To the Editor:

On the anniversary of 9/11 you posted an opinion piece titled “GOP becoming a fascist party.” Do you ever check the context of quotes used in the opinion pieces you publish or are you so eager to publish anti GOP and Trump comments that facts don’t matter? Or is it just a simple matter of laziness?ย 

I spent very little time researching the out-of-context quote that I hadn’t previously read or heard. Here’s the full context. Mr. Trump said last Friday to a gathering of Christian conservatives: โ€œI love you. You got to get out and vote. In four years, you donโ€™t have to vote again. Weโ€™ll have it fixed so good, youโ€™re not going to have to vote.โ€

Followed by: โ€œI said, vote for me, youโ€™re not going to have to do it ever again. Itโ€™s true,โ€ he said. โ€œBecause we have to get the vote out. Christians are not known as a big voting group. They donโ€™t vote. And Iโ€™m explaining that to them. You never vote. This time, vote. Iโ€™ll straighten out the country, you wonโ€™t have to vote anymore. I wonโ€™t need your vote.โ€

He then followed up with: โ€œDonโ€™t worry about the future. You have to vote on Nov. 5. After that, you donโ€™t have to worry about voting anymore. I donโ€™t care, because weโ€™re going to fix it. The country will be fixed and we wonโ€™t even need your vote anymore, because frankly we will have such love, if you donโ€™t want to vote anymore, thatโ€™s OK.โ€

Read in full it has a very different meaning to the sensational one in the opinion piece.

Paul Hall-Smith

Maggie Valley