As you know, Trump has been traveling the country talking about something called a “Space Force.” No one is sure exactly what Trump is talking about, Trump most of all, and only in part because each of our defense branches all have elements that deal with “Space” security, and the Navy is the most obvious entity to evolve from ships that float to ships that orbit or travel. But, confusion also arises because when Trump speak of the “Space Force” he wants, he doesn’t pin it to any current pressing need.
Mark Kelly, astronaut all-star turned social advocate on behalf of his wounded wife, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, and just smart commentator on all policy for which he has a unique perspective, asked Trump a question about his Space Force. But, if you really look at what Kelly is asking, the question has far more depth, perhaps the most depth a question could have:
Kelly: That’s the number one question. Are we talking about new offensive capability in space in space based weapons? Some of these things are restricted by international treaties that the United States has been a party to since the 1960s. So, it’s not clear to me what the purpose is of this new branch of the military—which is going to be incredibly expensive. And my big concern here is that space has been a place for us to work in a peaceful manner, and changing that without any clear reason at this point, as I said, is kind of hard to understand.
But that was just the warm up to the roundhouse closeout, because Kelly added that it makes no sense to act like we must prepare for a hypothetical future attack in space, when Trump (and therefore much of our defense apparatus) refuses to even acknowledge a very real, not wholly understood or appreciated, full frontal attack on our nation’s government by Russia in attempting to tip election scales in Russia’s favor.
The answer is obvious and devastating. Trump wants to talk about a Space force because everyone knows that space wars are badass. I mean, have you even been to a movie lately? And since we’re MAGA’ing, we need a fking badass space force! Doesn’t matter that poor kids with cancer also need treatment, or that we STILL have yet to fund desperately needed infrastructure that will help the American taxpayer AND provide for civil defense. That “real” stuff might matter to a politician like Obama, who doesn’t recognize “cool” spaceships or MAGA. The entire idea is the perfect embodiment of “Trump think;” no basis in cost/need and extensive study, purely emotional, and laden with testosterone fueled desire to have the coolest shit to kill you.
The other thing the question forces everyone to consider, is that it’s all just bull shit anyway. If Russia started weaponizing space and threatening American satellite and defense infrastructure, have you seen any indication that Trump would confront Russia?
Robert Mueller set forth with startling precision, how the Russian government, through their military intelligence unit, acted illegally to sway the election toward Trump. Russia took advantage of our humiliatingly outdated and dumb decentralized electoral procedures and the only question remaining seems to be did Russia actually alter the vote count. We have not heard, yet, that they did or did not, but do you have confidence that the question was ever investigated? Do you have confidence that your federal government, in cooperation with the states, jumped in to forensically examine the 2016 election attack and establish exactly what Russia did or did not accomplish?
Standing beside his boss, the noticeably smaller American president said that Putin says he did not meddle, and that means that Mueller must have “fake evidence.” Trump woudn’t acknowledge the attack until he got home, changing “would” to “wouldn’t” upon being home. That is how “strong” our president is about defending us from the assault, when he has an ocean between him and Putin he can admit that maybe Putin did something.
Fact is, we are in the midst of an attack to take away our representative democracy. The Russians have made a clear choice, the Russians’ nationalist, autocratic, dictatorial, plans for the world are best served by electing American Republicans. I published an article last week on the fact that it took a hacker in Copenhagen all of 90 minutes to hack into voting machines set with the latest software. Robert Mueller indited the Russians for hacking into the system of a major voting software distributor. Now why would Russians want to hack into a voting software company if not to steal or alter vote tabulations?
That’s where the question becomes art. An attack involving a foreign government attempting to take control of at least one branch of government. Only a nuclear bomb could possibly threaten our government with such potentially lasting damage. No bomb or attack, only a victory, would allow the enemy to influence how the United States is run, as Putin perhaps has accomplished. It brings the question back around to the very start. Why are we talking about a Space Force when we will not counter the current attack happening on Earth right now? Well, the answer is, in part, because Trump is not allowed to counter the current attack.
Scott Kelly took one minor issue, the idea of starting a “Space Force,” and with one question he summed up the entire problem with Trump’s “legitimacy” as president. I am sure it will be answered any moment now.
