Dear Mr. Trump,

Congratulations for being protected by your political appointee, who, without explaining or revealing any of the underlying facts, feels you haven’t obstructed justice.

But make no mistake: Barr – the man you chose to be Attorney General because he basically applied for the job by attacking the Special Counsel investigation – can’t protect you forever.

There’s serious evidence of obstruction on your part, and without that evidence the Special Counsel himself would have exonerated you. He didn’t. The evidence is there, and ultimately the American public needs to see and will see the Special Counsel report.

And about that collusion?

Undisputed that the Russians worked feverishly to get you elected.

Undisputed that your campaign manager gave your campaign’s polling data to the Russians.

Undisputed that your campaign manager, son, and son-in-law met with the Russians to get dirt on Hillary.

Undisputed that you publicly asked the Russians for help with the hacked Hillary-campaign emails.

Undisputed that people close to you lied about their contacts with the Russians and are going to jail because they obviously had something to hide.

All the Special Counsel report says is that it didn’t find evidence that you conspired with the Russian government. It didn’t clear you and your campaign from conspiring with surrogates of the Russian government.

And one more thing: Undisputed that you are keeping secret the substance of your conversations with Vladimir Putin at your summit. He probably reminded you of certain videotapes in his possession.

So feel good while you convince yourself you’re clear of the serious charges. You’re not clear. You don’t know it yet, but you’re a deer in the headlights of the truth.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

Why don’t you ever answer my letters? I’ve now written 173 times to you, each time hoping for a response, and each time you’ve ignored me. Was it something I said? Or do you feel that I’m not an American worthy of your time?

But I am persistent and will try again. Here are some easy questions:

How is it possible that you cannot recognize white supremacist terrorism for what it is?

Why do you pretend that this form of violent hatred is not sickeningly on the rise?

How is it possible that you can ignore the simple request of the Prime Minister of New Zealand to send a message of love to all the world’s Muslims in this time of their terrible tragedy and loss?

Why do you spend your entire weekend tweeting about the various grudges you hold against Fox News, SNL, and, of all people, Senator John McCain?

It’s particularly galling to me that you should continue to disparage Senator McCain, an American war hero, someone who fought bravely for our country while you cowered behind the lie of fake bone spurs.

We miss Senator McCain. He saw you for the thug that you really are.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

What does it feel like to know that you have inspired a mass killer, one who proudly writes about his devotion to “white national identity”?

No, of course you didn’t pull the trigger, but you didn’t have to. Your words have helped set the stage for crazies of the world to pull multiple triggers any time they feel aggrieved. You wail about a threatened “invasion” of the United States by migrants, people of color. As a result, those who likewise fear such “invasions” – like the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, like the New Zealand mosque murderer – feel emboldened to fight these “invasions” with terrorism.

As I wrote to you in August 2017 and as is worth repeating:

“What a shame that you have to rely upon the bigots of the country to sustain your presidency, but, let’s face it: without them, you wouldn’t have won. Their idea of making American great again is to demean everyone else who is not white, male, hetero, and Christian. You sold them on the idea that they could achieve their racist goals if only they voted for you. That’s why David Duke shouts in triumph: ‘This is why we have Trump!’”

You have to recognize that the white supremacist terrorists of the entire world look to you as their spiritual leader: “This is why we have Trump!”

Forty-nine dead in New Zealand and counting, and all I can think of is your praise of the American Nazis and KKK’ers in Charlottesville as “some very fine people.”

What you should say, instead of tweeting the New Zealand victims your “best wishes,” is that you are terribly sorry for your rhetoric.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

I heard you say that you “feel very badly” about poor Mr. Paul Manafort, who was sentenced to almost four years in prison for five counts of tax fraud and two counts of bank fraud.

Manafort was convicted for cheating the American taxpayer and for cheating banks. And you “feel very badly” for him? Why don’t you feel very badly for the American taxpayers who did pay their taxes honestly? Why don’t you feel very badly for the American taxpayers who have to make up now for the taxes Manafort failed to pay? Why don’t you feel badly for the banks he cheated?

In addition, Manafort pled guilty to conspiracy against the United States and for conspiracy to obstruct justice. Why don’t you feel very badly for the justice system in the United States that your campaign manager has cheated?

