Dear Mr. Trump,

It’s no surprise to me that you refuse to point the finger at the government of Saudi Arabia for the gruesome murder and dismemberment of a contributor to the Washington Post.

Your kindness to murderers will be one of the things that historians will underscore about your presidency. They will talk of your sucking up to Putin, how you approved of Philippines President Duterte’s extra-judicial killings of people he claims were dealing drugs, how you say that  Kim Jong-un is a great leader, how you encouraged violence against reporters at your political rallies. Children will read textbooks that try to explain – but fail to explain — how Americans elected, not only a liar, not only a fraud, not only a racist, not only a tax cheat, not only a conniver with Russia, but someone who cozies up to murderers. When the historians rank presidents on any scale of decency, you will always be at the bottom, far, far, far from whichever president is above you.

So let me be clear. Your Republican colleagues in Congress, although they might talk a good game, have done nothing to challenge you. What good is Congress then? Little good, in my opinion, unless it acts as a check against the president who is determined to destroy the First Amendment’s Freedom of the Press.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger