On 18 June 2018, United States President Donald Trump announced his intention to create a Space Force, apparently a new branch of the United States Armed Forces that would deal with matters on the other side of the Kármán line.

Shortly after the announcement was made, a rumor started circulating that Trump had tapped Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, perhaps best known to lovers of both the History Channel and Internet memes as “the Ancient Aliens guy,” based on his work on the loved and derided show of that name (and which operates under the assumption that extraterrestrials are real and have been present on Earth for millions of years), to lead this new branch of the military:

Choosing someone who is open to the idea of encountering aliens in space may be an asset to a burgeoning Space Force. However, rumors about Giorgio A. Tsoukalos landing the gig did not originate with a general news report. This rumor comes from a satirical article that was published by the web site “A Science Enthusiast” on 27 June 2018.

The article was clearly tagged as satire at the top of the page. The web site also added a disclaimer at the bottom to reiterate the post’s satirical intent: