Mr. De Soto Fact-Checked

About Mr. De Soto’s Aug. 18 letter to the Journal: Mr. De Soto discusses an email (not a “memo” as described by Mr. DeSoto) characterized by Mr. Cruz as coming from a high-level with the State Department and which was distributed broadly in the department. Mr. DeSoto correctly reported the first three disqualifiers in the email, but not the fourth. Mr. De Soto misstated the fourth disqualifier as “being Christian.” NO. The fourth disqualifier was “they were not of the right religion.” Of course, the correct reading would have been less significant to Mr. DeSoto’s rhetoric and intentions.

The email as posted in the Senate hearing room did not identify the unit or office or the name of the person who sent the email. Under oath, Ms. Gina Abercrombie-Winstanly (not “Abercomie” as spelled by Mr. De Soto) said she never saw the email, is now seeing it for the first time, and did not know it was sent. Mr. Cruz, who was not under oath, implied he knew the unit in the State Dept. from which the email was sent and other details of the email. I agree with Mr. Cruz’s later implication that the email was authored and distributed by a disgruntled employee.

Mr. De Soto’s characterization of this charade as an example of some kind of Biden-Harris DEI czar is ridiculous as is his claim that the memo “was proven to be widespread and at the highest levels.”

I believe most Christians would acknowledge that the single best summary of the New Testament is “Love one another as I have loved you.” Hatred, fear, vicious divisiveness, and bombastic vitriol do not have a place in the peaceful ongoing effort to develop our democracy.

Although quickly and easily fact-checked, I enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on the quality and design of the DeSoto automobiles, since extinct.