Dear Mr. Trump,

You said that you’d be proud of shutting down the government. Well, now you have. Don’t blame the Democrats.

The Senate passed a bipartisan funding measure that would have kept the government running. It passed unanimously. Every Republican, every Democrat, every Independent voted for it. They did so because you said you would sign it. Then, you went back on your word, an all-too-common occurrence, to satisfy Rush Limbaugh.

This government shutdown is entirely your fault, and you won’t fool the American public into thinking otherwise.

What does it mean? Hundreds of thousands of people who work for the federal government – including the brave men and women trying to protect our borders – will go without pay at Christmas. You’ve stolen Christmas from them

What does it mean? The EPA has shut down. So much for trying to protect our children’s healthy by cleaning up the environment.

What does it mean? The Department of Justice has shut down. So much for trying to put crooks in jail, or is that your real purpose? You’ll do everything you can do to interfere with the investigations against you and your family.

So create all the chaos you want. Cheat people of their pay, like your businesses invariably do, like the fraudulent Trump University. Embarrass yourself all you want.

In the end, you’ll go down in history as the clown who became president, the certifiable lunatic who did everything he could to destroy the country he swore to protect and work for.

I ask you to open up the government again and allow it to serve the citizens of this great country whom you apparently hate.

It’s time to end the Trump Shut-Down.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

Do you think you’re making America great again by pulling the rug out from under our allies and pretending that you’ve conquered ISIS?

Do you think you’re smarter than all of your military high brass and the Secretary of Defense, who are telling you with one voice, emphatically, that ISIS is not defeated and that by pulling out US troops you’re going to allow them to grow again, tripling their size and posing a threat to the free world?

Are you aware that just this past weekend ISIS terrorists in Morocco killed two young European hikers, beheading one?

Here’s whom you’re helping by pulling out: Russia. No wonder Putin applauds your surrender. That’s exactly why Putin pulled all the levers to put you in power in the first place. And he’s blackmailing you, too, with videotapes.

Here’s whom you’re helping by pulling out: Iran, which will have even freer rein in Syria to threaten US interests and Israel’s existence.

Here’s whom you’re helping by pulling out: ISIS, which will now laugh at you and America as it continues to murder.

Here’s whom you’re not only hurting but trying to destroy: our friends, the Kurds, who went into battle with us against ISIS and whom you are leaving now to struggle on their own against that organization.

You’re worse than ignorant. You’re despicably arrogant to reject the advice of all your advisors – who actually know about the subject upon which they’re advising you – and to desert your allies.

The word of the United States, our sacred honor, is not worth a bucket of warm excrement under your faux leadership. It will be decades before the United States recovers, if ever, from your malicious behavior.

So all those who oppose you will have to work very, very hard. Your whimsical move is yet another reason you deserve to be impeached, the sooner the better.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

As you hire yet another “acting” chief of staff, the situation in the White House reminds me of James P. O’Donnell’s book, The Bunker. If you ever read a book, perhaps you’d know that this is a riveting discussion of the last days of Adolf Hitler’s regime. The book jacket blurb (by Gerald Green) notes:

“Nothing I’ve read on the subject reveals so vividly the psychopaths, quasi-criminals and looneys who made up the entourage around Germany’s demon king.  It was the last gasp of a rat pack.”

Yes, all these terms apply equally well to the people around you, but what caught my eye today was “rat pack.” You recently described your former attorney, Michael Cohen, as a “rat,” i.e., one who confesses his role in crime and implicates others. Everyone you brought around you who’s now pled guilty to a crime – Cohen, Gen. Flynn, Richard Gates, and others – are now “rats” in your view because they’ve told the truth. You directed them to commit crimes, they did so, and now they’re paying the price, but at least they’re now telling why they know. There’s no honor among thieves.

So, to continue the comparison, Hitler was angry at everyone, and so are you. Hitler put down his closest associates, and so do you, as when, e.g., you called your former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “dumb as a rock.” Hitler directed disastrous strategies in his last days in power, and, as you force the government into a shutdown, so do you.

Hitler brought his country ruin by his slogan of “making Germany great again,” by his arrogance, by his insanely inflated opinion of himself, by his obsession with creating a pure white race, and by his murderous instincts.

