Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop in Washington D.C., led a prayer at the National Cathedral on January 20, 2025, as part of Trump’s inauguration ceremonies (video below).
Her prayer included a call for compassion and tolerance for LGBQTs and immigrants. Trump didn’t like it and said later, “I didn’t think it was a good service. They could do much better.” (Read story here.)
Then why did Trump’s team choose her? They didn’t. She was selected by church officials before the election, when no one knew who would be inaugurated. A number of other, more fawning (e.g. Franklin Graham), religious figures were invited by Trump’s inauguration organizers.
GOP Rep. Mike Collins (photo, left; bio here), a trucking firm owner from Georgia, demanded Budde be “added to the deportation list” (see his tweet here, and read story here).
Someone might try to argue Budde’s prayer was deliberately provocative and confrontational. But Budde didn’t criticize Trump or his policies; she merely begged for “mercy” for “scared” people. Compassion and tolerance are basic Christian values.
But it was too much for Trucker Mike, who wants Budde kicked out of the country. That’s a troubling thing to say, because Budde was born in New Jersey, and calling for kicking a citizen out of the country for speaking her mind at a political is profoundly disrespectful of the constitutional principles of free speech and freedom of religion.
Collins has succeeded in convincing me he’s a thin-skinned shallow thinker. Or, in trucker language, this is what you get when voters elect meatheads to Congress.