Fact Check: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Did NOT Tweet 'It's Not The Government's Job To Protect My Health'

Fake Quote

Did Sarah Huckabee Sanders post a tweet saying "it's not the government's job to protect my health" and that "when you trade liberty for safety, you end up losing both"? No, that's not true: The quote originated from a parody Twitter account that poses as the former White House press secretary.

The quote appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on August 6, 2020. The poster used a photo of the fake quote tweet written on a dry erase board. The board read:

It's not the government's job to protect my health. It's the government's job to protect my Constitutional rights. It's my job to protect my health. When you trade liberty for safety, you end up losing both.

This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Aug 10 13:24:59 2020 UTC)

The quote appeared on May 13, 2020, in a tweet posted by the @hucklebee_sarah Twitter account. Note that it misspells her name as "Hucklebee" and the user bio reads in part, "I'm not who you think I am."

It's not the Government's job to protect my health.
It's the Government's job to protect my Constitutional rights.
It's my job is protect my health.
When you trade liberty for safety, you end up losing both.

-- Sarah Hucklebee🇺🇸 (@hucklebee_sarah) May 13, 2020

The fke quote took on a life beyond the fake tweet, including in a letter to the editor of the Sumter, S.C., Item, in which the writer using the quote to support an argument against a local mask ordinance apparently was unaware it was not real.

Sanders' real account runs under the username, @SarahHuckabee. Sanders stepped down from her post as White House press secretary in June 2019, but she is still a fervent Trump ally.

Lead Stories reached out to Sanders, but did not receive a response by the time of this writing. This story will be updated if she responds.

The content of the misattributed tweet is a variation on a quote by Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."