Donald Trump just screwed up the Defense Production Act even worse
All along, Donald Trump’s refusal to invoke the Defense Production Act across the board has been nothing short of criminal. It’s resulted in a nationwide shortage of everything from N95 and surgical masks to hand sanitizer. It’s surely cost Americans their lives.
Trump has only invoked the DPA in isolated (and deleterious) circumstances, such as forcing meat processing plants to remain open even as the coronavirus has spread through the ranks of the factory workers. Now it turns out Trump has decided to make his Defense Production Act debacle even worse.
For reasons that can’t possibly be legitimate, Donald Trump has just ousted the person who was in charge of carrying out the Defense Production Act. CNN says that the order to remove Jennifer Santos came directly from the White House itself and not from her supervisor, which means that the Trump White House is playing games here. This will only serve to make things even worse. But then that’s what Donald Trump does.
