As evidenced by his proposed “Space Force,” Donald Trump’s focus hasn’t been limited to terrestrial pursuits of late. In fact, at a campaign rally in Minnesota this week, the president declared, “We’re re-opening NASA. We are going to be going to space.”

As the New York Times noted, the boast didn’t really make any sense.

That’s true, though we can take this a bit further.

Trump’s boast, for example, about “re-opening” the space agency that hadn’t closed also obscures the fact that the latest White House budget called for significant cuts to investments in NASA.

More recently, the president tapped a congressman with highly dubious qualifications to lead NASA – the first politician to ever lead the agency.

By all appearances, Trump wants to be seen as forward-thinking and ambitious, so he effectively uses space for its symbolic significance. It’d be more effective if he had any idea what he was talking about.