Former GOP congressman turned CNN political analyst Adam Kinzinger likes to say that his move away from the party is because of Donald Trump, January 6, and election denial, but on Wednesday, he took his book tour to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where he compared Speaker Mike Johnson’s statements that his worldview is found in the Bible to the Taliban.
Colbert has been harping on the idea that Johnson’s statements that the Bible is the foundation for his worldview is particularly scary on Wednesday was no exception, “Now, one of the things that Mike Johnson has said is that if you want to know his worldview, like how he feels about issues specifically, you should go pick up a Bible. I pick up Bibles all the time. I'm a big fan. It's a very good book, but what do you make of the Bible as a legislative tool?”
Indeed, Colbert will frequently cite the Bible to defend left-wing economics so he knows that there is a big difference between imposing a theocracy and pursuing policies you believe are in line with the Word of God, but when it comes to Republicans he plays dumb and pretends that theocracy is imminent.
As for Kinzinger, he suggested that Johnson doesn’t know how America works, “The Bible is what—the Bible is something that, you know, for me, I use it as a guide for my life. I'm a Christian, right? The Bible shows me how to live my life, but I think this country was founded on the idea that a representative represents not just people that share his faith or her faith but people that you represent-- 700,000 people that I represented, they all don't believe the same thing I do.”
Johnson isn’t suggesting that everybody should be forced to go to church or anything like that, but Kinzinger still reached for the Taliban card:
I'm not any more of a congressman for a certain set of people than I am for others and that's what this country was founded on, the idea that we are going to protect churches existence but we're not going to be a government based on the church. That's what the Taliban tried out in Afghanistan is a government that's based simply on a religious focus. We can be people that are spiritual people in government, but recognize that doesn't include anybody else's that's atheist, Jewish, Muslim, or anything else in this country. This is a free country.
Beyond saying “include” when he meant “exclude,” Kinzinger’s Reductio ad Taliban is absurd. Kinzinger was first elected to Congress in 2010 when same-sex marriage was not yet legal in all 50 states, was America like the Taliban then? Is protecting the integrity of women’s sports like the Taliban? Is believing that a man is a man even if he thinks and says he is a woman like the Taliban? Is the downfall of Roe v. Wade like the Taliban, because Colbert thinks it is.
Here is a transcript for the November 1-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
11/2/2023
12:19 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Now, one of the things that Mike Johnson has said is that if you want to know his worldview, like how he feels about issues specifically, you should go pick up a Bible. I pick up Bibles all the time. I'm a big fan. It's a very good book, but what do you make of the Bible as a legislative tool?
ADAM KINZINGER: The Bible is what—the Bible is something that, you know, for me, I use it as a guide for my life. I'm a Christian, right? The Bible shows me how to live my life, but I think this country was founded on the idea that a representative represents not just people that share his faith or her faith but people that you represent-- 700,000 people that I represented, they all don't believe the same thing I do. I'm not any more of a congressman for a certain set of people than I am for others and that's what this country was founded on, the idea that we are going to protect churches existence but we're not going to be a government based on the church. That's what the Taliban tried out in Afghanistan is a government that's based simply on a religious focus. We can be people that are spiritual people in government, but recognize that doesn't include anybody else's that's atheist, Jewish, Muslim, or anything else in this country. This is a free country.
