Today at the Washington Post, Greg Sargent (one of their best writers on the Trump crime family) asks an important question: Why is Donald Trump refusing to take the steps that could prevent mass deaths from coronavirus?

This question is forced upon us by an appearance by Rep. Elissa Slotkin on “Morning Joe,” and by new reporting that suggests we’re only beginning to glimpse the damage Trump’s failures could unleash.

Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, has introduced a new bill that would compel the president to deploy the Defense Production Act, or DPA, to direct the private sector to produce a range of medical supplies to address looming shortfalls amid the worsening coronavirus crisis.

Trump has invoked this 1950 wartime production measure but has not deployed it. Numerous states and health officials are pleading with him to do so, warning of severe equipment shortages crippling their own responses.

In discussing her bill Wednesday morning, Slotkin made a point that’s more startling than it first appears.

“I under almost no circumstances would recommend the legislative branch forcing the executive branch to enact these powers,” Slotkin said. “But the outcry is so strong that it’s pushed us to try and force the president to try to centralize the retooling of our big manufacturers.”

Emphasis mine. The question this raises is: Why must Trump be “forced” into doing this?