Very best and very worst of America on display today, at the capital and beyond the moon
Warning to readers: The column includes the actual words of the president of the United States. Meaning there will be vulgarity and unhinged craziness quoted in this space.
At about 1 p.m. today, we will have the opportunity to see the very best and the very worst of what it means to be an American.
Following a deranged message on Easter Sunday threatening to send another country “back to the Stone Age,” President Donald Trump has scheduled a press conference at the White House.
And while that gaggle is taking place in Washington, D.C., something historic and marvelous will be unfolding in outer space. For the first time in more than 50 years, human beings, launched from Florida, will circle the moon.
One event will be a chilling reminder of just how fragile our democracy is and how the freedoms we take for granted as Americans can be threatened by a madman.
The other will illustrate the greatness our country is capable of.
On Earth:
On a sacred Christian holiday, Donald Trump said this on his social media platform:
Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell—JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP
That’s right, the president who bellyached endlessly about how he deserves the Nobel Peace prize is threatening war crimes. The same man who said, “Great nations do not fight foolish wars,” has got us in the middle of one in Iran, and it is going badly.
The economy is tanking, American service members are dying, and our incoherent commander-in-chief has no plan to salvage the mess he’s gotten us into other than continuing the bombing until morale improves.
What will he say at his scheduled 1 p.m. EDT press conference today? His mouthpiece, Karoline Leavitt, says it will be to discuss the rescue of a pilot shot down over Iran, a mishap that only took place because of Trump’s ineptitude.
In Space:
At approximately the same time, four astronauts, three from America, one from Canada, aboard the Artemis II , will begin their flyby of Earth’s nearest neighbor.
It has been 53 years since the last time human beings last circled or walked on the Moon. The last mission was Apollo 17, which departed the lunar surface on Dec. 14, 1972.
The Artemis II crew won’t be landing. This mission is a dress rehearsal for the next touchdown, expected to take place in 2028.
It’s a remarkable achievement, one that should capture our complete attention today, and likely would were it not for the insanity taking place on our own world.
How crazy is this?
Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader, had this to say about Trump’s “disgusting and unhinged Easter message” —
“Something is really wrong with this guy.”
It’s early in 2026, but that has to be the understatement of the year. So far.
I would argue that there’s also “something wrong” with members of Congress who allow this madness to continue.
All well and good that Trump’s political opponents take potshots. Where’s the real action to remove him from office?
The House summoned enough support for a discharge petition to release the Epstein Files. What’s holding them back from pushing Articles of Impeachment?
A final thought:
Imagine a world in which, instead of this erratic and shortsighted leadership in Washington, we had a nation that could establish and stick with lofty, long-term goals, such as our efforts at space exploration.
Why has it been half a century since we visited the Moon? It’s not a technological failure, but a political one.
Had we not failed to plug away at it—a lack of resolve on the part of both Republicans and Democrats—we not only would already have a base on the Moon, but likely set foot on Mars.
Instead, we waste resources and human lives on fruitless “wars of choice,” the latest being Iran.
The big objection to the cost of space exploration has always been the argument that those resources would better be spent on Earth.
Fair enough in principle, I suppose. But in reality, we’ve squandered those resources in the past, just as we are doing now, because of short-sided and incompetent political leadership.
That bemoaned, today, despite Trump, is a day to hail our latest achievement in space.
Godspeed, Artemis II.
J.C. Bruce is the founder of Tropic Press, a Florida online news service dedicated to sharing news and commentary relevant to Florida readers. Bruce is an award-winning former newspaper editor, journalist and author living in Florida, his native state. Before he switched to journalism, he was an astronomy major at the University of South Florida, in case you’re wondering why he’s so gung-ho about rocket ships.
Onward thru the fog
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J.C. Bruce
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Trump’s Easter post is a disgrace! The language and the ultimatum are the stuff of an immature, panicked warmonger! The ultimatum, if delivered will label Trump and all participants as international war criminals subject to seizure of assets and arrest outside the U.S..
Of his own making, Trump is creating a humanitarian crisis in Iran and fanning hate towards the U.S. by all citizenry there.
On a lighter note I love that we are back in space. I remember summer of 1969 watching Walter Cronkite cry as our astronauts left the moon for return to earth.