When the U.S. Space Command was formally created six years ago, it was temporarily based in Colorado and military leaders recommended that it stay there. There was no great mystery as to why: Colorado was already home to the Air Force Academy, which graduates Space Force guardians, as well as three Space Force bases.
What’s more, moving the Space Command would’ve taken time and resources, opening the door to setbacks as China’s efforts to militarize space intensify.
Nevertheless, with just one week remaining in Donald Trump’s first term, his administration announced that it was moving the U.S. Space Command headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama. The Washington Post later reported, “Precisely how the Trump administration came to support the move to Huntsville is still a mystery.”
With this in mind, Joe Biden undid Trump’s decision. Gen. James Dickinson, then head of Space Command, argued that moving his headquarters would jeopardize military readiness, and the Democratic president followed his advice.
Two years later, Trump is reversing the reversal. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that U.S. Space Command’s headquarters will move to Alabama from Colorado, reversing a Biden administration decision. In remarks at the White House, Trump said he was making the shift in part because of Colorado’s use of mail-in voting.
That might sound like a weird joke, but it accurately summarizes the president’s own comments.
Trump on moving Space Force base from Colorado: "The problem I have with Colorado — they do mail in voting. They went to all mail in voting, so they have automatically crooked elections. And we can't have that."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-09-02T18:53:55.736Z
“The problem I have with Colorado, one of the big problems, they do mail-in voting,” Trump said, adding that this was a “factor” in his decision to move the U.S. Space Command from a blue state to a red state.
In other words, the incumbent president held a grudge against Colorado because of his discredited and conspiratorial beliefs about the state’s election administration policies, and this contributed to his willingness to relocate a Pentagon command. (The Space Command is comprised of elements from the Army, Navy and Air Force. It’s not the same thing as the Space Force.)
I can appreciate why most Americans probably don’t care where the Space Command is located, but let’s not miss the forest for the trees: Trump, by his own admission, is making decisions about the military that have nothing to do with the military.
What’s more, he’ll soon be rewarded for the move: At Tuesday’s White House event, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who’s currently running for governor in Alabama, announced that he intends to name the Space Command Center in Huntsville after Trump.
