Bishop says she doesn’t ‘hate’ Trump, refuses to apologize

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who made waves this week for asking President Trump to “have mercy” on LGBTQ children and immigrants during a prayer service he attended at the National Cathedral, said she does not “hate” the president, but his demand for an apology will likely go unanswered.

“I am not going to apologize for asking for mercy for others,” Budde, 65, told Time on Wednesday. She told NPR similarly, “I don’t feel there’s a need to apologize.”

At a prayer service for the inauguration Tuesday, Budde, who has led the Episcopal Diocese of Washington since 2011, directly appealed to Trump on behalf of “people in our country who are scared now.”

“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives,” Budde said during Tuesday’s service. She said most immigrants, even those without proper documentation, were good neighbors and the vast majority are “not criminals.”

Trump, who during his first hours in office Monday signed executive orders on immigration and transgender rights, told reporters afterward that Budde’s service was “not too exciting, was it?”

Later, in the early hours of Wednesday, Trump fumed at Budde on Truth Social, writing in a lengthy post that she is “a Radical Left hard line Trump hater” who is “bad at her job.” Her service, he wrote, was “uninspiring,” “nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”

“She and her church owe the public an apology!” he wrote.

Other Republicans piled on, questioning Budde’s faith and whether her gender disqualified her as the diocese’s spiritual leader. One House GOP member said Budde, who was born in New Jersey, “should be added to the deportation list.”

“I don’t hate President Trump,” Budde told Time on Wednesday. “I strive not to hate anyone, and I dare say that I am not of the ‘radical left’ either, whatever that means. That is not who I am.”

She added that she doesn’t feel personally at risk over Trump’s targeting her, “Although people have said they do wish me dead, and that’s a little heartbreaking.”

“It was a pretty mild sermon,” Budde said. “It certainly wasn’t a fire and brimstone sermon. It was as respectful and as universal as I could, with the exception of making someone who has been entrusted with such enormous influence and power to have mercy on those who are most vulnerable.”