The Conversation (0)
Sirena Bergman
May 16, 2020
President Donald Trump decided to take some time out from dealing with a global pandemic yesterday to unveil a... flag.
Last December Trump announced he was launching "space force", the first new US military service in more than 70 years, as part of a $1.4tr package which would finance – among other things – Trump's border wall/fence with Mexico.
It turns out this space force will have its own flag, which Trump seems very proud of.
(In case you're wondering, it looks a bit like that knock-off NASA T-shirt all the fast fashion brands were pushing as a "trend" in mid-2017.)
As well as giving us all the gift of this act of graphic design genius, he also bragged about the latest toy which will help him beat his adversaries Russia and China because it's the "fastest in the world".
Apparently, he likes to call it the "super duper missile", which is obviously a very appropriate official name.
He said:
We have no choice, we have to do it with the adversaries we have out there. We have, uh, I call it the super duper missile! And I heard the other night 17 times faster than what they have right now.
You take the fastest missile we have right now and you've heard Russia has five times and China is working on five or six times – we have one 17 times and it's just gotten the go-ahead... 17 times faster if you can believe that gentlemen. That's something right? 17 times faster than what we have now! Fastest in the world by a factor of almost three!
So that's... "17 times faster", in case you somehow missed it, even though Trump said it four times in the space of 35 seconds.
Trump's press secretary Kaleigh McEnany was asked about this "17 times faster super duper missile", to which she replied that she had no "new information on that", and directed reporters to the Pentagon, which initially refused to comment.
Thus far the Pentagon's only response has been this tweet from spokesperson Jonathan Rath Hoffman, who doesn't actually call it the "super duper missile" himself, it seems:
The Department of Defense is working on developing a range of hypersonic missiles to counter our adversaries. https://t.co/ATb1XLHFtl— Jonathan Hoffman (@Jonathan Hoffman) 1589581886
The curt response has prompted people to question whether Trump was supposed to say anything at all...
@ChiefPentSpox @nycsouthpaw Was this classified Intel that Trump just openly blabbed about?— Silently Breathing Deeply (@Silently Breathing Deeply) 1589589327
@ChiefPentSpox @barbarastarrcnn Honestly, were you more embarrassed or scared that you found yourself having to do… https://t.co/1wL4B4OJaa— Old Rant Dump (@Old Rant Dump) 1589584039
And with the lack of clarity on the whole thing, others questioned whether it was even new information.
@durindal @ChiefPentSpox @nycsouthpaw Someone probably just told him about them today. They are called SCRAMJETS. B… https://t.co/e8Y6h1MwBt— Freeman Hippie (@Freeman Hippie) 1589606826
@brianklaas Want the low-down? It's a hypersonic missile that we wrote about last July in the New York Times magazi… https://t.co/1KiWya1B8X— R Jeffrey Smith (@R Jeffrey Smith) 1589586387
People pointed out this might not be the number one government priority right now.
@ChiefPentSpox Our adversary is a virus at the moment. Think a missile is gonna work?— Hamitron (@Hamitron) 1589585244
As for the "super duper" line, no one knows what to think.
“I call it the super duper missile.” An actual quote by the sitting president of the United States. https://t.co/LqoC589W9k— Brian Klaas (@Brian Klaas) 1589568762
@brianklaas @jwomack Super Duper Missile. Operation Warp Speed. Space Force. Is there any doubt we are dealing wit… https://t.co/zctJASKYkj— Jay Walking (@Jay Walking) 1589579657
Is it really too much to ask that Trump discusses military equipment like a president as opposed to a pre-schooler who just learnt a new phrase and got over-excited? Apparently so.