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New GOP Speaker: Separation of Church and State Is Only a ‘Shield for People of Faith’

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Experts are digging into the background of the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, a little-known backbencher who has never headed a congressional committee but rose to become the third most-powerful elected official in the U.S. government Wednesday after two other Republicans failed to garner enough votes to win the gavel.

MSNBC’s Sarah Posner calls Johnson “the most unabashedly Christian nationalist speaker in history.” His Christian nationalism, previously known to few, is coming to light, especially when he told members of Congress in his first remarks after being elected Speaker that “Scripture is very clear” that they were “ordained” by God.

In a September, 2022 episode of his weekly podcast with his wife, “Truth Be Told With Mike and Kelly Johnson,” now-speaker Johnson claimed there is no wall to separate church and state, but rather, the Constitution erects a wall to protect religious people from the state.

The First Amendment, Johnson said, was “intended to create a shield for people of faith.”

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“But the sad irony is that over the last 60, 70, 80 years, radical progressives and leftists and atheist organizations have twisted the meaning of it,” Johnson continued. “And now they regard the First Amendment as a weapon to be wielded against the people of faith when it was supposed to be their shield.”

“See, the majority of the founders, having personally witnessed the abuses of the Church of England, were determined to prevent the official establishment of any single national denomination of religion. However, they very deliberately listed religious liberty the free exercise of religion of course, as the first freedom protected by the Bill of Rights, and here’s the key: They did that because they wanted everyone to really live out their faith as that would ensure a robust presence, moral virtue in the public square, and the free marketplace of ideas.”

Johnson also said, “If anybody tries to convince you that your biblical beliefs or your religious viewpoint needs to be separated from public affairs, you should politely remind them to review their history. And importantly, you should not back down.”

A 2021 Pew Research poll found, “even among White evangelical Protestants and highly religious Christians, fewer than half say the U.S. should abandon its adherence to the separation of church and state (34% and 31%, respectively) or declare the country a Christian nation (35% and 29%).”

Still, the claim the wall of separation exists only to protect people of faith is not new for Johnson.

In a 2016 broadcast of the “Disciple’s Voice of Hope with Alex T. Ray,” Johnson made very similar remarks.

“What’s happened, Alex over the last 60, 70 years, is that our generation has been convinced that there’s a separation of church and state. You heard that term all the time. And most people think that that’s part of the Constitution, but it’s not – remember, I’m a member of a constitutional lawyer.”

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“Now, what we always point out is that the phrase comes from a letter, it was a private letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut, 1801. They write a letter and they say, ‘Mr. President, we’re so concerned that the government is going to come in and encroach upon our religious freedom, our freedom in the church to worship and to pray and to share the gospel, to share the truth as we understand and live in accordance with the dictates of our own conscience. Mr. President, what can you tell us? Is this a legitimate concern?’ So he writes back and he says, ‘Oh, listen, listen, my friends, my fellow countrymen, you have no concern, because we’ve given you the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights begins with religious freedom as the first and most fundamental liberty that we acknowledge that were granted by God, the right of conscience, the right to believe what you will, and to worship and pass it on your children.'”

“He says, ‘don’t worry there’s an impregnable wall of separation between church and state.’ In other words, the government is not going to encroach on the church and tell you what to believe or how to worship or take away your property or your rights or your right to get together and do and perpetuate your faith. And so he says, ‘Don’t worry, the First Amendment is like a shield to protect people of faith.’ But here’s what’s happened over the last several decades, that shield has been turned into a weapon to be used against people of faith.”

Johnson then portrays those who support the separation of church as condescending, and says, “so now they’ve convinced our generation because they say it enough, people begin to believe it and say, ‘Oh, no, there’s a difference between your religious life and real life,’ right? So they say, ‘on Sunday mornings, you guys get together, y’all go you know, go pray, you worship, you go to your little church building there. You get in your safe four walls, and you do your warm, fuzzy religious thing. You do your touchy feely, emotional, all the hand-raising and praising – you do all that stuff on Sunday. But don’t bring those ideas into the public square. Don’t bring those ideas Monday morning to the workplace at the water-cooler, don’t do that because you got to keep that separate over here,’ having heard separation of church and state.”

