Trump's campaign faces terrestrial challenges, yet he concentrates on space issues.
The approach has garnered support from prominent National Guard officials, legislators, and key leaders from both parties in states that are involved in space missions.
TroibNews 
Donald Trump is revisiting one of his favorite topics: outer space.
On Monday, the former president announced that if elected, he will advocate for the establishment of a Space National Guard, endorsing a new proposal for part-time space personnel that the Biden administration opposes.
This unexpected move shifts the campaign focus to an issue that has caused friction between governors of both parties, National Guard leaders, and the Pentagon, while also dividing Congress.
Trump made his pledge during a speech at the National Guard Association of the United States’ annual conference in Detroit, Michigan—an important battleground state—where he criticized outgoing President Joe Biden and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on various foreign and domestic issues, prominently featuring the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and border security.
He hailed the creation of the Space Force during his administration as “one of my proudest achievements” and contended that the service now requires its own branch of the Guard. “Now that Space Force is up and running, I agree with your leadership. You want this very badly, but I agree that the time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the U.S. Space Force,” Trump stated, eliciting applause from the audience.
He further assured, “As president, I will sign historic legislation creating a Space National Guard.”
During his first term, Trump supported a proposal to reassign troops engaged in space-related missions—such as safeguarding U.S. satellites and missile detection—into the Space Force, marking the creation of the first new military branch in seventy years, a frequent talking point for Trump at rallies.
By backing a new National Guard component specifically dedicated to the Space Force, Trump aligns himself with Guard leaders and executives from states with significant space activities, creating a rift with Pentagon officials and the Biden administration amid a contentious dispute over military resources.
Proponents argue that the highly specialized missions of the Space Force will depend significantly on part-time personnel who possess technical expertise from their regular jobs but do not want to enroll full-time in the Space Force. Currently, most of these personnel are part of the Air National Guard, an arrangement advocates believe undermines the training, recruitment, and funding for space personnel that could be rectified by establishing a dedicated Space Guard unit.
This initiative garners support from prominent National Guard leaders, lawmakers, and influential figures from both parties in states engaged in space operations. Colorado Representatives Jason Crow, a Democrat, and Doug Lamborn, a Republican who supports Trump, have sponsored the measure in the House, while Democratic Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler from California are backing it in the Senate. However, the Biden administration is against it, asserting that creating a distinct National Guard for a mere few hundred space personnel would incur unnecessary costs and complexity.
National Guard Association of the United States President Frank McGinn commended Trump's commitment to a Space National Guard, an objective the advocacy group supports, following the former president's address. "I am grateful for President Trump’s pledge to establish a Space National Guard should he be elected for another term. NGAUS has maintained for several years that a Space National Guard is the ideal supplement for the US Space Force," McGinn expressed.
Similar to the Space Force's establishment, House lawmakers have previously passed bipartisan legislation to create a Space National Guard, although these proposals have failed to progress through the Senate, which has sided with Biden to block it.
However, the potential endorsement of a Trump administration could revitalize the proposal. Trump mentioned that he discussed the initiative with Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the leading Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, whom Trump once considered as a running mate, as Rubio is sponsoring the Senate legislation for a Space National Guard.
“Space Force has been very important,” Trump noted. “When I did that, other people came in, they wanted to end it, and they were just hammered, because people realized how important. We were getting just destroyed in space, and now we're leading.”
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is advocating an alternative plan to transition Air National Guard units handling space missions into the Space Force, without forming a new part-time organization. This strategy is intended to save money and maintain the fledgling service's efficiency, but it has faced opposition from all 50 state governors and was significantly diluted by the House, with the Senate once again supporting the Biden administration.
Trump's endorsement of the initiative came amid a broader series of critiques that the Republican nominee and his campaign directed at Biden and Harris regarding military oversight. It coincided with the anniversary of the attack outside Kabul’s airport that resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. troops and many Afghans, serving as a campaign weapon.
Trump, who initiated U.S. troop withdrawals from Afghanistan in the final days of his presidency, claimed he would have executed the withdrawal “with dignity and strength” unlike Biden. “Our country will never be safe again until we have fired those responsible for this disaster,” Trump asserted. “It gave us Russia going into Ukraine. It gave us [the] Oct. 7 attack on Israel, because it gave us lack of respect. We're not respected. We were respected very much four years ago. We're not respected now.”
He added, "The voters are going to fire Kamala and Joe on Nov. 5, we hope. And when I take office, we'll ask for the resignations of every single official. We'll get the resignations of every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity."
While Trump spoke in Michigan, his campaign was simultaneously hosting a call with reporters during which his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, who previously served as a U.S. Marine in Iraq, alongside Congress members and several Gold Star family members affected by the Kabul attack, criticized the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal and demanded accountability from Harris.
“Nobody expects perfection from our government,” Vance remarked. “But we do expect accountability.”
Gold Star family members reported a lack of direct outreach from Harris, especially since her campaign launch in late July. “The Biden-Harris administration — there’s never even been condolences. They just want to pretend it didn’t happen. They want to take credit for ending the war, but they don’t want to take any responsibility for the way it all went down,” lamented Cheryl Jules, whose niece, Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee, died in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. “Our servicemen and women deserve better than that,” Jill stated, emphasizing that they deserve a commander in chief who will respect and protect them.
Harris’ campaign did not provide immediate comment. In a White House statement, Harris expressed her sorrow for the servicemembers lost at the airport. “I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families, and I will always honor their service and sacrifice,” she said, reflecting her recent remarks at the Democratic National Convention.
Harris also defended the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, saying the president “made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war.” She further promised to “never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland.”
Other Democrats responded by criticizing Trump’s own actions related to Afghanistan and American troops. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) argued on X that “Trump owns the Afghanistan withdrawal. He cut a bad deal with the Taliban … forcing Biden to clean it up.”