We who oppose your conduct as president are determined to avoid for the United States the same kind of outcome that Hitler brought to Germany.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

It’s no longer a surprise – it hasn’t been for a long time – that you are callous, selfish, uncaring, bigoted, and fraudulent. Your idea of “making America great” is to make America pure white, to return to the days of segregation, to disparage minority religious traditions, to foster division, to subvert democracy, to pay homage and support to foreign dictators and murderers. And it’s hardly a surprise that your supporters stoop to your low level, as hard as that may be.

Consider your supporters who respond to my postings only by saying “F*** You!”

Consider your supporters whose only response is to attack me for being a “liberal ass!”

Your nastiness has emboldened them to be nasty in turn.

Your ignorance has emboldened them to be ignorant in turn.

There’s hardly ever an effort by your supporters to engage in an intelligent discussion, because you’ve shown them that they need not think.

Please understand that these insults do not bother me personally. They disturb me for what it says about our society, i.e., that so many are ready to hate, following your lead, that so many are ready to silence the rest of  us – the real majority – by verbal attacks, by armed insurrection, by preventing people of color from voting.

So what do we do, we who still hope for a democratic America, we who respect all human life, we who aspire to the ideal that all are created equally? Run and hide? Pray that this Trumpian nightmare will end? Or do we raise our voices in protest and keep pointing to the evilness of your ways?

The right path is obvious, and we’ll keep fighting any presidential successor who tries to emulate you.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

Congratulations! I read this morning that the Washington Post has awarded you one of its most profound and meaningful awards, an award apparently made just for you!

You are now the proud recipient of fourteen (14) Bottomless Pinocchio awards. To earn these, you were required to have blatantly lied (worth by itself three or four Pinocchios) and then repeated the lie at last 20 times. In some cases, the Post points out that you have repeated the same lies more than 100 times!

No one else in history has ever achieved any Bottomless Pinocchios, and here you are, on the debut of this great award, with 14!

Just one or two examples.

You have falsely claimed that the tax cut of 2017 was the largest tax cut in US history. That is a lie you have repeated 123 times! The Reagan tax cut was more than three times as large a portion of the US gross domestic product, but who cares! You’re Trump, the most prolific liar in the history of the world!

You have falsely claimed that, as a result of trade deficits, we are “losing” money or that a foreign country is “taking” money from us. That is a lie that you have repeated 117 times! A trade deficit just means that we are buying more from China, e.g., than China is buying for us. We’re not losing anything. We are getting more Chinese goods than they are getting American goods. The Chinese might as well argue that we are stealing Chinese goods if they embrace the same kind of lying logic that you embrace.

So as you sit in prison one fine day, you can be proud of your accomplishments. More Bottomless Pinocchios are on the way for you, I’m sure.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

You are clearly losing it over the Mueller investigation. Why else would you rant and rave about purported conflicts of interest? Why else the insane tantrums you’re throwing?

Fact: One of your closest confidants through your campaign, the transition period, and the beginning of your presidency, Gen. Michael Flynn, is cooperating with Mr. Mueller, telling what he knows about you and your scheming family, and giving him the documents to prove the truth of what he says.

The purported conflicts about which you’re screaming on Twitter didn’t create all those emails and memoranda that Mr. Mueller is receiving from Gen. Flynn. They were created by you and your minions in 2016 and 2017. They are not fiction. They are hard, cold facts.

Fact: One of your closest confidants throughout your business cum political career, Michael Cohen, is cooperating with Mr. Mueller, telling what he knows about you and your scheming family, and giving him the documents – and probably recordings – to prove the truth of what he says.

The purported conflicts about which you’re screaming on Twitter didn’t create all those emails and recordings that Mr. Mueller is receiving from Michael Cohen.  They were created by you and your minions in 2016 and 2017. They are not fiction. They are hard, cold facts.

Fact: You are continuing to obstruct justice, blatantly, by holding out the promise of pardons to people like Paul Manafort.

Indeed, the criminal statutes of the United States, 18 USC 1512(b) in particular, make it crime to corruptly attempt to persuade another person to “influence, delay, or prevent” his testimony in an official proceeding.

Holding out the pardon carrot if these people – who know your crimes – lie to Mr. Mueller or plead the Fifth Amendment to protect you is absolutely and unequivocally a violation of the statute as well as an obstruction of justice.

So tweet all you want. Your tweeting won’t change a single fact.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

As the nation gets ready to say its final farewells to a former president, you should consider all the ways that you are different from George H.W. Bush.

President Bush volunteered to fight our country’s enemies at age 18 and flew 58 combat missions in the Pacific theater. You, on the other hand, evaded military service by claiming “bone spurs,” none of which ever kept you off a golf course.

