“Trump’s ‘order’ was, in fact, the result of meat industry executives requesting his relief from legal liability for worker deaths. The number of slaughterhouse workers who have already died this year is on par with the number of U.S. servicemembers who have died annually fighting in Afghanistan over the last five years. Military personnel risking their lives to fight terrorism is one thing. How did the president arrive at the absurdity of requiring civilians to risk their lives for the sake of a particular food?” In WaPo: Jonathan Safran Foer: Meat is not essential. Why are we killing for it? This topic is one on which Jonathan Safran Foer has long been focused. But in the end, this isn’t an article about meat. It’s about people. “Perhaps what we’re really talking about when we use the word ‘essential’ isn’t the necessity of the service, but the presumed disposability of the person performing it.”