President Donald Trump was quick to resume his most cherished White House pastime: late-night grievance-posting on social media.
His first target after the glitz and excitement of Inauguration Day: the “so-called Bishop” who asked him to have mercy on immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community.
During a Tuesday interfaith service at Washington National Cathedral, the Episcopal bishop Right Rev. Mariann Budde directly addressed Trump—who was sitting among the congregation with Vice President J.D. Vance and their families—and asked him to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”
After the service, Trump told reporters he didn’t think the service was good and that, “They could do much better.” Later, at about 1 a.m., he took to his social media platform Truth Social to call Budde a “Radical left hard line Trump hater.”
“She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” the president complained.
Budde—who speaks with the type of calm, steadying voice typically found on meditation apps—failed to mention the “large number of illegal immigrations that came into our Country and killed people” or the “giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA,” Trump added.
In fact, violent crime has plummeted over the past three years, according to ABC News, and research shows undocumented immigrants commit far fewer crimes than people born in the U.S.
Nevertheless, Trump complained about Budde bringing her church into politics “in a very ungracious way,” and declared the service “very boring and uninspiring.”
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde (L) arrives as U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral on January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. / Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
“She and her church owe the public an apology!” he wrote.
Appearing that night on CNN, Budde said she had decided to appeal directly to Trump because the president “feels charged and empowered to do what he feels called to do,” and she wanted to remind him there’s “room for a broader compassion.”
Apparently, though, the message failed to land.
The president did show restraint in at least one respect, though. In a departure from his typical rants about “nasty” women, his latest Truth Social post didn’t contain a single instance of all-caps.