Penn: Concern Trump Might ‘Exploit’ the Military During Outbreak Understandable

Thursday on CNN, actor Sean Penn called for the U.S. military to have command and control of the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Penn said, “We have been left to this kind of chaos. I’ve said it many times. There is no greater humanitarian force on the planet than the United States military. They have logistical skills, their commitment to service, their care for the people. Of course, theirs is a non-fighting mission as it would be here with the exception of the virus we’re all fighting as one species against. And I think that it’s —any little activity that’s happened has happened far too late. But it’s really time to give the military the full breadth command and control of this operation.”

He continued, “We are seeing things dribble out. Things like the defense production act being deployed. This is something most certainly I could talk quite a bit about what should have been done. Now the lives lost that have been lost, the amount of people that are sick, clearly what we have to do, and what the military does so well in terms of coordination, coordinating with health professionals, coordinating with hospitals, building hospitals. They can build a hospital in 25 minutes.”

He added, “I know that it would also be of some concern to people that the administration might exploit the use of the military in some ways.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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