#Politics #NASA From #NYTimes:

"Even before Donald J. Trump was re-elected, his best-known backer, Elon Musk, had come to him with a request for his presidential transition.

"He wanted Mr. Trump to hire some employees from Mr. Musk’s rocket company, #SpaceX, as top government officials — including at the Defense Department, according to two people briefed on the calls."

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/us/politics/elon-musk-trump-benefits.html

#Politics #NASA #SpaceX #Trump

From #ArsTechnica:

"Musk is unquestionably in a position for self-dealing. Normally, such conflicts of interest would be frowned on within a government, but Trump has already shown a brazen disregard for norms, and there's no reason to believe that will change during his second go at the presidency."

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/11/space-policy-is-about-to-get-pretty-wild-yall/

#Politics #NASA My two credits' worth ...

NASA's bureaucracy has been bloated, hidebound, and inbred for far too long.

NASA was originally intended to be a space version of the old National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. NACA was a think tank for developing technologies to transfer to the private sector. NASA was supposed to do the same for space, until JFK created Apollo as a global propaganda organ. (1/x)

https://www.nasa.gov/history/history-publications-and-resources/nasa-history-series/naca-to-nasa-to-now/

#Politics #NASA

Apollo created a space-industrial complex that motivated members of Congress to protect NASA legacy employees and infrastructure in their districts and states.

#Obama tried to change that but suffered terrible political blowback as a result.

Backed by Elon Musk, will #Trump try to return NASA to its NACA roots?

I doubt Trump knows, much less cares, what NACA was. But Elon sure knows. (2/x)

#Politics #NASA

If they try to reform NASA as the #ArsTechnica article suggests, the political fireworks on the Hill will be a true must-see 🍿 event.

Of course, Elon will be entirely self-serving. He will try to angle things so Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos) and other competitors are left out in the cold.

My suspicion is that, by the time any reform gets to the Hill, #Trump will have quit and been succeeded by #Vance. (3/x)

#Politics #NASA

That's where it gets interesting, because #Vance was a tech venture capialist. Vance and Elon are kindred spirits.

As VP, Vance will head the National Space Council, an advisory body. Some NSpCs have been more effective than others; the #Trump NSpC passed a number of policy changes and turned meetings into spectacles.

Representing Ohio as a senator, one can also expect Vance to try to direct NASA pork to the Glenn Center in Cleveland. (4/x)

#Politics #NASA

The #Trump administration tried to kill NASA's climate change programs, but Congress stopped him. It will be a different story this time; we know they intend to try to sell off NOAA and the National Weather Service. I'm sure Trump will try to end NASA's climate observation satellites; Elon will see a new profit center for Starlinks and probably support it.

So the question becomes ... (5/x)

#Politics #NASA

How loyal will Republican politicians be to the #Trump #MAGA agenda versus protecting the pork in their districts and states?

Will Rick Scott (R-FL), a potential Senate Majority Leader, dismantle #KSC to pass a destructive Trump agenda?

The potential for needed reform is there, but MAGA sees "reform" as blowing up government without any thought to the consequences.

A President Vance/Elon Musk team will have more of a clue than Trump/Musk, but I'm not sure that's good. (6/6)

@WordsmithFL Well, they’ll all be right in step. They’re all lemmings and they’ll follow him off the cliff

@VelvetDuchess It will be awful for all of us but, if #Trump drives the economy off a cliff as we fear, the Republicans will be in for a bloodbath in the 2026 midterm and the 2028 general. Assuming we still have elections.