‘The View’: Bishop Responds to Trump’s Demand for Apology After ‘Mercy’ Speech (VIDEO)

Bishop Budde on The View
ABC

Talk about a hot “Hot Topic.” On Wednesday’s (January 22) edition of The View, the cohosts welcomed a very timely guest: Right Rev Mariann Budde, the bishop who pleaded directly to Donald Trump at her service for “mercy” for those who were “scared” of his presidency on Tuesday.

Citing members of the LGBTQ community and undocumented immigrants who may “fear for their lives” under Trump’s policies (such as making it an official federal stance that there are only two genders, male and female, and promising mass deportations of migrants), Budde said from the lectern at Washington National Cathedral, “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” 

Trump responded to the moment by saying, “I didn’t think it was a good service, no… They could do much better.” He later wrote on his social media platform, “The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard-line Trump hater. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart … She and her church owe the public an apology!”

Budde appeared virtually on the show to speak about that speech (and the presidential response), volleying the questions of each panelist along the way.

Joy Behar was the first to talk to her and commended her for having “more fearlessness than anyone in Congress right now” before asking, “What made you decide to use that opportunity for this message?”

To that Budde answered, “My responsibility yesterday morning was to reflect, to pray with the nation for unity, and as I was pondering what are the foundations of unity, I wanted to emphasize respecting the honor and dignity of every human being, basic honesty and humility. And then I also realized that in that that unity requires a certain degree of mercy.” 

Ana Navarro chimed in second, asking if she was aware of Trump, Vance, and their families’ facial reactions to her sermon. To that, Budde explained, essentially, that she didn’t pay attention to that and added, “I had to leave it to them, to all of us, to take from whatever my words were, to heart in whichever way they could and, as they say, leave the rest to God.”

Budde was then asked by Sara Haines to speak directly to Trump’s criticisms and answer whether her speech was being politicized. “How could it not be politicized, right? We’re in a hyper-political climate,” Budde responded. “One of the things I caution about is the culture of contempt in which we live that immediately rushes to the worst possible interpretations of what people are saying.” She went on to note that her approach was “respectful and kind.”

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 21: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Alternate crop) Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde (L) arrives as U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral on January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. Tuesday marks Trump's first full day of his second term in the White House. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

When Alyssa Farah Griffin awkwardly asked whether it would’ve been better if she’d just had that conversation directly with Trump, for some reason, Budde responded simply, “I’ve never been invited into a one-on-one conversation with President Trump, and I would welcome that opportunity. I have no idea how that would go. I can assure him and everyone listening that I would be as respectful as I would with any with any person, and certainly of his office, for which I have a great deal of respect. But I the invitation would have to come from him.” 

The conversation then closed with Sunny Hostin asking about her other churches’ policies of providing sanctuary for undocumented immigrants amid immigration raids, and she said that officers are able to come in with proper warrants but added, “It has been an unwritten policy that there are some places — and particularly churches, schools, and other places where all sorts of people gather to create a sense of safety and to allow people’s basic human and spiritual needs to be met. We are we have a lot of churches in our particular denomination that meet the needs of immigrants and other vulnerable populations, and we need now to be especially mindful and to make sure that basic human rights are protected and people’s needs can be met.”

The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC

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