Dear President Trump,

Although I didn’t vote for you, you are still my president. I may not like it, but the election’s over. You won. I have to accept that for the good of the nation.

Now, for the good of the nation, I’m asking you to reach beyond your base and to start acting presidential. Please stop the cyber bullying and the inflammatory rhetoric harming our nation. You are not a private citizen. Your tweets and words have the weight to move civil discourse, so you are responsible for the direction.

When a public figure says they want to punch someone in the face they are condoning assault and it matters.

For you, this might just be a rhetorical device, but whether you intended to or not, it incites violence.

When a public figure says, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot people and I wouldn’t lose voters…” he is telling his supporters they can do what they want, that there’s no public accountability.

When a public figure regularly calls women fat, ugly, disgusting and nasty, or refers to us as a piece of ass, it’s dehumanizing.

It says we are unworthy of society’s respect and consideration. Because right or wrong, public figures, do speak for society.

So when the President of United States disparages an American’s ethnicity, it sews civil discord and makes our communities less safe.

When the President of United States implies that at some future date we might steal a nation with whom we’re engaging in joint military operations’ natural resources,

it undermines our nation’s integrity and puts our service men and woman in danger.

When the President of United States threatens a federal takeover of civil authority in a tweet, he demoralizes local law enforcement and drives a wedge between them and the community, making it more difficult for them to do their job.

When the President of United States makes unsubstantiated claims questioning the election results, he undermines our faith in our democracy, and by extension, the legitimacy of his administration.

When the President of United States calls factually accurate news accounts fake, he sabotages the press’s ability to carry out their duty.

When the President of United States publicly lies or directs his agents to lie on his behalf like a third world dictator, he abuses the public’s trust.

So please, Mr. President. Stop campaigning. Stop tweeting. Stop worrying about ratings and polls and become the statesman the American people need you to be.