Remembering
James Robison

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The Brew: Woke Bishop Lectures Trump at National Prayer Service

By Al Perrotta Published on January 22, 2025

Happy Wednesday!

Let’s add a bit of extra caffeine to The Brew for those who are still recuperating from Monday’s inauguration. It’d take a supercomputer to keep track of all the things President Trump has done in the 42 hours since reclaiming office.

He seems to have done everything but name the Indian from the Village People head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Progressive Bishop Politicizes National Prayer Service

As is tradition, the newly installed president and vice president attended a prayer service with their families at the National Cathedral on Tuesday morning. But for their trouble, they might as well have stayed home and watched MSNBC.

The progressive Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who in 2020 openly called for Trump’s defeat, chose to politicize the moment designed for national unity in a house of God by pleading with Trump to back away from deporting illegal immigrants. The expressions on the faces of Trump’s family members speak volumes.

Budde also lectured the president about LGBTQ matters. She said,

Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. 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.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins was not impressed. “The cause of America’s decline was not what was sitting in the pew but what was standing behind the pulpit,” he said. “What we heard today was not a prophetic voice from the church, but rather pathetic.”

Megyn Kelly was even less generous.

When asked his thoughts about the service, Trump replied, “Not too exciting, was it? I didn’t think it was a good service. They can do much better.”

Action to Stop the Flood of Illegal Immigrants Already Underway. Dems Resist

Border czar Tom Homan confirmed on Fox News that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has already begun to apprehend and deport the estimated 700,000 illegal immigrants who have criminal records. (Please, ICE, release their photos so the American people can see these are not five-year-olds with teddy bears.)

The CBP One app, which was basically a concierge service the Biden administration put together to get illegal immigrants into our nation more quickly, has already been shut down.

Also, the Senate passed the Laken Riley Act on Monday by a 64-35 vote. The law will require the Department of Homeland Security to take into custody illegal immigrants who are busted for burglary, theft, or shoplifting in the U.S.

Meanwhile, 22 attorneys general have already filed a lawsuit to stymie Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship, saying it violates the Fourteenth Amendment.

This amendment was passed after the Civil War to ensure former slaves were treated as citizens. (So now the Democrats like it?) It reads, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

But does that apply to the offspring of people who came here illegally? The key word in the executive order is “jurisdiction”: “The Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.'”

This case is on the fast track to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Massive Joint Artificial Intelligence Venture

On Tuesday, Trump announced a new joint venture called Stargate, designed to ensure America’s dominance in the field of artificial intelligence. OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank are teaming up on the $500 billion investment project to build the needed AI infrastructure. Stargate will start its buildout in Texas.

https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1881831545264288040

DOGE Is Official … With a Cute, Cuddly Mascot

On Monday, Trump officially created the Department of Government Efficiency. By Tuesday, the DOGE website was up and running — with an adorable little mascot to boot. (Though the mascot has since been removed.)

Within minutes, three federal lawsuits were filed alleging that DOGE doesn’t comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

A Beautiful Moment We May Have Missed

Lost in the frenzy of activity Monday was a rather beautiful — and thoroughly American — moment. Across from J.D. Vance during his swearing in stood his mother, Beverly Aiken, a woman whose life struggles underpin Vance’s bestselling book Hillbilly Elegy.

Yesterday, Robert M. Sterling wrote a moving tribute to that moment, speculating about what must have been going through Aiken’s mind as she watched her little boy become the second most powerful figure in the world.

I’m not crying. You’re crying.

Along The Stream…

Yesterday, we posted the eyewitness account of being in the District of Columbia on Inauguration Day: “Celebration and Security: Observations from the Nation’s Capital on Inauguration Day.”

Also, John Zmirak tells us why “With Trump, America Inaugurated a Return Not to Faith, But to Reason.”

Plus, Joachim Osther details “Why Trump Pardoned the J6 Political Scapegoats.”

 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.