Disturbing On-Air Attack Against Speaker Mike Johnson

Last night, MS NOW’s Katy Tur attacked Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s prayer at the Rededicate 250 Christian rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Johnson said our rights come from God, not government – and by going on the attack, Tur exposed her ignorance of what is arguably the most important line in the Declaration of Independence.

As reported by Mediaite:

MS NOW’s Katy Tur fretted that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) was subordinating the Declaration of Independence to God by restating the former’s most famous line, which refers to the latter.

During a Monday afternoon conversation about the Rededicate 250 event held on the National Mall over the weekend, Tur posed the following question to The Atlantic‘s McKay Coppins:

“What about this passage from Mike Johnson, declaring that ‘our rights do not derive from government. They come from you, our Creator, and Heavenly Father.’ Is this him putting God over the Declaration of Independence?”

Coppins seemed somewhat puzzled by the question.

“Well, you know, I actually think that idea is not wholly uncommon. I mean, the idea that we have certain inalienable rights that come from God can be read in a fairly benign way, which is basically that we have innate human rights that our constitution and our government, our democratic government, are meant to codify, right? That idea is not totally abnormal,” he replied. “I think that the thing that, you know, might alarm some people is some of the rhetoric that we heard at this rally, that we are in a spiritual battle, right? That the forces of good and evil are at work here, and that partisan politics is injected directly into the spiritual biblical rhetoric. We have heard that for the last couple of years. It’s been ratcheted up more and more, especially since Donald Trump lost in 2020. And it can lead to some pretty dangerous places if it’s not kept in check.”

What was left unsaid is that the second and most famous line of the Declaration of Independence reads: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Despite Coppins’s gentle pushback, Tur went on to prompt another panelist to sound the alarm over Johnson’s comments.

“Well, in the context of this rally, and with Mike Johnson, and the movement, and the move toward Christian nationalism being more embedded in this culture, it’s not as benign when you put it into that context,” she insisted. “I mean, the idea that the rights divine, or are divined from a higher power, you can say that across multiple religions, yes, but this is not representing multiple religions.”

During his presentation, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson made an accurate reference to the Declaration of Independence, and it was somehow shocking to the MS NOW host. In fact, Johnson’s comments were apparently so disturbing to Tur that she had to ask her panel about it, and act as though he’d said something not only inaccurate but almost threatening (at least in her eyes) by putting God above the laws of men.

Apparently, this is where we are during the 250th birthday of our country. This is how far we’ve strayed from the intentions of our Founding Fathers. 

Even the response from her guest, McKay Coppins, who writes for the traditionally Left-leaning publication, The Atlantic, tried to delicately dance around the question, knowing she’d backed him into an uncomfortable corner, which he attempted to exit by playing both sides of the argument – but still making sure to insult Trump supporters on his way out.

The Speaker of the House was referencing arguably the most famous line of the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

What part is unclear? Tur asked if Speaker Johnson was holding God above the Declaration of Independence – yet Johnson literally said what the Declaration itself says. It wasn’t “benign.” It was directly pushing back against the entire concept that the only rights we have come from a king or government.

The Founding Fathers believed that our rights come from God and God alone, and the government was established to protect those rights here on Earth.

It’s shocking to hear an MS NOW host acting as if she’d never heard that line from the Declaration of Independence before. If you’re going to pontificate nightly on cable news about politics and the state of our nation, you should probably have a baseline knowledge of what our sacred documents actually say.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more discussion of this disturbing exchange on MS NOW, and the disdain some on the Left have for our nation’s history and the faith of our Founding Fathers.

Watch the full broadcast below: