WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump began Day 2 of his presidency on Tuesday with a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral. He didn’t seem particularly impressed with it.
A pool reporter asked him how it went when he returned to the White House.
“Not too exciting, was it,” Trump responded on his way to the Oval Office. “I did think it was a good service. They could do much better.” (The pool reporter later noted it was unclear whether the president said he “did think it was a good service” or “didn’t,” as he was a bit far away.)
Spokespeople for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment as to why Trump was so grumpy after the service.
The theme of the sermon was largely about unity, and it included readings from the Torah, the Quran and the Bible.
It’s possible Trump was griping afterward because toward the end of the sermon the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde directly addressed him and asked him to have “mercy” on people who are “scared” about him taking office. She specifically referred to undocumented immigrants and LGBTQ children.
“Millions have put their trust in you,” Budde told the president. “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the 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,” she said. “The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants.”
“They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” she added. “They pay taxes and are good neighbors.”
Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, delivered her sermon as Trump is trying to use his executive authority to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, vowing to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, attacking transgender people by signing an executive order declaring there are only two sexes and threatening to jail political opponents in both political parties.
Seated in the front row, the president was slumped in his pew and periodically stared at the floor as Budde spoke. Vice President JD Vance, seated nearby, looked at his wife as the reverend began her remarks and then sat looking straight ahead.
“I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away,” Budde said to Trump. “Our God teachers us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.”
You can watch Budde’s remarks to the president here: