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Commentary Culture

President Trump's new Space Force is a powerfully dumb idea

Rule the land, patrol the sea, but you can't take the sky from me...

Caucasian soldier wearing glowing armor

Sky soldier and the world of tomorrow.

Colin Anderson/Getty Images

"It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space, we must have American dominance in space."

And with those words, President Donald Trump's long-mooted Space Force went from Crayola fever dream to Very Real Thing. Yes, this is the timeline we have landed in, and yes, we have star soldiers now.

Now Playing: Watch this: Will Trump's Space Force really protect us all?
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But hold your space horses, Trump -- you don't get to own the galaxy!

International Space Law tells us all space exploration must be done with good intentions. I don't know if they ever made Space JAG (Netflix, please make this), but I feel like the Space Force would be court-martialled within three days of blasting into the sky.

Our current astronauts, like noted space super-twin Mark Kelly, already say it's a dumb idea.

And even if they got this new branch of the military off the ground -- quite literally -- there are other unanswered questions. Where do they hold the boot camps? Who designs the uniforms? Who will direct the inevitable Matt Damon-led "Saving Private Martian" biopic about Marshall Martian, the first private to die in space?

Space should be for dreaming and discovery and science and, very occasionally, blasting refuse from Earth that we no longer want. It's no place for starship troopers.

Don't believe me? Let me make my argument in the form of video…