Bishop asks scowling Trump in church sermon to have mercy on LGBT people, illegal migrants

WASHINGTON – Mr Donald Trump was forced on Jan 21 to sit through a sermon by a bishop begging him to have “mercy” on gays and poor immigrants as the Republican celebrated the start of his second term as US president.

Mr Trump scowled as the Washington National Cathedral’s Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde pleaded the case from the pulpit for LGBT people and illegal migrants –

two groups that Mr Trump targeted with executive orders

within hours of being sworn in on Jan 20.

Mr Trump had gone to the traditional presidential service to commemorate his inauguration and was clearly not expecting the criticism.

“I ask you to have mercy, Mr President,” the bishop said softly, evoking the “fear” that she said is felt across the country.

“There are gay and lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families,” she said.

“The people who pick our farms and clean our office buildings, who labour in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals – they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation,” she said. “But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.”

An unsmiling Mr Trump, who sat in the first pew, looked back at Bishop Budde and sometimes away.

His family and US Vice-President J.D. Vance seemed similarly surprised and displeased at the intervention.

Asked later by a reporter for his reaction, Mr Trump said: “I didn’t think it was a good service. They could do much better.”

Among scores of executive orders signed late on Jan 20 were measures to suspend the arrival of asylum seekers and expel migrants in the country illegally.

Mr Trump also decreed that only two sexes – male and female, but not transgender – will be recognised. AFP