“What about this passage from Mike Johnson declaring that our rights do not derive from government?”
In a recent clip that is getting a lot of play on Twitter/X, Katy Tur of MSNOW (formerly MSNBC), criticizes House Speaker Mike Johnson for saying that our rights as Americans come from God and not the government.
She actually follows this up by asking one of her guests if Johnson is ‘putting God over the Declaration of Independence.’
Has anyone at MSNOW actually read any of America’s founding documents? They’re pretty explicit on this issue.
Tim Graham of NewsBusters shared the clip and provided a transcript:
Katy Tur: 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?
McKay Coppins: I actually think that 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.
Watch the clip. This is just stunning:
God talk is SO foreign to MS NOW. Katy Tur: 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?
McKay Coppins: I… pic.twitter.com/sfpykN5bYc— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) May 18, 2026