Honor the #COVID19 dead, then prosecute their killers

A man protests Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic on 23 April.  Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Why is no one trying to prosecute DJT for deaths that can be directly tied to actions he took that led to people getting infected and dying from COVID19?

I’ve listed a number of reasons below and what is interesting to me is how often people on the left accept the reasons prosecution won’t happen. There are also many who think that prosecution isn’t a reasonable action to be pursued. 

I hear: “It’s a waste of time, energy and political capital. He’ll weasel out of it. His base doesn’t care.” Then finally I hear the grim acceptance of failure, “What’s the point? He’ll never serve a day in jail.”

So here’s a list of just some of these reasons there is no prosecution followed by “What if I could meet this objection?” For each of these reasons I have a specific case in mind that would meet the objection, but i’m not including a link. I know each answer will lead to other objections, but I want people to image that someone could provide an ANSWER to those objections rather than stopping at the objection.

Because he didn’t break any laws.
— What if we showed he did?

Because no state AG wants to prosecute him.
— What if we had one who would?

Because it’s too hard to find a direct one to one link from his actions to sickness & death.
— What if we had a specific case of injury/death to show?

Because the pandemic is “an act of God” not an act of a man.
What if we can prove that the virus would not have spread but for his actions?

40 Percent of U.S. COVID Deaths Could Have Been Averted If It Weren’t for Trump:

Because he’ll blame others.
What if we can show he ordered others to break the law?

 Because we have no hard evidence.
What if we have audio recordings and multiple witnesses?
 
These are all real questions that can explain why things might not move forward on a prosecution. They need to be answered with specifics, however when I bring up the idea of prosecuting Trump for COVID people bring up all sorts of things that SHOULDN’T really matter, but do. Such as:
 
“He’ll call it a witch hunt.”
So? Let him.
 
His base doesn’t care.”
So? They aren’t the ones prosecuting him.


Why no prosecution? 

Because we just want to forget about all this and put it behind us.
–What if we show UNLESS we prosecute him–and those who carried out his actions–it is never behind us?
 
Because it would set a precedent for going after other Presidents for actions that led to deaths.
–What if we show that his actions are specifically different in intent than actions taken by other Presidents?
 
Because Republican politicians will block any investigation/ prosecution.
–What if the investigation / prosecution doesn’t NEED Republicans to approve?
 
Because it just doesn’t matter. Prosecuting Trump won’t bring the dead back to life. 
–What if we show it DOES matter? Especially to the families of the people who died. They want someone to be held responsible for the actions that led to the deaths. 

Because it’s better to focus on the future and not look backward.
–What if we show that if there are no consequences for people whose actions lead to death, they will do it again in the future?
We can’t make things better in the future if we don’t stop people from taking the actions that led to death in the past.

This is not a think piece. This is a think, take action, analyse the result, take a different action piece

When I led brainstorming sessions for new ideas and programs I would end them with. “These are GREAT IDEAS! Now let’s talk about all the reason they WON’T happen and think about ways to make them happen.”

This was a crucial step that revealed roadblocks people weren’t even aware existed that needed to be addressed.

“If we want Mary to do X she won’t be able to do Y, which is critical.”
Can we get help for Mary?
“We don’t have staff.”
If I got you money for staff could that work?
“Yes, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

To make X happen we had to fix the bottlenecks and roadblocks thrown up on the way to our goal. That’s the same with prosecuting Trump for COVID deaths.

Memorial Day is Monday. 40% of the people who died from COVID19 who would be alive today if it weren’t for the actions of Donald J. Trump.

I’ll honor them, then I want to prosecute Trump.

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