After submitting my letter (“An open letter to the secretary of state,” Aug. 31), I discovered that I had included a quote I attributed to Donald Trump that was in error. My bad, “to err is human.” Subsequently, this error was pointed out to me, first by the editor, and again by Mr. Clive Pinder in his letter (“We’re entitled to our opinions, not our own facts,” Sep. 7). Consequently, I wish to issue a retraction of that quote and its surrounding text:
“By his own admission, he has not read and does not support the Constitution of the United States: ‘I haven’t read the Constitution, but, from what I’ve been told, most of it is a waste of paper, quite frankly,’ Donald John Trump, 45th president of the United States, after leaving office.”
I agree with Mr. Pinder, that none of us is entitled to “our own facts.” However, a withdrawal of my petition to the secretary of state is not warranted, since the body and point of my letter, even without that one retracted sentence, support the fact that Donald Trump gave, and continues to give, “aid and comfort” to the insurrectionists of Jan. 6, 2021, and is, therefore, not qualified to appear on the ballot (Article 14, Section 3, U.S. Constitution). It is unfortunate that this misquote became his focus and overclouded his ability to consider the facts.
Stephen Siemsen
CW3, U.S. Army (Retired)
Orcutt
This article appears in Sep 14-24, 2023.