President Donald Trump gave two reasons for why he is stripping Space Command from El Paso County in Colorado and moving the headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama – neither of which was true.
First, he said voters in Alabama supported his re-election in 2024 by 47 points.
Second, he said that Colorado’s mail-in ballots allow election fraud.
The president of the United States held a press conference on a major decision and told Americans that it was based on his political popularity in one state and a gross lie that he has perpetuated since he lost his first bid for re-election and tried to illegally remain in office.
So we will set the record straight.
Trump won Alabama by almost 31 points in 2024.
Funny thing is that he also won El Paso County in 2024 – by almost 10 points.
Guess that wasn’t enough to sway the president’s decision as he callously explained.
“We love Alabama. I only won it by about 47 points. I don’t think that influenced my decision, though, right? Right?” Trump quipped with Alabama Sen. Katie Britt standing to one side and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth standing on the other, sharing in a laugh because we all know the answer to that rhetorical question.
We’ve detailed all the ways that keeping the Space Command in El Paso County at Peterson Air Force Base makes sense. It would save time and money by not moving the temporary headquarters out of state. It allows for vast efficiencies because of its proximity to other key military bases in Colorado Springs – the National Space Defense Center, the U.S. Northern Command, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
The Air Force Academy is producing new cadets for the Space Force every year, and Space Force also has a significant presence at Aurora’s Buckley Air Force Base.
Trump isn’t the first president to make a politically motivated decision like this, but he is the first to gloat openly about using his power to punish a state for not supporting his re-election. The message the president is sending is clear — get on board with team Trump or he will try to hurt your state. Trump could have instead lauded Huntsville’s infrastructure or mentioned “Rocket City’s” low cost of living (the main reason Huntsville was selected as the new home for the command during his first term in office). Trump highlighted the political reasons to move the command to send a warning.
And this is par for the course. Since taking office, Trump has flouted long-held ethical standards meant to protect the American people from a president who is full of anger and wrath, and to prevent corruption of our great nation.
We hope this decision and his attack on Colorado will help sway voters in places like El Paso County when Trump tries to retain office in just a few short years.
“The problem I have with Colorado — one of the big problems — they do mail-in voting. They went to all mail-in voting so they have automatically crooked elections and we can’t have that. When a state is for mail-in voting that means they want dishonest elections,” Trump said. “That played a big factor also.”
Colorado’s mail-in ballots are secure, and despite Trump’s claims, repeated audits done by hand have shown that the 2020 election results in Colorado were not fraudulent. The list of voters who participated in the election is public, and despite hours of scouring the list, there is no evidence that any of those voters are fake.
Ballots are tied to individual voters and were audited in counties across the state.
There is simply no evidence that Colorado’s mail-in elections allow widespread fraud, and certainly no evidence that the ballot machines were rigged as Trump continues to claim, supporting his unconstitutional bid to remain in the White House after he lost in 2020.
But Coloradans should not despair at the unfortunate turn the executive branch has taken.
This bad decision has at least united our entire congressional delegation. Our Republican elected Representatives, Jeff Hurd, Lauren Boebert and Gabe Evans, joined our Democratic Representatives, Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, Jason Crow, and Brittany Pettersen, in denouncing the move.
U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet also joined the letter, making the sentiment unanimous.
“We are united in fighting to reverse this decision,” they wrote. “Bottom line – moving Space Command headquarters wakens our national security at the worst possible time … Colorado Springs is the appropriate home for U.S. Space Command, and we will take the necessary action to keep it there.”
Well done.
Such a united front gives us hope that, as President Donald Trump continues to exceed his constitutionally granted authority, our elected representatives will stand strong. For now, it is about Space Command, but soon we will need both the House and the Senate to affirm that states are allowed to hold their elections as they see fit without dangerous federal meddling.
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