And He's Out!

     Not Elon Musk, who is apparently promising to stop by the White House from time to time in the future and lend Mr. Trump's government his own special stink.  That's practically moot, like bums urinating into a five-alarm fire.

     Nope, the latest departure hadn't even arrived: Jared Isaacman, nominated by then-candidate Trump to be the next NASA Administrator, has been de-nominated after what the administration is calling "a thorough review of past associations."

     As oligarchs go, Isaacman's not an especially bad one: he's a sure-enough pilot, with over 7,000 hours of stick time and is qualified on many military jet fighters, a notoriously unforgiving class of aircraft: there are old fighter pilots and bad fighter pilots, but old, bad fighter pilots are as rare as the dodo.  And he's genuinely space-happy, funding and flying aboard commercial orbital missions.  With Washington picking zillionares for the top jobs, he'd be a natural for NASA, one even I could tolerate.

     So what happened?  Here's a hint: White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston has said, "It’s essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda...."

     Just what did Isaacman do, you ask?  Support Hamas?  Hang out with agents of Red China?  Sneak in illegals to process credit card payments at his company, Shift4?  Cozy up to the Russians to buy MiGs at a discount?

     Um, no.  Open Secrets has the skinny: it seems the gazillionaire has been donating to Democrats at least as often as he has to Republicans, in keeping with America's time-honored tradition of letting rich men buy as many congenial politicians as they can afford.  In particular, he gave to state Democrat parties in Pennsylvania and Michigan in 2024, states with Democratic governors where the Republicans eked out a narrow Presidential victory.  That's too much Mr. Trump and company to bear, and so he's out, despite being reasonably well qualified, a close associate of Elon Musk and promising to go along with the Republican plans for NASA.  He'd've offered to rub red Huntsville, Alabama mud in his navel on stage during that city's Oktoberfest,* if that's what the job required.

     It wasn't enough.  The Party, like its many authoritarian predecessors, requires total commitment; hedging one's bets is grounds for expulsion.

     They'll name someone else for the job, possibly Marco Rubio or Stephen Miller.  Back to the Moon?  I wouldn't bet on it.  And it gets worse: they've hacked severely at NASA's budget.  Goodbye, Moon!
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* Oh yes they do.  You're surprised?  After all those paperclips?  The references to FTL travel via "Gobau-Heim-Droscher space" over at I Work On A Starship didn't happen for no reason, though I don't think any of them got recruited for U. S. rocketry.