Fundamentalist influence, opposed Redskins team name: 7 interesting facts about Bishop Budde
6. Criticized Trump in 2020
In 2020, amid the widespread violent and deadly protests following the death of George Floyd in police custody, U.S. Park Police and National Guard troops cleared the pathway from the White House to the nearby historic St. John’s Episcopal Church that had been torched by rioters the night before.
After the way was cleared, Trump walked over to the church and stood before the front of the church holding up a Bible and giving brief comments. The photo-op received mixed reactions.
Years before gaining headlines for her sermon rebuking Trump, Budde was among multiple Episcopal Church bishops who denounced the photo-op and the treatment of the demonstrators. There had been a claim that tear gas was used to disperse protesters for Trump's photo-op.
Despite the claim making the rounds in the media and prompting widespread outrage, a federal probe by the Interior Department's Inspector General Mark Greenblatt found that neither Trump nor then-Attorney General William Barr ordered the protesters to be tear gassed to make way for Trump's passage through the square, according to NBC News.
“The President just used a Bible and one of the churches of my diocese as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our church stands for,” stated Budde in a Facebook post.
“I am outraged. The President did not pray when he came to St. John’s; nor did he acknowledge the agony and sacred worth of people of color in our nation who rightfully demand an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country.”