In addition, Manafort pled guilty to money laundering. Essentially, this means that – like your own businesses – Manafort helped others evade tax and other laws and hide financial crimes. He operated like the Mafia, like your dictator friend Putin, like you. Why don’t you feel very badly for the victims of the crimes that Manafort helped to hide?

You’ve pretty much signaled to Manafort that you will pardon him. Shame on you. The right to pardon shouldn’t be used to help your criminal friends. A pardon for Manafort would be an impeachable offense. A pardon for Manafort would be Exhibit A of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

I, for one, feel very badly for America in light of your multiple continuous abuses of power.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

You’re “a racist, a con-man, and a cheat.” Those aren’t my words, but the words of someone who knows you extremely well, someone who stood at your side for 10 years and did your bidding.

You excoriate Michael Cohen as a liar, but that’s the reason you employed him. You’re attacking him as a convicted liar, but his lie was in your service and at your direction. When he knew that you were still seeking business in Russia right up through the Republican convention and in fact had spearheaded your effort, when you knew he was about to testify, you looked him in the eye and instructed him: “There were no business dealings with Russia.”

One doesn’t have to believe in a code to know that, by those words, you ordered to Cohen to lie to Congress.

Then you had your legal team in the White House edit the written statement to make sure it coincided with the lie that you’d been telling us Americans all along, i.e., that you had not been pursuing business with Russia.

One who directs another to lie under oath commits a crime. You’re not only a racist, con-man, and cheat, you’re a criminal.

Of course, this is one of only many crimes. Ordering Cohen to pay off your porn-star mistress violated campaign finance laws, because he was not allowed to support your campaign with his own money to that extent. Then paying him back – even while you were president – broke other laws, including laws against obstruction of justice.

Right after you paid him in August 2017, you lied to the American public. When asked about such payments, you said “I know nothing about that.” Why lie if these are innocent payments?

You’re a disgrace to this country and to the office of president.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

Quite frequently, your supporters take umbrage at one of my letters, claiming that they are guided by the Bible. I’ve often thought that the claim is outlandish, but, doing my research religiously, I’ve checked. Those who rely upon the Bible to support you must be reading a different book than the one I hold right now.

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Ex. 20:13. Boy, do we know how you’ve obeyed that commandment.

“Ye shall not steal.” Lev. 19:11. Yet, your business strategy has been to steal everything that you can, from the contractors who work for your companies and from the tax collector. Your strategy has been to take the money given for charitable purposes and put that money into your businesses.

“Neither shall ye deal falsely, nor lie …” Ibid. Yet, you lie constantly, forcing your surrogates to talk about “alternative facts.” One of your favorite lies, the winner of the Golden Pinocchio Award: “there was no collusion.” And there are many others: “Mexico will pay for the wall” comes to mind in the aftermath of your national emergency declaration.

“Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbor, nor rob him …” Lev. 19:13. Yet, you’ve had your ICE agents rip babies from the arms of family members seeking asylum in this country. You’ve robbed our neighbors of their most precious possession, their children.

“Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind …” Lev. 19:14. Yet, you mocked a disabled reporter at a campaign rally. “You got to see this poor guy!” you yelled, imitating him by shaking your arms in a disgusting show of hatred. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You’ve mocked many: many other reporters, many victims of sexual assault, and even other presidential candidates of your own party. You do exactly what bullies and punks do.

So just which Bible is it that your supporters follow?

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

Once a thief, always a thief.

It didn’t bother you to steal from the contractors who worked for your company by failing to pay them what you’d promised and forcing them into costly litigation, perhaps to get only fifty cents on the dollar if they were lucky.

It didn’t bother you to steal from investors when your companies went bankrupt, and they lost their investments, while you escaped, bragging about your acumen as a businessman.

And now it doesn’t bother you to steal by virtue of this fake national emergency.

You’re stealing the money that was appropriated for other projects, in particular the military construction projects for which Congress allocated funds after extensive negotiations and deliberations. You’re stealing the vastly improved military housing that those funds would have provided to the families who sacrifice everything for our country.

But it’s much more serious. You’re also stealing Congress’s power to decide how our tax dollars are spent; you’re stealing power that the Constitution expressly does not give you.

