Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams set out on an eight-day mission to the International Space Station and ended up stranded there for nearly a year. Biden’s Handler’s Administration, and its media propaganda arm, went to great lengths, even after Wilmore and Williams finally splashed down on Earth, to claim they were never “stranded.”

Arizona Democrat Senator Mark Kelly’s twin brother Scott asserted there was always a capsule docked at the ISS that could have brought them home anytime—“they always had a ride home”—but he was badly stretching the truth. There was a capsule docked there, but it was only for in extremis emergencies. If the ISS went up in flames or lost its oxygen generating capability, it was a last-ditch escape plan.

Elon Musk famously noted he offered to rescue them, but Biden’s Handlers refused: 

SpaceX launched a Crew Dragon capsule to rescue the pair last September, but after it docked at the space station, NASA opted to stall its return.

Musk, who donated $288 million to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that working with him to bring the astronauts back would have made Trump “look good” and that Biden “didn’t want the publicity” so close to the presidential election.

While still stranded on the ISS, Wilmore confirmed Musk’s account, and shortly thereafter, he and Williams were successfully returned to Earth while Boeing still apparently has no idea why its “Starliner” capsule malfunctioned or whether it will ever fly in space again. They were rescued after Trump asked Musk to rescue them, and Musk quickly prepared a rocket and capsule for the task, successfully landing the reusable rocket and returning the astronauts.

In their first interview since returning to Earth, Wilmore praised Trump and Musk: 

Graphic: Fox/X Screenshot

“I respect you, I trust you. You’ve given me no reason not to trust you. Either one of them,” Wilmore said. “I have no reason not to believe anything they say because they’ve earned my trust. And for that, I am grateful that our national leaders actually are coming in and taking part in our human space flight program.” He described their involvement as “hugely important” and “empowering” for the nation.

Note Wilmore’s subtle word choice. Their involvement was “hugely important” in returning Williams and him to Earth.

Wilmore emphasized the significance of having engaged leadership in space exploration. “I think it’s a good thing for our nation when the national leaders, especially something that has high visibility, are involved in the process,” he said. “And I’m grateful for that.”

Williams was equally complimentary:

“I’m just glad that they’re involved and they’re taking notice,” she said of Trump and Musk. “Maybe it wasn’t the perfect situation, but [it] allowed a lot of people, including the President and Elon, to look at what’s going on on the International Space Station, take it very seriously, and understand that our involvement as a country, as a space-faring nation, is really important throughout the world.”

She stressed the importance of America’s leadership in space exploration, saying it “sets an example” and “shows our ability to be able to do the hard things: put people in space, operate in space, work in space, and then bring us back.”

Note the careful language both employed, also illustrated by Williams’ final comment, particularly the “and then bring us back” part. To put a final nail in the coffin of the “they were never stranded” narrative, even NASA, for once, told the truth:  

Even NASA has confirmed that the astronauts wouldn’t be home now had it not been for President Trump. NASA spokeswoman Bethany Stevens credited President Trump for securing the return of the two stranded astronauts in an interview with Fox News Digital.

"This is a huge win for the Trump administration. And it would not have happened without President Trump's intervention. Up next on the docket, to continue implementing President Trump's ambitious space agenda that he touted in his inaugural address is to confirm his nominee for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman," Stevens said.

NASA knows how to play the political game. Interesting, isn’t it, that only under the Trump Administration has NASA been able and willing to tell the truth, truth Wilmore and Williams have been willing to carefully tell all along?

Space remains unforgiving and deadly. For Biden’s handlers, failure and deceit were the only options. The lives of astronauts were political playthings. Were it not for Donald Trump and Elon Musk, God only knows how long Williams and Wilmore would have been stuck on the ISS.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.