This order may have been necessary — I remain unconvinced. Voluntary participation is far better. Volunteer corporations want to excel; conscripted corporations just want to avoid trouble. No command & control economy has come anywhere close to the success of free enterprise economies, in the long term. Trump’s ‘challenge’ approach is better, by far.
There can be little doubt that politics were a big factor. The MSM and other leftists hounding Trump to invoke the DPA, you’d think that his invoking it would shut them up.
The voluntary aspect was breached by GM coming back with a much lower production number and higher cost.
Promised 40,000. Then 6,000 and wants $1 Billion.
He had the hammer and he decided to use it.