Let me start this article by saying, I think Donald J. Trump might well go down in our nation's history as one of America's greatest presidents...never mind the fact that no president, to date, has had more obstacles thrown in their path to“Make America Great Again” then has this one man. And while I do not agree with every thing he’s done, as it’s hard to agree 100% of the time with anyone, for me there’s really only one issue I totally disagree with him on...as in his administration's putting NASA's 2026 operating budget on the chopping block with cuts here, there, and everywhere. Needless cuts...dangerous cuts with long lasting ramifications including possibly seeing China, not Russia, beating us back to the Moon. Our returning first to the Moon is of paramount importance. because he who controls the Moon controls the Earth...a saying with more truth than the average person really understands. And by the Trump administration cutting back NASA's budget to the degree that is now being proposed could well become a negative factor affecting all the good that Trump has accomplished to date.
“This is a budget that says America is done leading the world in space, that we are a nation turning inward.”
Now as for the basics, let's start with the fact that NASA's budget for fiscal year 2026, sees its funding being cut by a whopping 24%...from $24.8 billion in 2025 down to $18.8 billion in 2026...which is the largest single-year cut to NASA in their history. And to break it down even further said proposal sees a two-thirds cut to NASA's astrophysics budget, a 50+% cut to Earth Sciences, a 30% cut to Planetary Sciences, along with cuts to what's called “legacy human exploration systems” which directly affects both our Moon and Mars manned missions. And not to be overlooked is the proposed 50% cut to the “Space Technology” part of the budget...the very program where space technological discoveries are adapted to help better life here on Earth.
So to my fellow “space geeks” I say, let those numbers and mission cuts sink in a bit, along with the additional fact that the current proposed budget also sees cuts of more than $1 billion in regards to “mission support,” as in reducing employee head counts, maintenance, construction and “environmental compliance activities”...with maintenance and construction cuts leaving open the possibly of much needed safety measures coming into question.
Simply put, stifling our nation's “brain pool” is never a good idea no matter the field involved, but when that field directly includes our all-important and much needed dominance in space it's not just a bad idea but is actually a dangerous idea.
“Spreading out into space...will completely change the future of the human race and maybe determine whether we have any future at all. It won’t solve any of our immediate problems on planet Earth, but it will give us a new perspective on them, and cause us to look outwards rather than inwards. Hopefully it would unite us to face a common challenge.”
And so President Trump, the man who understands better than most how important it is for our country to be the leader in space, created “Space Force” to not only partner with NASA on national security matters such as “space domain awareness and planetary defense,” but he made said partnership an immediate imperative in regards to both Russia and China. So it makes no sense that President Trump...the man who also stated in his March address to Congress that he wants to “plant a U.S. flag on Mars;”...would suddenly decide that NASA'a budget must drastically be cut.
Harsh but true words that I have a possible answer to...an answer some might not like. So let me begin by saying that I personally do not believe that President Trump acted solely on his own or that he was the originator of what I deem to be a NASA “hatchet job,” because, like me, Trump has always believed that NASA is but one shining example of American exceptionalism at its very best. And while technically NASA is an independent civilian space agency created by Congress that is under the direction of the executive branch, specifically the “Office of Management and Budget” (OMB), it is Congress itself who ultimately decides on NASA's final budget through its “budget and appropriations process”...the process by which Congress sets spending priorities and allocates taxpayer dollars to fund specific programs, and where a budget request is either approved, denied or given a set period of time to make recommended “adjustments”...a long and sometimes tedious process as government bureaucracy tends to get in the way more times than not.
So after giving this some long and hard thought, I believe that while President Trump did not originate this disgrace of a NASA budget plan, what former director Nelson called a "hatchet job," was set into motion whether deliberately or not when Elon Musk suggested to Trump...like D.O.G.E. suggested to NASA which programs need to be cut...that Trump pick his friend Jared Taylor Isaacman...an American billionaire entrepreneur, pilot, and commercial astronaut with no scientific background whatsoever, a man heavily invested in Musk's SpaceX program, and who has been a vocal mouthpiece for advancing competition in the space industry by reducing reliance on government programs like NASA,..to be the new head of NASA...the job Isaacman has yet to be approved by Congress for as he is considered by both parties to be hostile to NASA especiallywith his SpaceX ties rightfully being seen by many as a serious conflict of interest.
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
But the bottom line, in my opinion, is that when budget decisions regarding allocations and funding are being considered for certain highly specialized government agencies...with NASA being such an agency...NASA alone should be making their own budget decisions not pencil-pushing bureaucrats, politicians, or even our president. Why so...because few folks truly understand the science, logistics, and intricacies involved in NASA's past and future successes.
Copyright © 2025 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All rights reserved.
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