First, it was Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday, then it was Stephen Colbert on Wednesday, and then finally it was NBC’s Seth Meyers on Thursday to round out the late night comedy shows’ staggered reaction to Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde’s woke plea to President Donald Trump. Unlike the other two, Meyers played a much shorter clip of Budde’s talk on Late Night that removed the context for why conservatives are upset at her but still used it to claim that any criticism of her “might be a good sign that you're a sociopath.”
Meyers introduced a montage of clips by declaring, “When you ask him [Donald Trump] to show mercy to literally anyone else, especially the most vulnerable among us, he and his allies in the right-wing media all lose their [bleep].”
After a pair of MSNBC clips reporting on the matter, Budde was shown imploring, “Let me make one final plea, Mr. President [Jump Cut]. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”
Meyers did not play the part where Budde suggested that combating illegal immigration meant going after office custodians. He also omitted the part where she suggested transitioning children was Christ-like.
Instead, he played a clip of Fox News’s Sean Hannity declaring, “A so-called bishop politicizing an inaugural prayer service [Jump Cut]. She goes on a far-left woke tirade in front of Donald Trump and JD Vance.”
Hannity’s colleague, Laura Ingraham, was also shown claiming, “They were forced to listen to the rantings of a lunatic.”
Finally, Meyers showed a local news reporter reading from Trump’s Truth Social post where he called Budde a “so-called bishop” who is “a radical left hard line” that “was nasty in tone” and “boring and uninspiring.”
The idea that a child needs to be transitioned to match their “true gender” would suggest God made a mistake when He created that person male or female. But a little heresy to own the Trumpers is no big deal for Meyers, “All right, first of all, you're complaining that it was boring? It's church. You want the bishop to dance to ‘Ave Maria’ with a katana in her hand? Second, if you think a member of the clergy asking the most powerful person on Earth to have mercy on marginalized people is woke or radical left, that might be a good sign that you're a sociopath.”
He continued, “Republicans may have unified control of government, and they may have the richest and powerful oligarchs on their side. But there are still people willing to confront them to their faces, and when that happens, Trump and his ilk immediately melt down. They still can't handle the slightest disagreement or pushback.”
Meyers’s political beliefs come down to cheerleading for two main causes: anything Bernie Sanders supports and whatever the left’s latest culture war issue is. A few months back, when Democrats were starting to argue amongst themselves over why they lost, Meyers told those blaming wokeness on transgender issues to “[bleep] off.”
Here is a transcript for the January 23-taped show:
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
1/24/2025
12:52 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: But when you ask him to show mercy to literally anyone else, especially the most vulnerable among us, he and his allies in the right-wing media all lose their [bleep].
ANDREA MITCHELL: National prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral just concluded. Before it did, the Bishop of Washington made a direct appeal to the president in the congregation.
GARRETT HAAKE: Reverend Budde concluded her sermon with a direct appeal to Donald Trump on the issue of Christian mercy for the weakest.
MARIANN BUDDE: Let me make one final plea, Mr. President [Jump Cut]. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.
SEAN HANNITY: A so-called bishop politicizing an inaugural prayer service [Jump Cut]. She goes on a far-left woke tirade in front of Donald Trump and JD Vance.
LAURA INGRAHAM: They were forced to listen to the rantings of a lunatic.
LOCAL NEWS REPORTER: “The so-called bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a radical left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone.” The president went on to call the service, quote, "Boring and uninspiring."
MEYERS: All right, first of all, you're complaining that it was boring? It's church. You want the bishop to dance to "Ave Maria" with a katana in her hand?
Second, if you think a member of the clergy asking the most powerful person on Earth to have mercy on marginalized people is woke or radical left, that might be a good sign that you're a sociopath.
This is like holding up a Rorschach Test and the patient immediately says, "Oh, I know this one. It's a guy violently strangling another guy and then cutting him up and eating him." And you say, "Well, most people say butterfly."
Republicans may have unified control of government, and they may have the richest and powerful oligarchs on their side. But there are still people willing to confront them to their faces, and when that happens, Trump and his ilk immediately melt down. They still can't handle the slightest disagreement or pushback. When you criticize Trump, he acts like he just fell and broke his –
DONALD TRUMP: FEMA
MEYERS: This has been “A Closer Look.”
