Free Republic

Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde’s sermon to President Trump during an inaugural prayer service, coupled with her church’s advocacy for humanitarian immigration programs, reveals a striking hypocrisy — one that could be seen as self-serving and even a conflict of interest. That’s because the federal contracting arm of the church, Episcopal Migration Ministry (EMM), is paid to bring in people on resettlement programs that Trump has temporarily paused and targeted for re-evaluation. EMM budget figures for 2024 are not available yet, but in 2023 it earned $53 million from various taxpayer-funded government programs to resettle 3,600 individuals. Unlike everyday immigrants, these...

Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson called Budde the "latest twinkle in the eye of anti-Trump media." "The bishop is following a well-traveled path forged by the likes of Michael Avenatti," Jacobson told Fox News Digital. "The bishop will become a media darling for a while, only to replaced by the next big anti-Trump thing. It's all so tiresome and predictable."