To the editor:
The campaign of hate against people born outside the United States did not originate with our current president. His opportunistic latching onto this issue needs to be seen as what it is: a cynical way to motivate a portion of the electorate to vote their fear and hate.
Trump is just smart enough to recognize an issue that will gain him support, and he has jumped on this beginning with his “birther” attacks on President Obama. While he has a history of using low-paid immigrants at his businesses, the president has joined with that dark segment of our country where people blame all their problems on foreign-born residents.
In this effort he has been joined enthusiastically with most of the GOP, who have used this to make themselves almost invisible in California.
As this country always has been and is becoming more and more a country of immigrants, it is clear that while Trump and his cohorts are riding high now, they are sliding down the wrong end of history.
David Gooler, Pasadena
Note from KBJ: David Gooler imputes the worst motive—hatred—to those who simply expect people to obey the rules. To my mind, that makes him the hater.
