Today is Friday, January 24, 2025. Authoritarianism was in full force, sadly, after Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde delivered a plea for mercy from the incoming autocrat sitting in the front pew, along with his wife, and his vice president and his wife on Tuesday, January 21. An online article in The New Republic by Parker Molloy entitled “The Price of Speaking Up in Trump’s America” outlines an abominable scenario arising from this succession of power that just took place on Tuesday, January 21. For those who couldn’t watch the proceedings, here’s a breakdown of what happened during her address to the devil who is now president of the United States. All she did was urge the Orange Turd to display mercy toward “those people who are scared now” that he’s become president again.

Budde then listed those communities who find themselves very vulnerable under a second Drumpf presidency: “gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families.” She went on to mention “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 and work the night shifts in hospitals.” She recognized that these individuals may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, “but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.” [Try to pound this fact into the empty heads of far-righters who still believe the hogwash that all undocumented people are criminals.] All she asked of the president is to find compassion for these people.

Instead of simply accepting the message of true brotherhood inherent in the pastor’s speech, the response was swift and severe. The bastard himself on his social platform called her a “radical left hard line Trump hater.” He even demanded an apology from the courageous cleric. Chump told reporters that the service was “not too exciting” and that organizers “could do much better.” Is this deranged or not? The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh declared that “hell exists for people like Mariann.” Is this necessary?

With conservatives whipped into a frenzy over nothing, Budde herself says she has begun receiving wishes for her death.

“All of this – the full machinery of right-wing outrage – deployed against a religious leader who simply asked for kindness toward vulnerable people.” This kind of disproportionate response to a plea for mercy tells us exactly what this country will be dealing with over the next four years. Four years of cruelty from a pig!

When asked about the backlash, Budde told NPR, “I regret that it has caused the kind of response that it has, in the sense that it actually confirmed the very thing that I was speaking of earlier, which is our tendency to jump to outrage and not speak to one another with respect.” She has stood firm – thank God – about needing to apologize to the bastard. She won’t!

The whole irony about Budde’s sermon is that it was actually about unity. As she explained to The View, her responsibility “was to reflect, to pray with the nation for unity,” and her remarks were an attempt to “say we need to treat everyone with dignity, and we need to be merciful.”

This response to one woman’s words embracing true Christian values just shows what this country has done in voting for this tyrant and his party of MAGAts. There was one member of Congress, even, who suggested that the American-born bishop should be “added to the deportation list.” Shameful!

This whole incident can be viewed as a preview of how dissent with be dealt with under a second Chump regime. These dissenters to Budde’s message are not just disagreeing with her, they’re trying to destroy her for delivering the message in the first place.

So this shameful episode from January 21 should be remembered by all of us as we see how the machinery of government under Chump can be used to carry out a full-scale campaign of intimidation from the highest levels of government and media.

Another piece of nauseating news: Chump’s unqualified nominee for defense secretary was tonight confirmed in a very narrow Senate vote – with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. The country is in deep shit with this confirmation, I believe. Whatever it’s worth, Senator “Bitch” McConnell issued a searing “no” vote on Hegseth’s nomination for defense secretary. He noted how the position of defense secretary is even more important today “in the face of the gravest threats to U.S. national security interests since World War II.” Let’s hope Hegseth makes good on his promise to quit drinking now that he’s defense secretary. I don’t see how he can keep this promise, given how murderous the job is.

Oye! And so it went!