President Donald Trump made a baffling statement during a visit with the Artemis II crew in the Oval Office on Wednesday. He seemingly claimed to be physically fit enough to travel to space.
“To get in there, you have to be very smart. You have to do a lot of things physically good. So I would’ve had no trouble making it. I’m physically very, very good,” Trump said as astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen stood awkwardly behind him. The president then asked NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman: “Is the president allowed to go up in one of these missions?” “We can get working on that, sir,” Isaacman replied.
In his youth, Trump was apparently not physically fit enough to serve in the military during the Vietnam War. The president famously received multiple draft deferments in the 1960s to finish his college education. However, he also received a medical deferment for bone spurs in 1968 after he had graduated.
Critics on social media quickly jumped at the opportunity to suggest it may be good for the country to send the president to space, and to lambaste the idea that he would be physically fit enough to do so.
The Lincoln Project tweeted: “We support sending him to space.” Secular Talk host Kyle Kulinski noted: “There was a time when people thought stuff like this was funny and endearing but when you realize he means it and he's clinically insane it hits different.” Ron Filipkowski commented: “Dude couldn’t even jog to the end of his driveway. It also requires you to know how to swim.”
Jo from JoJoFromJerz wrote: “Let’s send his ass to space then.” Martina Navratilova quipped: “Roflmao. So why use a cart when playing golf???” Decoding Fox News stated: “He’s so delusional.” Another user said: “For the love of god please send him with a one way ticket to the moon.” Polly Sigh remarked: “Right. This slob can’t even manage a flight of stairs. But if he wants to prove it, NASA can send him to the moon.” Dr. Allison Wiltz asked: “Is this how we get of Trump by sending him into space?”
Related: Donald Trump, NASA, space travel, Artemis II