READ MORE: Texas Judge Fighting for ‘Right’ to Not Marry Gay Couples Cites ‘The Scriptures’

“Well, now wait a minute, the founders said religion and morality are the indispensable support to the whole Republic. Now you’re telling me I can’t even bring it in just one argument in the public policy arena? That’s crazy. It’s anathema. It’s, it’s opposite. It’s the opposite of how we were founded as a country and I’m telling you we’re losing those foundations at our peril.”

Watch Johnson from 2016 below or at this link.

 

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‘Is Canada Next?’ Ex-Trump Official Says Greenland Threat Worse Than Imagined

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January 19, 2026

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A former top Trump official is warning that President Donald Trump’s threats to Greenland are worse than could be imagined, and wonders if he will stop there or target another close U.S. ally, like Canada, next.

John Bolton, who served as Trump’s National Security Adviser during the first Trump administration, told NewsNation that the “damage that Donald Trump is doing to America’s reputation, to the trust and good faith and reliance, our European allies and friends around the world have on us is just impossible to state.”

He called it “extraordinary” to “threaten the invasion of a NATO ally, to seize by force a territory from a democracy.”

“The impact in Europe,” he said, “you cannot calculate how bad this is for us.”

READ MORE: ‘Dictators’ Tea Party’: Trump’s Board of Peace Ridiculed as New Details Revealed

Trump has ramped up his threats to acquire Greenland, and has refused to commit to not using military force to take control of the semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Bolton added, “if you want to rip up the NATO alliance, if you want to convince every other American ally around the world — Japan, South Korea, Australia — that we can’t be trusted, go ahead and use military force against Denmark in Greenland.”

“Go ahead and threaten your best friends and allies with retaliatory tariffs, because they just won’t give in,” he continued. “This is so counterproductive for the United States that it’s gonna take years to repair the damage that Donald Trump is doing, and none of it will do anything for the security of Greenland or the NATO alliance.”

“Well,” he added, “consider what it means for the United States to invade an ally like Denmark. Is Canada next? Shall we invade Great Britain? How about Spain?”

Bolton asked, “what is it that gives Trump the idea that the only way to deal with one of the friendliest countries in the world toward America, for 250 years, is to threaten military force?”

READ MORE: ‘25th Amendment Territory’: Critics Warn Trump Impeachment Is ‘Not Enough’

 

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‘Dictators’ Tea Party’: Trump’s Board of Peace Ridiculed as New Details Revealed

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14 hours ago

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January 19, 2026

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The rollout for President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace, which has drawn controversy and is facing resistance, does not appear to be going smoothly. The American president wants national leaders who join to donate at least $1 billion within the first year to become a permanent member. According to reports, Trump would be chairman for life, the organization could be filled with authoritarian leaders, and it is being seen as a possible rival to the United Nations.

Already, French President Emmanuel Macron, who appears to be leading the charge against Trump in Europe, reportedly has declined to join.

“The body was originally conceived as part of the U.S. president’s push to create a new governance framework for the shattered Palestinian enclave in the wake of Israel’s devastating two-year offensive against Hamas,” The Financial Times reported.

“The Board of Peace has had a rough landing,” reported Bloomberg News’ UK political editor Alex Wickham, noting that “it’s been criticized by Israel, questioned by Europe and has Russia’s friends celebrating.”

READ MORE: ‘25th Amendment Territory’: Critics Warn Trump Impeachment Is ‘Not Enough’

“World leaders were blindsided and bewildered by Trump’s demand they pay $1 billion for permanent membership, sources say,” Wickham noted. “European allies are working to modify the terms and coordinate a response, sources say. They are trying to persuade Arab leaders to help lobby Trump for changes.”

