Just Saying | Why Donald Trump’s Space Force is both funny and frightening

Yonden Lhatoo tries to make sense of the US president’s fancy to create a new Space Force and ends up feeling amused, confused and mostly alarmed again

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A rocket launched by private US firm SpaceX lights up the night sky over Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida in 2016. President Donald Trump wants to set up a new space force as the sixth branch of the American armed forces. Photo: AP

Published: 2:46pm, 23 Jun 2018Updated: 10:31pm, 23 Jun 2018

“Space Force. Spaceforce. Space. Force.”

There’s something childishly comical about the way Donald Trump relishes saying the words over and over again, arms flailing and hands karate chopping invisible ninjas in the air for added accentuation.

He’s more like a toddler with a new toy than the president of the United States telling the world he has decided to boldly go where no man has been before and “dominate” the final frontier.

And now his voter base has eagerly taken up the new mantra. After “lock her up!” (referring to defeated presidential election rival Hillary Clinton) and “build that wall!” (his promise to shut out illegal immigrants and make Mexico pay for it), the US president’s fanatical fans are turning wild eyes to the skies and chanting, “Space Force! Space Force!” at cult of Trump campaign rallies these days.

President Trump after signing a Space Policy Directive at the White House on Monday. Photo: Washington Post

“I’m hereby directing the Department of Defence to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces,” he proclaimed at the White House this week. “We are going to have the Air Force, and we’re going to have the Space Force, separate but equal.”

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