What did Donald Trump do today?

He attacked a bishop for giving a sermon about loving one's neighbor.

On Tuesday, Trump attended a prayer service at Washington's National Cathedral. The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, the Right Reverend Marian Edgar Budde, gave a sermon in which she asked Trump to show mercy and compassion towards refugees and children who feared he would take their parents away. 

Budde spoke softly and haltingly, and did not criticize Trump, but spoke of their shared faith and belief in a providential God. She concluded: "I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here."

Trump has said he is a Christian and has accepted the support of politically conservative religious leaders. He has claimed that God miraculously intervened to save him during the attempt on his life this summer. Christianity, and in particular the teachings of Jesus Christ, has a great deal to say about mercy and compassion towards those who travel to foreign lands and seek refuge there. 

Trump did not respond well to being spoken to about mercy and compassion, and was visibly angry when asked about it by reporters on Tuesday. Early this morning, still fuming, he ranted about it on his private social media site. He called Budde "not smart" and "boring" and that it was "inappropriate" for her to address him. He also called her "nasty," which is his go-to insult for women who have upset him (as well as Ted Cruz).

Trump demanded that Budde apologize. Budde, who has received threats of violence since the sermon, has declined to do so, but acknowledged today that she misjudged how sensitive Trump would be to even a meekly-phrased request to consider what Jesus's teachings required of him. She said that she'd hoped that he would be willing to listen because she spoke gently and was "acknowledging his authority and his power," adding, "I guess I had that wrong."

This is not Trump's first clash with an Episcopal cleric. Church leaders, including Budde, were outraged in 2020 when Trump ordered the military to attack protestors with tear gas so that he could pose for a photo brandishing a Bible in front of St. John's Church, which is across the street from the White House.

Why does this matter?

• No one who cannot abide being asked to do right is fit to be president.

• It is right and appropriate that citizens be allowed to remind their leaders of their moral responsibilities.

• Americans who voted for Trump because they believed in his Christian faith might not like how he reacts to sermons asking him to reflect on the teachings of Jesus.