As chairman, Trump would have the ability to add or remove member nations, veto the board’s decisions and cast tie-breaking votes, and create or dissolve committees.

Critics are blasting Trump’s proposed Board of Peace.

Daily Mail UK columnist Andrew Neil said it will probably be Trump’s “most radical step yet to replace the post-WW2 global order. It will also be quite the dictators’ tea party. Putin, Lukashenko (Belarus tyrant) and the dictator of Kazakhstan have all been asked to join!!”

Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov remarked, “The board of peace stars dictators apparently.”

The Wall Street Journal’s chief foreign-affairs correspondent, Yaroslav Trofimov, observed, “Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ looks very much like a plan to replace the UN Security Council with an imperial court of vassals in which he is chairman for life, even after leaving the White House, with veto over every decision and the sole right to designate a successor. And a $1 billion fee for aspiring permanent members.”

Former chief White House ethics attorney Richard Painter wrote, “Almost 75,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in this war, and now we are auctioning off seats on a Gaza ‘Board of Peace’. For a Middle East peace policy, this is pathetic.”

READ MORE: Europe Divorcing America Now Seen as ‘Inevitable’: Report

 

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‘25th Amendment Territory’: Critics Warn Trump Impeachment Is ‘Not Enough’

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17 hours ago

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January 19, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s latest shot across the bow—a letter to the Prime Minister of Norway that critics say carries an implied threat of war over Greenland following his failure to receive the Nobel Peace Prize — has once again prompted calls for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America,” Trump wrote in his message to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?” Trump asked. “There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”

Norway is separate from Denmark, which governs Greenland, and the government of Norway does not award the Nobel Peace Prize — as many critics have pointed out. Trump reportedly believes that the Norwegian government “totally” controls who is awarded the coveted prize.

READ MORE: Europe Divorcing America Now Seen as ‘Inevitable’: Report

“Even by Trump’s standards, this letter is so dangerous and so delusional that there is no longer any question that the president is mentally ‘unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,’ as laid out in the 25th Amendment to the Constitution,” wrote Janna Brancolini at The Daily Beast. “Removal under the 25th Amendment might not be politically likely, but it’s a constitutional tool that must be seriously discussed. To do otherwise would be to indulge the dangerous alternative reality that Trump and his supporters are so desperate to construct.”

“The president is, simply put, not a well man. He subsists on a diet of fast food and aspirin, stays up until the wee hours of the night doom-scrolling on social media, and spent Christmas day rage-posting on his Truth Social platform,” Brancolini added. “This is why impeachment is not enough.”

Trump’s letter was so extreme that European officials were circulating a meme of the American president’s letter, written in crayon, as Alternet reported.

But in the U.S., critics including elected officials are calling for the 25th Amendment or other acknowledgment of what they say is the president’s incapacitation.

“These are the ramblings of a man who has lost touch with reality,” wrote U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) in response to the Trump letter. “He isn’t ok. He’s degraded significantly in the last year and he’s about to get us into a war with our allies.”

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“Invoke the 25th Amendment,” urged U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA).

“I don’t see how you can be a serious person and not find this extremely worrisome,” observed U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI). “He is not stable at all and his reality is warped. He was always a bit like this of course but now he’s 80.”

“This letter, and the fact that the president directed that it be distributed to other European countries, should trigger a bipartisan congressional inquiry into presidential fitness,” commented Professor of Medicine and Surgery Jonathan Reiner, a CNN medical analyst.

“Trump‘s new gigantic temper tantrum over Norway is deep into 25th Amendment territory,” remarked the Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson. “Hell, at this point? 25th Admt territory is far in the rearview mirror and we are descending further into madness by the moment.”

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh simply urged, “25th Amendment. Now.”

READ MORE: ‘Unconstitutional Conspiracy’: Judge Blasts Trump Administration Officials

 

Image via Reuters

 

 

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