Dear Hater-in-Chief,

It doesn’t absolve you of your responsibility for a mass shooting when you Tweet “God bless them all!” and express your condolences. It doesn’t absolve you of responsibility when you state – too late by far – that we should all come together and not hate. As more than one had tweeted to you, “you have divided America more than any person in history.” I quote here @keanothedog.

Obviously, you didn’t pull the trigger of the AK-17 that killed at least 21 people in El Paso. But the syllogism of causation is compelling:

Trump expresses hatred toward immigrants, calling Mexicans rapists à Trump repeatedly contends that the United States is being invaded and that this so-called invasion is a national emergency on our Southern border à Trump praises American Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, calling them “some very fine people” — Let’s call that A.

Trump supporters, most of whom are armed, hear Trump rhetoric (A) and feel both emboldened to express their own hatred and feel threatened as well à Indeed, many of these Trump supporters, because of Trump rhetoric, feel that their privileged way of life is in danger – Let’s call that B.

Those who feel threatened because of Trump rhetoric and who can get their hands on guns – assault weapons easily available, massive magazines easily available [we’re a country of 330,000,000 people, but more guns are owned by people than there are people] will try to kill those whom they perceived as the enemy. That’s C.

A + B = C

Without A, there’s no B and no C.

Or, to use numbers, with no vile rhetoric from Trump, 21 human beings in El Paso would still be alive today.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger