September 03, 2025 01:52 PM UTC

Spite: The Real Reason Trump is Moving Space Command to Alabama

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: The Denver Post editorial board comes to the same conclusion:

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.

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President Trump announced on Tuesday that he has ordered U.S. “Space Command” to relocate its headquarters from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama. Trump made clear during an Oval Office press conference that his decision was primarily motivated by spite toward Colorado — with opposition to mail balloting a thin pretense.

As The New York Times explains:

Mr. Trump has a soft spot for Alabama, which he credits with buoying him as a serious political candidate. During an address at the University of Alabama earlier this year, Mr. Trump noted that the state voted overwhelmingly for him and felt like “home” when he was starting out as a candidate in 2015.

Mr. Trump established Space Command in 2019, years after a similar operation had been disbanded as part of the Pentagon’s focus on fighting terrorism in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. At the time, its headquarters were temporarily placed in Colorado…

…Mr. Trump’s decision to move Space Command out of Colorado may have doled out a political punishment to a blue state that briefly declared Mr. Trump ineligible to be on the 2024 ballot for engaging in an insurrection during the Jan. 6 riots. [Pols emphasis]

As Kyle Whitmire writes for AL.com, Trump’s spiteful decision makes it likely that Space Command won’t really have a “permanent” home anytime soon:

Thanks to Donald Trump, this silly, dangerous game might go on forever.

All the president had to do was stick to the script. Facts, history, reason — all these things were on his side on Tuesday, as he stood in the Oval Office with Alabama’s congressional Republicans, to make the announcement.

But he couldn’t help himself. He had to get that dig in against a state that hasn’t supported him any time he’s run. Colorado opened its door for cheating — what the president calls any situation where he doesn’t win — and that’s why Space Command can’t stay there, he said…

…This wasn’t about Alabama. Trump had to make it about him. Colorado’s voting practices were very much on Trump’s mind — so much so that he came back to it again later in his meandering press conference. [Pols emphasis]

Trump could have tried to couch his decision as being based solely on the advice of military leaders, though that analysis is unclear. While there has been a lot of reporting that Huntsville, Alabama was always the preferred military choice for Space Command HQ, this 2022 story from the Colorado Springs Gazette says otherwise:

The decision document briefed to President Donald Trump on Jan. 11, 2021, named Colorado Springs as the first choice for the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command, according to the final report of the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General, obtained by The Gazette.

The decision to headquarter Space Command in Colorado Springs, the OIG draft explains, was based on the “best military judgment” of top military leaders, including Spacecom leader Gen. James Dickinson, Space Force chief Gen. Jay Raymond and former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten, according to an unredacted version of the report obtained by the website, Breaking Defense…

…The critical concern of senior military officers was that the process failed to take into account the need to rapidly bring SPACECOM up to full operational capability. Keeping SPACECOM at Peterson Space Force Base could “accelerate” that process, while moving it would require new facilities, the report found. Sources familiar with the GAO report said Peterson could have the command fully operational in 2-3 years, while it would take Huntsville up to six years to become fully operational. [Pols emphasis]

In June 2023, Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt was very concerned that President Biden would halt Trump’s initial 2021 decision to re-locate Space Command. As Britt said at the time, “the White House must keep politics out of this [decision].” It’s hard to argue today that Trump’s decision to move Space Command out of Colorado Springs was not a purely political decision, though Britt is no longer concerned about any of that.

Regardless, as NBC News reports, Colorado’s elected officials are not done fighting Trump’s spite:

The Colorado congressional delegation, comprised of both Republicans and Democrats, said in a joint statement that Trump’s decision would harm the state and the nation.

“Moving Space Command sets our space defense apparatus back years, wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, and hands the advantage to the converging threats of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea,” the statement read.

“Being prepared for any threats should be the nation’s top priority; a crucial part of that is keeping in place what is already fully operational,” it continued, adding that the bipartisan group of lawmakers will take the “necessary action” to keep Command in Colorado Springs, which it called the program’s “appropriate home.”

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is also preparing a legal challenge, saying that Trump’s rationale for moving Space Command HQ is “wholly inappropriate and legally suspect.”