President Bush was a successful businessman. You, on the other hand, have taken multiple companies into bankruptcy.

President Bush was honest. You, on the other hand, never met a lie you didn’t love, repeatedly failed to pay as promised the people who worked for you, and created fraudulent schemes such as the fake “Trump University.”

President Bush did honor to the Republican Party. You, on the other hand, have brought dishonor to the Republic Part and turned it into a party of sniveling sycophants.

President Bush devoted his life to public service. You, on the other hand, have devoted your life to money, building wealth by cheating the United States tax system and your fellow taxpaying Americans.

Whether or not we agreed with his policies, we knew President Bush as a fine person and dignified leader. You, Mr. Trump, are no George H.W. Bush.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

Again, you’re calling Michael Cohen, who was your most trusted personal attorney for years, a liar.

Well, that’s what he’s pled guilty to, lying for you. You wanted him to lie for you, to hide the fact that you were continuing to try to do business with Russia even after you said publicly that you were not. You wanted his lie to cover and jive with your own lie. You used him for years to lie for you. You liked him because he was a liar, just like you. Now, he’s admitting it.

It doesn’t matter in the least whether you were entitled, under the law, to continue negotiations for a Trump property in Russia. You told the American public you were not doing so, when you were. And if you thought there was nothing wrong with negotiating a business deal with one of America’s chief global enemies while running for president, you would have been transparent with the American public during the 2016 campaign and admitted you were doing so.

You see, Mr. Trump, it’s always been all about the money for you, not service to the public. To the public – to the people who voted for you – you have repeatedly and blatantly lied.

For you, it’s all the money from Saudi Arabia that’s going into your pockets, even today, so much that you can’t bear to call a murderer a murderer. For you (and your family), it’s defrauding the IRS to build your wealth, which effectively is stealing from the rest of us American citizens who pay their taxes. For you, it’s hiding your tax returns and breaking your promise that you would release them after the 2016 election.

Yes, in my book, those are high crimes, i.e., impeachable offenses.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

Our world faces the dire consequences of global warming. The Fourth National Climate Assessment, prepared by a coalition of agencies of our government, warns that “The impacts of climate change are already being felt in communities across the country … Future climate change is expected to further disrupt many areas of life, exacerbating existing challenges to prosperity posed by aging and deteriorating infrastructure, stressed ecosystems, and economic inequality.”

You have heedlessly and callously rejected these conclusions of your government.

“I don’t believe it,” you say, with no reasonable scientific basis for your disbelief. Or should I say your purported disbelief.

The truth is that you don’t care.

You don’t care of the destruction of our communities and social systems.

You don’t care about whether climate change destroys our farmlands and forests, floods our coastal cities, or brings on worldwide famine.

It’s obvious why you don’t care. You think your family has enough money to live comfortably no matter the climate. The hell with the rest of us Americans. The hell with the rest of the world.

As the Climate Assessment says, “Impacts within and across regions will not be distributed equally. People who are already vulnerable, including lower-income and other marginalized communities, have lower capacity to prepare for and cope with extreme weather and climate-related events and are expected to experience greater impacts.”

In other words, the poor will suffer more. That’s fine by you. But it’s not fine for most Americans.

According to a Gallup poll, “Majorities of Americans overall say most scientists think global warming is occurring (66%), it is caused by human activities (64%) and its effects have begun (60%).”

We will be at the voting booths in 2020 to get rid our Ignoramus-in-Chief.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger

Dear Mr. Trump,

Or should I address you as “Dear Condoner or Murder”?

That’s the only title befitting a man who ignores his country’s own intelligence, the CIA, which has concluded, based on tons of evidence, that Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the murder of American resident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

You have forever tarnished and disgraced the United States. You have demeaned the credibility of our country as one that believes in law, liberty, and the value of human life.

Indeed, your willful disregard of the CIA’s conclusions and your defense of MBS constitute a crime under federal law, 18 USC Section 3, which calls for imprisonment for being an “accessory after the fact.” In a case of murder, an “accessory after the fact” is one who assists the murderer escape punishment, a definition that exactly fits your conduct.

You’re no better than the Surratts, who tried to hide John Wilkes Booth after he murdered President Lincoln.

You’re now an accomplice to murder. In my book, that’s a high crime and misdemeanor worthy by itself of your impeachment. But we don’t have to impeach you. We will vote you out of office.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger