“How to Be Brave” in the Age of Trump

When Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C. called on her Berlin, Germany, audience gathered at the an der Urania conference hall, “Please don’t give up on us,” a slight chuckle wafted through the audience.

What an irony that a by now famous and, in some U.S. political circles, infamous American should make that plea.

After all, the world is just marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, when the United States had acted with great courage to liberate Europe from the Nazi scourge.

The confrontations with Trump

Bishop Budde’s global notoriety stems from her having not once but twice directly stood up to President Donald Trump.

The first instance was in his first term, in early June 2020 when the then 45th U.S. President famously stood in front of St. John’s Church across from the White House. It has long been known as “the Church of the Presidents” and is also part of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

Holding a Bible (upside down, as it happened), Trump threatened military force to assure “law and order” amid protests that had followed the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

In the days that followed, the bishop spoke out repeatedly and publicly against the President’s cooptation of religion for his political purposes.

A woman of principle

The second instance occurred on the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump to his second term of office in 2024. She delivered the homily during the traditional Prayer Service that is part of the inauguration activities of a new President of the United States.

She spoke at the Washington National Cathedral, which is also the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

Gently and with sparse words, Bishop Budde asked the President to be merciful, especially to those who were most fearful at the time — those of diverse genders and those who worked and lived in American communities as immigrants.

Getting under Trump’s skin

Predicably President Trump did not like that and thereafter took to social media to blast her and to berate the service.

And so, the competition for changing American minds and hearts after the outcome of the 2024 elections was off to the races.

“How to Be Brave” or “Mutig Sein”

The occasion of Bishop Budde’s Berlin visit on April 30, 2025, was the publication of her 2023 book, “How to Be Brave” (in the German language, “Mutig Sein”).

Being brave, Budde readily acknowledged, does not come easy to anyone. Her words at the event and her writing recount her life experiences, including pain and failures along with joys, on which her bravery has been built.

Drawing lessons from the famous and from ordinary people

Her book is a recollection of those experiences as well as a review of relevant role models of history from whom she and many others have drawn sustenance. Among them are Martin Luther King and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the interview, she also mentioned Alexei Navalny.

Of course, role models are also provided by many unknown, regular people.

For it is in the smaller, personal realm that one’s brave decisions build character and maybe even enable more public bravery, should the occasion present itself to any of us.

According to Budde, we cannot control the time we are put into, or the challenges life presents each of us: “You cannot choose the arc you are in, but you can choose how you act in your time.”

Particularly challenging times

Bishop Budde has no illusions about the difficulties of our times that are putting tremendous strains on all manner of relationships in our lives – international, political, personal.

But with the conviction in mind that every person has dignity, as revealed by Pope Francis with “his devotion to humanity without exception,” we can persevere, an important word in her book.

Reclaiming language and leadership

With regard to current U.S. politics, the bishop has asked herself how we can reclaim words from Trump.

Of course, the political cooptation of language and its misuse are another lesson that her German audience is acutely aware of from the 1930s and 1940s.

Trump and his followers, as well as some faith groups, say that they want to establish a “Christian state” in the United States. The bishop explained, “It doesn’t look Christian to me. It is also not democratic.”

Conclusion

One thing is clear: Bishop Budde has acted thoughtfully to reclaim not only words from Trump but also leadership. In that, she offers an example of courage and principle that is relevant for all Americans as well as many others.

To be sure, challenging as these times are, the good news from the reception of Bishop Budde by the audience that evening is that the Germans will not give up on us Americans.