the teachings of Jesus in their own Church.
She clearly hit a nerve and Triggered Trump
In normal times her sermon, a plea to be kind, would not have been noticed, but sadly such “normal times” is now a distant and almost forgotten memory.
For Trump, this clearly triggered him – this was highlights by political cartoonist Clay Jones via the following excellent cartoon…
Key Thoughts
The “so-called Bishop” … really was a Bishop, a real-one and not simply self-appointed, so to borrow a chess metaphor, the rules of the game enable Bishops to move differently and attack the so-called king.
She is the “radical Left” and not just “left” but supposedly “radical left“, because she leaned into the actual teachings of Jesus. Via the criticism that it then generated we get to see how many of these so-called Christians are opposed to those actual teachings of Jesus, and yes I’m looking directly at you 81% of evangelicals who have continuously supported this malicious felon and morally bankrupt and swamp monster.
“National Prayer Service” – So here is the thing, he chose to come to her church, and hold his Service there. Once inside he is outside his bubble and so must then sit in silence and listen to somebody who is not a sycophant willing to pander and stroke his ego. Instead he is forced to hear what she has to say.
It’s the Refusal to accept his executive order that is the key to all this, the refusal to tolerate his bigotry and intolerance.
She pointed out that … “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives.”. He had just signed an order recognizing “two sexes, male and female,”. It declared that this is set at birth and cannot be changed, but that’s an utterly insane order that flies in the face of the scientific reality. As has been pointed out within a previous posting …
Biological sex in humans is multifactorial and complicated, pretty much like all of biology. While there are two pathways of sexual development (we are a sexually dimorphic species), humanity is not “strictly” binary because not everyone fits cleanly or unambiguously into one of two sexes. Pretty much every aspect of biological sex has variations, or “differences in sexual development”, or ambiguous features in some individuals. These are the facts, and you cannot meaningfully disagree about this.
Issuing an Executive Order to declare it is not so and that it really is just binary does not in any way alter the reality of that binary claim being a lie.
Is it really so?
Yes, it really is so …
those with CAIS (complete androgen insensitivity syndrome). These are people who are XY, produce male levels of testosterone, have undescended testes, produce sperm, and do not develop a uterus, but they do not respond to testosterone so they develop otherwise along the female body plan. They have vaginas, a complete (and often even more so than average) suite of female secondary sexual characteristics, and typical female neurological development. So they have male genetics, hormones, and gametes, but female genitalia, body and brain. So — are they male or female? Do some men have vaginas, or do some women have XY chromosomes?
What is true is that most are either male or female. What is not factual is that all are, it really is not binary but instead is bimodal. Critics of this take the stance that you are either male or female and the exceptions don’t count … except they do … they really really do.
This is the ultimate moral test of our age. The stance you take not only defines where your moral compass is, but even if you have one.
It is not belief or the lack of belief that defines this. Clearly the Bishop, who is very obviously religious, takes the right moral stance here and is happy to openly criticise those that don’t by speaking truth to power. She is also tough enough and wise enough to ignore all the criticism. She is a surprise because generally most religious people are also deeply homophobic, but there are exceptions and she is one, so that also is not a binary choice. In a similar manner there are also non-religious people who are deeply transphobic and/or homophobic and sincerely believe they have science on their side (they really don’t), and yet generally speaking they are the exception and not the norm – again not a binary choice.
So what can we see in play here?
We learn that kindness and helping others is now deeply controversial and has become a pivot point that divides us.
This quote sums it up …
“Cruelty in the name of God is always justified in their minds. But using faith as inspiration to help others? That’s blasphemy.“
I myself might not be religious, but I can also happily applaud her for being courageous enough to take the right stance and to speak up when it really mattered.