Max Fischer contributed to this report for TROIB News
On Monday, the former president announced that if elected, he will advocate for the establishment of a Space National Guard, endorsing a new proposal for part-time space personnel that the Biden administration opposes.
This unexpected move shifts the campaign focus to an issue that has caused friction between governors of both parties, National Guard leaders, and the Pentagon, while also dividing Congress.
Trump made his pledge during a speech at the National Guard Association of the United States’ annual conference in Detroit, Michigan—an important battleground state—where he criticized outgoing President Joe Biden and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on various foreign and domestic issues, prominently featuring the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and border security.
He hailed the creation of the Space Force during his administration as “one of my proudest achievements” and contended that the service now requires its own branch of the Guard. “Now that Space Force is up and running, I agree with your leadership. You want this very badly, but I agree that the time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the U.S. Space Force,” Trump stated, eliciting applause from the audience.
He further assured, “As president, I will sign historic legislation creating a Space National Guard.”
During his first term, Trump supported a proposal to reassign troops engaged in space-related missions—such as safeguarding U.S. satellites and missile detection—into the Space Force, marking the creation of the first new military branch in seventy years, a frequent talking point for Trump at rallies.
By backing a new National Guard component specifically dedicated to the Space Force, Trump aligns himself with Guard leaders and executives from states with significant space activities, creating a rift with Pentagon officials and the Biden administration amid a contentious dispute over military resources.
Proponents argue that the highly specialized missions of the Space Force will depend significantly on part-time personnel who possess technical expertise from their regular jobs but do not want to enroll full-time in the Space Force. Currently, most of these personnel are part of the Air National Guard, an arrangement advocates believe undermines the training, recruitment, and funding for space personnel that could be rectified by establishing a dedicated Space Guard unit.
This initiative garners support from prominent National Guard leaders, lawmakers, and influential figures from both parties in states engaged in space operations. Colorado Representatives Jason Crow, a Democrat, and Doug Lamborn, a Republican who supports Trump, have sponsored the measure in the House, while Democratic Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler from California are backing it in the Senate. However, the Biden administration is against it, asserting that creating a distinct National Guard for a mere few hundred space personnel would incur unnecessary costs and complexity.
National Guard Association of the United States President Frank McGinn commended Trump's commitment to a Space National Guard, an objective the advocacy group supports, following the former president's address. "I am grateful for President Trump’s pledge to establish a Space National Guard should he be elected for another term. NGAUS has maintained for several years that a Space National Guard is the ideal supplement for the US Space Force," McGinn expressed.
Similar to the Space Force's establishment, House lawmakers have previously passed bipartisan legislation to create a Space National Guard, although these proposals have failed to progress through the Senate, which has sided with Biden to block it.
However, the potential endorsement of a Trump administration could revitalize the proposal. Trump mentioned that he discussed the initiative with Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the leading Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, whom Trump once considered as a running mate, as Rubio is sponsoring the Senate legislation for a Space National Guard.
“Space Force has been very important,” Trump noted. “When I did that, other people came in, they wanted to end it, and they were just hammered, because people realized how important. We were getting just destroyed in space, and now we're leading.”
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is advocating an alternative plan to transition Air National Guard units handling space missions into the Space Force, without forming a new part-time organization. This strategy is intended to save money and maintain the fledgling service's efficiency, but it has faced opposition from all 50 state governors and was significantly diluted by the House, with the Senate once again supporting the Biden administration.
Trump's endorsement of the initiative came amid a broader series of critiques that the Republican nominee and his campaign directed at Biden and Harris regarding military oversight. It coincided with the anniversary of the attack outside Kabul’s airport that resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. troops and many Afghans, serving as a campaign weapon.
Trump, who initiated U.S. troop withdrawals from Afghanistan in the final days of his presidency, claimed he would have executed the withdrawal “with dignity and strength” unlike Biden. “Our country will never be safe again until we have fired those responsible for this disaster,” Trump asserted. “It gave us Russia going into Ukraine. It gave us [the] Oct. 7 attack on Israel, because it gave us lack of respect. We're not respected. We were respected very much four years ago. We're not respected now.”
He added, "The voters are going to fire Kamala and Joe on Nov. 5, we hope. And when I take office, we'll ask for the resignations of every single official. We'll get the resignations of every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity."
While Trump spoke in Michigan, his campaign was simultaneously hosting a call with reporters during which his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, who previously served as a U.S. Marine in Iraq, alongside Congress members and several Gold Star family members affected by the Kabul attack, criticized the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal and demanded accountability from Harris.
“Nobody expects perfection from our government,” Vance remarked. “But we do expect accountability.”
Gold Star family members reported a lack of direct outreach from Harris, especially since her campaign launch in late July. “The Biden-Harris administration — there’s never even been condolences. They just want to pretend it didn’t happen. They want to take credit for ending the war, but they don’t want to take any responsibility for the way it all went down,” lamented Cheryl Jules, whose niece, Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee, died in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. “Our servicemen and women deserve better than that,” Jill stated, emphasizing that they deserve a commander in chief who will respect and protect them.
Harris’ campaign did not provide immediate comment. In a White House statement, Harris expressed her sorrow for the servicemembers lost at the airport. “I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families, and I will always honor their service and sacrifice,” she said, reflecting her recent remarks at the Democratic National Convention.
Harris also defended the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, saying the president “made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war.” She further promised to “never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland.”
Other Democrats responded by criticizing Trump’s own actions related to Afghanistan and American troops. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) argued on X that “Trump owns the Afghanistan withdrawal. He cut a bad deal with the Taliban … forcing Biden to clean it up.”
Max Fischer contributed to this report for TROIB News
