Colorado Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet cannot or will not persuade President Joe Biden to do the right thing. We are seven months into the Biden presidency, with the Middle East in chaos, and Biden’s government continues planning a multibillion-dollar move of Space Command from Colorado to Alabama for no apparent reason.
The Gazette’s editorial board previously explained how former President Donald Trump would move Space Command without a tinge of guilt if Colorado trounced him and/or Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in the November election. Voters did both, and Trump acted as easily predicted.
After Trump’s emotional decision, we received obligatory public relations gobbledygook from the Pentagon that said the decision was tactical, apolitical, and reflected the recommendations of top military advisers. Of course, no one believes that. Trump did this to spite Colorado because that’s the way he operates. We predicted he would ultimately brag about this decision. Our crystal ball seldom fails.
Trump’s confession to rewarding Alabama politically came Friday on the Alabama-based Rick and Bubba radio show, one day before a scheduled mega-rally in Alabama. Here’s what Trump said, just as the show was ending: “What we did, is, I rebuilt the military,” Trump said. “By the way, Space Force, I sent to Alabama. I hope you know that,” Trump said, accidentally saying “Space Force” instead of “Space Command.”
A host interrupted to express his appreciation, then Trump continued.
“They (Space Command) said, ‘We’re looking for a home,’ and I single-handedly said, ‘Let’s go to Alabama.’ They wanted it, so I said, ‘Let’s go to Alabama.’ So hey, look, I love Alabama…”
He should love “Sweet Home Alabama,” where only the skies are blue. The red state’s 2020 voters trounced Biden and gave Trump 62% of the vote. Alabama gave Trump’s Republican Party another seat in the Senate. Five of Alabama’s seven members of the House are Trump-friendly Republicans, along with Republican Gov. Kay Ivey.
In contrast, Trump lost Colorado with 55% of the vote toward Biden. Voters replaced Republican Sen. Cory Gardner with Democratic Party loyalist John Hickenlooper, despite Gardner performing among the Senate’s most productive and influential members.
Just as Trump punished Colorado and rewarded Alabama, Biden should reward blue Colorado by merely doing what is safest and most efficient for the country.
He should reverse the Space Command decision, citing turmoil in Afghanistan and the surrounding region, and thank Colorado Democrats for their wise counsel. If Gardner, Hickenlooper, and Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis cannot get this done, it suggests Biden considers them lightweights.
With Trump’s admission of “single-handedly” moving Space Command — recorded and broadcast for all to hear — persuading Biden to reverse Trump’s reckless use of authority should be easy. Bennet, Hickenlooper, and Polis will get this decision reversed or appear as low-level placeholders in the Democratic-controlled federal government.
This should not be difficult. The power to reverse Trump’s decisions gets Biden out of bed in the morning. On the day of his inauguration, Biden reversed nine major Trump policies. He killed a major energy pipeline, rejoined the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accord, ended construction on the border wall, and more.
Never has it been more important to avoid disrupting the military’s infrastructure, especially something so fragile and fledgling as its space-defense capacity.
Biden’s Afghanistan mess makes U.S. superiority in space more important than ever, as China and Russia will quickly exploit the dilemma to the detriment of the United States, Israel, Taiwan, and other allies. Love or hate Trump, this country cannot afford an expensive, time-consuming disruption of military space operations to reward politicians in a Trump-friendly state.
Bennet, Hickenlooper, and Polis should get aggressive with Biden immediately. They do not work for the president and need not kiss his ring. Voters empowered each of them to get results for this blue state, not to lose a major military operation to friends of Trump in a red state.
Before another week goes by, Colorado’s three highest-ranking politicians should request a sit-down with the president to explain how Trump’s decision puts the country in danger and how we have no time to waste. No matter how the danger manifests, it will not occur under the watch of Trump and Gardner. It will happen under the watch of Biden, Bennet, and Hickenlooper.
Until they fix this with Biden, they own the loss of Space Command.
This editorial first appeared in The Gazette on Aug. 23, 2021.
