To Infinity and Beyond! Space Force!

[twik]

So, President Trump wants to establish a "Space Force":

“Space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air and sea,” Trump said on Tuesday at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. “We may even have a Space Force, develop another one, Space Force. We have the Air Force, we’ll have the Space Force.”

At first, Trump said he wasn’t serious about the notion.

“Then I said, ‘What a great idea!’ Maybe we’ll have to do that,’” Trump said. “So think of that: Space Force, because we are spending a lot and we have a lot of private money coming in, tremendous.”

The world is going to die due to inanity.

[bknight]

So, President Trump wants to establish a "Space Force":

“Space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air and sea,” Trump said on Tuesday at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. “We may even have a Space Force, develop another one, Space Force. We have the Air Force, we’ll have the Space Force.”

At first, Trump said he wasn’t serious about the notion.

“Then I said, ‘What a great idea!’ Maybe we’ll have to do that,’” Trump said. “So think of that: Space Force, because we are spending a lot and we have a lot of private money coming in, tremendous.”

The world is going to die due to inanity.

The words MAY and MAYBE don't speak of any reality of this notion.

[jfb]

There is already a Space Command within the Air Force; they're responsible for range management at Vandenberg and Canaveral, along with satellite operations.  I've seen people on another forum interpreting this as Trump wanting to split the AFSC out into a separate branch of the military. 

I don't think Trump is envisioning Tom Corbett here. 

[LunarOrbit]

I'm not buying the "he was just joking" argument anymore. He floats ideas like that to gauge how much support he will get from his base. Just like when he floated the idea of pardoning former Sheriff Joe Arpaio at a rally in Arizona, and then did it a few days later.

“So was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job?” Trump asked the crowd. “You know what, I’ll make a prediction: I think he’s going to be just fine, okay? But I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy. But Sheriff Joe should feel good.”

Source: Trump threatens shutdown, suggests controversial pardon at Arizona rally

What other crazy ideas has Trump floated? Military parades? That appears to be in the works. The idiotic wall on the Mexico border? They're testing different designs now. Tariffs on steel imports? Pulling out of NAFTA? Making himself "President for Life"? Nuclear war with North Korea? Which of those are just jokes?

At some point Republicans need to admit that they've elected a very reckless person to be President.

[twik]

It's one thing for a president to float ideas in private. But if you're making an official speech to the Marine Corps (or the Marine Core, as Trump tweeted later), you might want to avoid the "hey! I just had a crazy idea! Let's kick it around for a bit!" moments. I agree that this is a way that he can introduce controversial ideas with plausible deniability - until they become reality.

Also, the idea seems attached to "we're spending a lot of money in space. Therefore, we need a military force there." I'm not sure exactly who Trump sees himself fighting in space. The EU? China? The Chitauri?

[smartcooky]

As many of us already knew... in the USA, The Stupid goes all the way to the top.

[gillianren]

Eisenhower would be so dismayed.  Though I think he would be anyway, for a whole lot of reasons.  I also can't help thinking that he was the last person elected President with no experience in elected office and did a considerably better job.

[raven]

There's been several projects to have a military presence in space, not least the waaaaay ahead of its time Dyna-Soar, and the USSR put an honest to God autocannon on Salyut-3 as part of the Almaz project, but . . . really, Mr. President? A space force? Who are you going to fight, Mecha-Obama?