President Donald Trump continues to weigh in on topics across the U.S. government with his uniquely egomanical spin, including now the possibility of there being sentient life out there beyond this planet. In a wide-ranging time spent with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, he touched on the subject at the journalist’s request, and revealed that he doesn’t “particularly” believe in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) having any kind of actually truly unidentifiable origin. Perhaps that helps explain some of his behavior, particularly his repeatedly demonstrated readiness to go to absolutely outlandish extremes in description of himself and his supposedly wonderful presidency. His horizons are limited — at best.
He told Stephanopoulos, discussing the specific case of Navy pilots reporting unsettling UFOs, which The New York Times recently shared a recap of:
‘I think it’s probably — I want them to think whatever they think. They do say, I mean, I’ve seen, and I’ve read, and I’ve heard. And I did have one very brief meeting on it. But people are saying they’re seeing UFOs. Do I believe it? Not particularly.’
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Other things he just doesn’t “believe” in include climate change, so he’s not exactly the greatest authority here. After his own administration came out with a report outlining looming negative impacts on the U.S. and its economy from the ruthless onward march of climate change, that was his blunt response to reporters — he doesn’t believe it.
Like in that case, some of the president’s avid disbelief persists even in the face of evidence piling up in front of him. Stephanopoulos asked him about this, questioning what exactly would happen with information about substantively questionable UFOs, to which the president responded:
‘Well, I think my great — our great — pilots would know. And some of them really see things that are a little bit different than in the past. So we’re going to see. But we’ll watch it. You’ll be the first to know.’
It’s notable — and in another era, might be a big political scandal — for Trump to refer to people as “my great pilots” who could have begun their military service well before he came around the White House and might continue it well after he leaves. Even in this context, his egotism is coming through.
In the past — outside the context of Trump — the federal government maintained the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program to collect and deal with reports from interests like Navy pilots of flying objects that eluded identification. That program’s government funding got cut off years ago — before its existence was ever even publicly revealed — so federal government efforts to respond to unidentified flying objects have continued through a stop-and-start pattern.
Notably enough, back in the present, Trump has taken a particular interest in space. He’s pushed for the creation of a “Space Force” as another branch of the U.S. Armed Services. Outside of rumors of a Netflix comedy starring Steve Carell, that plan hasn’t gotten off the ground in spectacular fashion, although the Trump administration has been drawing up plans for it, including covering funding.
Featured Image via screenshot