Didn’t you get elected with the promise that Mexico would pay for your wall, which the majority of the country doesn’t want and which Congress wouldn’t pay for?

Consider these àpropos synonyms for “thief”: larcenist, pickpocket, poacher. They all describe you, your way of doing business, your way of governing.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

You’ve made yourself hoarse over the last two years yelling “No collusion! No collusion!” The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “collusion” as “secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose.” Although it was clear previously, it is even clearer now that your campaign colluded with the Russians.

Your Campaign Chairman, Paul Manafort, and your Deputy Campaign Chairman, Rick Gates, met secretly with a Russian operative – Konstatin Kilimnik – on August 2, 2016, in the midst of the presidential campaign. At this meeting, Manafort handed over to Russia, through Kilimnik, your campaign’s polling data, data that could help pinpoint Russian operatives to places in which they could best use their stolen email data as well as the scandalous anti-Hillary lies they made up pretending that they were Americans.

Then, because Manafort and Gates knew Kilimnik could well be under surveillance by the FBI, the three of them left the meeting from different exits.

So this meeting more than satisfies the definition of collusion.

It was secret. There was an agreement to meet and exchange information. There was cooperation.

The purpose was both deceitful and illegal. The illegality is rampant, because, among other reasons, your Campaign Director and Deputy Campaign Director became accessories after the fact to the theft of emails. This is no less of a crime than covering up Watergate, for which Nixon was forced to resign, for which he should have gone to prison.

Save your voice. Stop yelling “No collusion!”

Maybe, with luck, you will share a cell with Manafort.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

What are you trying to hide? Why don’t you voluntarily release your tax returns, as other presidential candidates have done? If you did nothing wrong, you don’t have anything to hide.

If, on the other hand, your tax returns disclose your financial indebtedness to foreign governments – Saudi Arabia, for example — or the dictators or such foreign governments – Vladimir Putin, for example; if, on the other hand, disclosure reveals that you’ve been acting, not on behalf of the people of the United States, but on behalf of your own pecuniary interest; if, on the other hand, disclosure returns reveals that you have repeatedly lied about your financial ties to other countries and their dictators, then for sure we see what you are trying to hide.

Your game of hiding is coming to an end. Under Title 26 (the Internal Revenue Code), Section 6103(f), the House Ways and Means Committee has the right to look at any individual’s tax returns. The Secretary of the Treasury must “furnish such committee with any return or return information [requested],” subject only to the stipulation that, if the information can be associated with a particular taxpayer, the information should be provided in closed session.

So it’s all going to come out. Yes, we’ve heard that you’re gearing up a “ferocious” legal battle to fight such a request, but you will lose. The president is subject to the law, just like the rest of us. You are not above the law, and you are not the law yourself.

So spare us all the agony of waiting for litigation to resolve the issue. Release the returns now.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

I knew immediately you were lying last night. How did I know? The same way everyone knew. Your lips were moving.

Although the idea of bipartisanship is refreshing, when it comes out of your mouth it is hardly believable. You, the master mudslinger, the one who invented such invective as “Crooked Hillary,” the one who leads chants of “Lock her up!” – do you relly expect people to believe now that you’ve turned a corner. Wouldn’t that be nice?

And if anyone believes that, I own a bridge in Brooklyn that I would love to sell. Do you want to buy it yourself?

Notwithstanding your supposed overtures toward bipartisanship, the real intent of your speech is hardly a secret. You are trying to scare people into believing that the economy will crash if your shenanigans are investigated by the Democrat-controlled House. For shame.

First, you’ve had precious little to do with the fact that the economy is fairly strong now. It’s a continuation of the trend begun during the Obama Administration, nothing more.

Second, if anything, you’ve acted I a way to hurt the economy: by imposing tariffs and by shutting down the government for 35 days.

Third, you can’t hide your misdeeds and those of your family business by making threats. It’s Congress’s job to investigate. Investigations will continue, and the truth will come out. Your effort to prevent that is just another example of your continued lies and those of your cohorts that have been designed to hide your actions.

So, you have fooled the gullible, you may fool them again, but they are an increasingly tiny fraction of the American voting public.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J.  Berger