Today, Donald Trump wrapped up a meeting with Rice University professor and historian Douglas Brinkley. According to members of the press pool following the president-elect, the crux of their conversation revolved around “a man going to the moon”. Naturally we must ask ourselves: Does Trump know the US has done that no less than a dozen times?
Image: AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Trump “very interested in a man going to the moon & the moon shot,” according to Douglas Brinkley, who just spoke with him (via pool)
— Mike Grynbaum (@grynbaum) December 28, 2016
I only bring this up because, well, Trump has close associations with a few people who believe the moon landings were faked. Roger Stone, a close adviser of Trump’s, has said he believes the iconic footage of Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong setting foot on Earth’s satellite was “shot in a warehouse in NJ“. Likewise, conspiracy theorist and possible Saiyan radio host Alex Jones denies the event took place. Trump in turn has praised Jones’ “reputation” and has vowed to Jones that “I will not let you down“.
“The Chinese are planning on going to the Moon…I hope they stop and take a look at our flag that was put there 43 years ago.” –@MittRomney
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2012
Trump, ever a suffocating presence on Twitter, has yet to broadcast his thoughts on the moon landing to the world. The closest he’s come to an official stance was a quote he lifted from Mitt Romney back in 2012.
Even if we’re to give Trump the benefit of the doubt — an unwise position, generally — and say he’s aware the United States has sent multiple Apollo astronauts to the Moon over the course of three years, why is the US entertaining this as the best course of action when it has done this many, many times? He many not be an establishment Republican, but he shares his Moonlust with party staples like Jeb Bush and Newt Gingrich, who infamously suggested the US build colonies there.
More pressingly though: Trump also has a profound and well-documented hatred towards China. Can you imagine what an arsehole he’d look like if China beat the United States to Mars? China’s National Space Administration announced today it plans to send probes to Mars by 2020 — and presumably manned missions not too long after. But sure, lets mess around on the Moon some more.
One of the members of Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum is rambling weirdo and Future President of Mars Elon Musk. One can only conclude he was not consulted prior to Trump’s meeting with Brinkley.
In the event PEOTUS truly has no idea all of these landings took place, here are a list of people who have walked on the moon — all of them American, all completing their missions during Trump’s lifetime:
- Neil Armstrong
- Buzz Aldrin
- Pete Conrad
- Alan Bean
- Alan Shepard
- Edgar Mitchell
- David Scott
- James Irwin
- John Young
- Charles Duke
- Gene Cernan
- Jack Schmitt
If his picks for astronauts are anything like the people he’s appointed to his US presidential cabinet so far, it will be one or two less billionaires here on Earth.