Dear Mr. Trump,

Or should I call you Hater-in-Chief?

Those horrifying images of two dead would-be immigrants send the exact message you want, despite your protestations. Your message: If you come to this country when I don’t want you here, you will be hated, vilified, abused, and die.

And Customs and Border Patrol agents follow your lead, don’t they? Secretly – but not so secretly anymore – they call these refugees “scum buckets” and “hoes” and joke about their deaths. They call these refugees “wild ass s—bags” and “subhuman.”

How happy they were when they heard you repeatedly call them “rapists” and worse. You made it acceptable government policy to spew hatred and division.

You made it okay to violate court orders concerning their treatment. You made it okay to deprive children of water and toothbrushes and soap – claiming these weren’t necessary for good health and hygiene. You made it okay for CBP agents to tell these human beings that, if they wanted water, they could drink it out of toilets.

How proud we’ll all be of our country on the Fourth of July, remembering all that you’ve done to secure our borders! How happy we all are that you violate the laws and Constitution that you swore to defend! What greater glory could a person bring to the presidency of the United States than to use it as a rallying point for violence against humanity?

The CBP agents chose the right adjectives, but misapplied them badly.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger