President Donald Trump has plenty of work to do to distract from a growing list of crises, from the release of the Epstein files, many of which have implicated him, to a brewing battle with the Supreme Court, which just declared his tariffs illegal.
Now, Trump has found the next carrot to dangle: aliens.
In a Thursday evening post on Truth Social, Trump said that based “on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).” (What the difference between UAPs and UFOs is unclear, as the former term has conventionally been used by government officials to refer to the latter.)
Naturally, the surprising announcement — which likely caught many government officials off guard — was accompanied by Trump taking potshots at his predecessor, accusing former president Barack Obama of revealing “classified” information, referencing Obama’s claim that aliens “are real” during a podcast appearance last week.
When asked by YouTuber Bryan Tyler Cohen if aliens are indeed real during a “lightning round” segment, Obama demurred.
“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them. And they’re not being kept in — what is it? — Area 51.”
“There’s no underground facility unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States,” he added.
Days later, Obama further clarified in an NBC News interview that he had seen “no evidence” of aliens, suggesting Trump may have woefully misinterpreted his remarks.
Whether anything will come of Trump’s theatrical promise to direct his agencies to release files on “alien and extraterrestrial life” remains uncertain as ever. The topic of UAPs has gotten plenty of media attention in the last couple of years, culminating in several releases of UFO documents throughout the Biden administration. One hotly anticipated declassified report, which was released in June 2021, turned out to be largely disappointing, further underlining that the US government still has no idea what had caused several high-profile UAP sightings, which were revealed in 2017 in an exposé by the New York Times.
The Pentagon has also been trickling out documents acknowledging its interest in these sightings for many years now.
In short, it remains entirely unclear what other documents government agencies may still be holding on to or whether we’ll actually learn anything new.
What’s far more likely is that Trump continues to desperately try to control the narrative — as even Republicans are getting tired of his antics.
“They’ve deployed the ultimate weapon of mass distraction, but the Epstein files aren’t going away… even for aliens,” representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) tweeted.
More on UFOs: There’s Another Reason Flights Have Been So Messed Up Lately: UFO Sightings
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