NEWS AND OPINION:
The White House is much attuned to the final frontier. Consider the new National Space Council, which counts Vice President Mike Pence as chairman and was introduced last year with a noble motto: “We will lead again, we will inspire again, we will hold the high ground again.”
Indeed, the esteemed group — which includes several Cabinet members, former astronauts, high-profile experts and industry heavyweights — has vowed to address national space enterprise, along with “civil space, commercial space, and national security space.”
But there’s more. President Trump hinted at what’s to come during a Rose Garden award ceremony with Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, and the Army’s Black Knights football team, which won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.
“You will be part of the five proud branches of the United States Armed Forces — Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and the Coast Guard. And we’re actually thinking of a sixth, and that would be the Space Force,” Mr. Trump told the group. “Does that make sense? The Space Force, general. You probably haven’t even heard that. I’m just telling you now. This is perhaps because we’re getting very big in space, both militarily and for other reasons, and we are seriously thinking of the Space Force.”
Meanwhile, determined “disclosure” advocates continue to hope Mr. Trump and his administration will reveal — or “disclose” — what they know about extraterrestrial life, visits from unidentified flying objects or alien-based technology. It’s popular fare, and instant headline fodder. Declassified Defense Department footage of a Navy fighter jet encountering a UFO made international headlines in March; previous news accounts of UFO interest within the Clinton administration and revelations about a $22 million Pentagon project to investigate otherworldly crafts has also riveted both press and public.
Then there’s the movie. The Paradigm Research Group, founded by registered lobbyist and researcher Stephen Bassett, is currently crowdfunding in order to produce “Disclosure,” an “exopolitical documentary” meant to parse out the situation once and for all.
REPUBLICANS IN SPRINGTIME
Now under way in a very spectacular setting: The Republican National Committee’s official “Spring Meeting,” staged at the grand and beautiful Trump National Doral Miami. Consider the setting. This is an 800-acre Florida resort with not one but four golf courses which go by the names of Blue Monster, Red Tiger, Golden Palm and Silver Fox. There’s also a 48,000-square foot spa and four restaurants where the motto is “subtlety is not our strength, indulgence is.”
Among the specialties: a 36-ounce porterhouse steak for two, lobster cobb salad, lemon cheesecake with huckleberry sorbet, and cocktails named Midnight Chariot and Anti-Oxidant Mojito. Imagine.
All that aside, the Republicans get down to very serious business Thursday morning with a Standing Committee on Rules meeting, followed by a general session Friday. The press is in attendance, so stay tuned.
MCCASKILL IN HOLLYWOOD
Sen. Claire McCaskill is off to Hollywood this weekend for a high-profile fundraiser. On hand to help the Missouri Democrat: former President Barack Obama, plus silver screen executives Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg.
“Claire continues to cozy up to coastal elites and remain out-of-touch with the values of everyday Missourians. It’s clear that she has more in common with those attending her Hollywood fundraiser than she does with those who elected her,” notes a statement from Missouri Rising Action, an independent political action committee supporting Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a 38-year-old conservative Republican who is challenging Ms. McCaskill.
“This is McCaskill’s second fundraiser this year hosted by Hollywood liberals. She attended a fundraiser with Disney CEO Bob Iger back in February. Millionaire Claire’s focus is clearly on spending time with the rich and famous and not Missouri voters,” noted the PAC.
TRUMP THE MOVIE
A young Donald Trump will become the subject of a feature-length Hollywood movie titled “The Apprentice,” according to Los Angeles-based Gidden Media, which is producing the film. On tap to write the screenplay is Gabriel Sherman, a special correspondent to Vanity Fair and an MSNBC contributor who had already authored “The Loudest Voice in the Room,” chronicling the life and times of Fox News Channel founder Roger Ailes.
“As a journalist, I’ve reported on Donald Trump for more than 15 years,” Mr. Sherman said in a statement. “I’ve long been fascinated by his origin story as a young builder coming up in the gritty world of 1970s and ’80s New York. This formative period tells us so much about the man who today occupies the Oval Office.”
Mr. Sherman’s book on the late Fox executive is currently under development as a project titled “Secure and Hold: The Last Days of Roger Ailes,” a Showtime mini-series. Showtime also has optioned former President Bill Clinton’s forthcoming political thriller novel “The President is Missing.”
IVY COVERED HALLS
A brief update from a famous campus: “Harvard University allows students to earn a ’Social Justice Certificate’ by completing 16 credit hours in relevant courses, a process that the school estimates will take 1.5 years and cost $10,800,” reports Toni Airaksinen, a correspondent for Campus Reform.
“The recently launched certificate allows students to take classes such as ’Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food,’ ’The Culture of Capitalism,’ and ’Storytelling and Global Justice’ for credit,” writes Ms. Airaksinen. “Other classes in the program include ’The Minimum Wage Debate,’ ’The Politics of Religion in Liberal Democracies,’ and ’Readings in Black Radicalism’ — a class dedicated to exploring readings on topics such as black Marxism, black feminism, and reparations.”
POLL DU JOUR
• 51 percent of Americans say talking politics with someone they disagree with is “stressful and frustrating.”
• 45 percent say this kind of exchange is “interesting and informative.”
• 9 percent talk with people with opposing political views every day; 22 percent do so a few times a week.
• 17 percent talk to them once a week; 14 percent do so once a month.
• 15 percent talk a few times a year; 21 percent almost never talk with people with opposing political views.
Source: An NBC/SurveyMonkey poll of 10,163 U.S. adults conducted April 20-27.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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